Omayra Issa is an award-winning bilingual journalist with experience working across a wide range of media platforms.
Based in Regina, Omayra works for Canada’s public broadcaster, Radio-Canada/CBC. She is a national reporter for CBC News based in Saskatchewan. She has reported in several Canadian cities, including Saskatoon and Ottawa. She is currently the 2022-2023 CBC/Radio-Canada Fellow, a part of the William Southam Journalism Fellowships at Massey College.
Omayra is the co-creator and co-producer of CBC’s Black on the Prairies, a groundbreaking collection of articles, personal essays, audio stories, images and more. Black on the Prairies examines the history and present lives of Black people on the Prairies. The project won several accolades, including a national RTDNA.
In 2019 she was named one of Canada’s top 100 Black Women to watch, and was nominated for a YWCA Women of Distinction Award.
The same year, she became an Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leader along with 49 other young leaders in the Atlantic Basin who have displayed leadership capabilities in their fields and aim to shape the regional and global agenda in finance, politics, business, civil society, academia, and media.
In 2020, Omayra joined 15 other renown journalists across Canada to mentor early-career journalists as part of the Canadian Journalists Association’s inaugural Mentorship Program. Shortly after, she was voted Saskatoon’s Best Reporter by the public.
Omayra covers breaking news, writes long format in-depth immersive stories and investigates a wide range of stories for a national audience.
Omayra is experienced in television, radio, digital publications and social media platforms. In English, her reporting has been featured on the CBC News, CBC Canada, CBC Indigenous, CBC Sports, CBC Health, CBC Saskatchewan, and CBC Saskatoon pages. In French, her work has been featured on the Radio-Canada’s national network, including RDI.
Omayra is a sought-after bilingual speaker and panelist, as well as a skilled moderator and host. Throughout her career, she has interviewed business leaders, politicians, leading researchers, and successful community builders. Omayra has mastered the art of quickly articulating concise takeaways for the audience to remember. She has moderated and hosted dozens of events in Canada and across the world, including at the African Union Summit.
In her previous career, she led and implemented a communications strategy for a multi-million dollar conglomerate of infrastructures.
Omayra holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and English literature from the University of Alberta.
Born in Morocco, and raised in Niger, Omayra is fluent in five languages.
