Kin Names ViacomCBS Alum Zaina Sesay Director Of Talent And Development

Kin, a content studio targeting women viewers aged 25 to 40, has hired ViacomCBS alum Zaina Sesay as its director of talent and development.

Sesay will be charged with expanding Kin’s current talent roster, which includes Tia Mowry, Adrienne Bailon Houghton, Jeannie Mai, Christina Milian, Angela Simmons, and Malika and Khadijah Haqq. She will also act as a liaison between talent and the internal team at Kin to negotiate new deals while identifying and signing new creators for both linear and digital programming.

Sesay will report to another new Kin hire — Shani Black, the former producer of Facebook Watch’s Jada Pinkett-Smith-hosted Red Table Talk, who was appointed Kin’s head of programming and development in April.

Prior to joining Kin, Sesay worked in talent and series development for numerous shows across MTV and VH1, including Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party, Basketball Wives, MTV Cribs, and more. Prior to ViacomCBS, she worked in development at FremantleMedia.

Kin’s series are distributed on YouTube, Facebook Watch, and Instagram, as well as linear and streaming platforms. Flagship hits include Just Angela starring Angela Simmons and Side by Side with Malika and Khadijah Haqq — both of which are distributed on Black culture-focused network Aspire TV. Kin also distributes Adrienne Bailon Houghton’s All Things Adrienne and Heart Of The Batter with Jordin Sparks on TV One.