{{Short description|Canadian television journalist (born 1987)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Ginella Massa | honorific_suffix = | image = Ginella Massa - Collision 2024 - RCZ 1153 (53802933318) (cropped).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Massa in 2024 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1987|1|29|mf=yes}} | birth_place = Panama | alma_mater = | occupation =Journalist | years_active = | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | spouse = | children = | callsign = | awards = | website = {{URL|https://www.massamedia.ca/}} | module = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}
'''Ginella Massa''' (born January 29, 1987)<ref>{{cite news|date=November 26, 2016|title=Reporter becomes Canada's first hijab-clad news anchor|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/26/reporter-becomes-canadas-first-hijab-clad-news-anchor|quote="Massa, 29..."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite tweet|number=1355255016618123268|user=Ginella_M|title=Jan 29th is my birthday. It's been hard to celebrate lately because it's also the day Canada saw {{as written|i|t's [sic]}} worst mass shooting. I remember coming home from celebrating with friends and turning on the TV to hear a gunman had opened fire in a Quebec mosque. I felt sick.|author=Ginella Massa}}</ref> is a Canadian television journalist, and the CEO of Massa Media and Communication Inc<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.massamedia.ca |title=Massa Media Website }}</ref> — a boutique media consulting firm. An Afro-Latina Muslim<ref>{{cite web |url=https://muslimgirl.com/52814/meet-the-four-muslim-women-that-have-inspired-my-soul/ |title=Meet the Four Muslim Women That Have Inspired My Soul |last=Nouser |first=Mariam |date=February 2018 |access-date=January 24, 2019 |quote="Ginella is an Afro-Latina Muslim, and works as a reporter for CityNews, a local news channel in Toronto. She was born to a Christian family in Panama City, and became Muslim early on as a child when her mother converted to Islam." }}</ref> reporter and anchor, she became North America’s first hijab-wearing television reporter in 2015, and the first news anchor in hijab when she anchored the 11 p.m. newscast for ''CityNews'' on CITY-DT in Toronto, Ontario, on November 17, 2016.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/ginella-massa-becomes-canada-s-first-news-anchor-in-hijab/story-PhSj34njHEp5zRrCjLXcAK.html|newspaper=Hindustan Times |title=Reporter becomes Canada's first hijab-clad news anchor |date=November 26, 2016|accessdate=November 26, 2016}}</ref>
==Life and career== An honors graduate of York University and Seneca College, she has worked both behind-the-scenes and on-air for local and national Canadian news outlets since 2010, including CTV News, CFRB and Rogers Television, and has been published in ''The Globe and Mail'' and the ''National Post''.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
In 2020, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced that Massa would join the network as host of a prime-time show on CBC News Network and a special correspondent for ''The National''.<ref>Jackson Weaver, [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ginella-massa-news-network-1.5780246?cmp=rss&fbclid=IwAR1Qa0f187KORkeW1COkFrffNz1mAZPoSp0z4YfSWK6rJoqQZiiQLgmsB0A "Ginella Massa to join CBC News Network as primetime host"]. CBC News, October 28, 2020.</ref> Her show, ''Canada Tonight'', premiered on January 11, 2021, on CBC News Network.<ref>Bruce DeMara, [https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/01/06/journalist-ginella-massa-steps-into-national-spotlight-as-host-of-canada-tonight.html "Journalist Ginella Massa steps into national spotlight as host of Canada Tonight"]. ''Toronto Star'', January 8, 2021.</ref> In October 2022, Massa went on maternity leave to care for her newborn daughter,<ref name=":0" /> leading Dwight Drummond to become the temporary host of ''Canada Tonight'' for the next year.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-10-27 |title=Revolving Door |url=https://broadcastdialogue.com/?p=54164 |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Broadcast Dialogue |language=}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet|number=1582539084005748736|user=Ginella_M|title=That's a wrap for me on Canada Tonight as I head off on maternity leave! All the best to @dwightdrummond who takes over hosting duties for the next year starting Monday Oct 24th. See you next year! ✌🏾|author=Ginella Massa|date=2022-10-18}}</ref>
In July 2023, Massa announced that she would not be returning to CBC News.<ref name=":0">Joshua Chong, [https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/ginella-massa-trail-blazing-journalist-and-inaugural-host-of-canada-tonight-to-leave-cbc-news/article_15a50050-3fdf-5319-8dfb-46a3e5acfdd0.html "Ginella Massa, trail-blazing journalist and inaugural host of ‘Canada Tonight,’ to leave CBC News"]. ''Toronto Star'', July 20, 2023.</ref> Travis Dhanraj succeeded Massa as the permanent host of ''Canada Tonight'' in January 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thiessen |first=Connie |date=2023-11-20 |title=Travis Dhanraj named new host of CBC's 'Canada Tonight' |url=https://broadcastdialogue.com/travis-dhanraj-named-new-host-of-cbcs-canada-tonight/ |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=Broadcast Dialogue |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Personal life== Massa married her husband in 2018 in Toronto.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/relationships/i-met-my-husband-the-love-is-blind-way-sort-of/ar-BB119H0r?li=AAggxAX|title=I Met My Husband The Love is Blind Way. Sort Of|website=www.msn.com|access-date=March 14, 2020}}</ref>
In 2019, she had a pancreaticoduodenectomy to remove a mass from her pancreas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chatelaine.com/living/real-life-stories/ginella-massa-unintentional-weight-loss/|title=My Story Of Unintentional Weight Loss {{!}} Chatelaine|website=www.chatelaine.com|date=October 4, 2019 |access-date=March 14, 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.ginellamassa.com/ Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205200753/https://www.ginellamassa.com/ |date=December 5, 2023 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Massa, Ginella}} Category:Living people Category:1987 births Category:Canadian television reporters and correspondents Category:Canadian television news anchors Category:Canadian Muslims Category:CBC Television people Category:Canadian women television journalists Category:Journalists from Toronto Category:Panamanian emigrants to Canada Category:Panamanian Muslims Category:Seneca Polytechnic alumni Category:York University alumni Category:Black Canadian broadcasters Category:Canadian people of Panamanian descent Category:Black Canadian journalists