Isha Johansen was born as Isha Tejan-Cole in Freetown, Sierra Leone, into the Tejan-Cole family, who are of Aku Mohammedan descent. She was immersed in football from the very beginning, as her father co-founded East End Lions F.C. in Freetown. Her father took her to see football matches, and she played football with her brothers and their friends. She was educated at a convent school in Freeport and a boarding school in Yeovil, England. She was raised in a religious Muslim family. She is married to the Norwegian Consul in Sierra Leone, Arne Birger Johansen.
Football
Isha Johansen founded her own football club, F.C. Johansen, in 2004. The club was started with the objective of giving guidance and opportunities to children whose lives had been disrupted by the recent Sierra Leone Civil War. It began playing in Division One in 2011 and was promoted to the Premier League the following year. Johansen was elected president of the Sierra Leone Football Association unopposed on 3 August 2013, after her main opponent, former Sierra Leone international footballer Mohamed Kallon was disqualified by the Sierra Leone Football Executive committee for not meeting the SLFA residency requirement in the country. Kallon appealed his disqualification, but the FIFA delegation to Freetown confirmed the disqualifications of Kallon and two other candidates , so Johansen was unopposed. When Sepp Blatter was pressured to step down as head of FIFA, Johansen was touted as a possible successor in the press. She launched Powerplay, an initiative to encourage women and girls to play the game and to help empower them. It has the support of FIFA and the Confederation of African Football. She also started the annual African International Youth Tournament in 2009. On 7 September 2016, SLFA President Isha Johansen, Vice President Brima Kamara and Secretary GeneralChristopher Kamara were jailed by the Anti-corruption Commission for failing to provide reports regarding the SLFA's financial statements and the use of money. The trio were released after posting bail. FIFA defended the SLFA in a letter, stating, "FIFA has no reason to suspect there has been misuse of funds that FIFA has provided to the SLFA", having audited the SLFA's accounts earlier in the year.
Other activities
In 1993, she became the first woman publisher in the country's history, producing Rapture Magazine, an entertainment publication. She was also contributing editor to Ovation magazine. She founded the Pink Charity Fund to combat breast cancer in 2006 and the Women of Excellence Awards.
