Zain Asher

Zain Ejiofor Asher (born 27 August 1983) is a British Nigerian news anchor at CNN International, based in New York City. She currently anchors the network's primetime, global news show One World with Zain Asher airing weekdays at 12pm ET. Her memoir Where The Children Take Us will be published by HarperCollins in April 2022.[1]

Zain Asher
Asher speaking at the 2019 Action Against Hunger Gala
Born
Zain Ejiofor Asher

(1983-08-27) 27 August 1983
Balham, London Borough of Wandsworth, England
NationalityBritish, Nigerian
Education
OccupationAnchor, journalist
Years active2006–present
RelativesChiwetel Ejiofor
(brother)

Early life and Education

Asher was born to Nigerian parents in London and grew up in West Norwood, South London. Her mother Obiajulu was a pharmacist working in Brixton and her father Arinze was a doctor. In 1988, her father was killed in a tragic car accident during a road trip in Nigeria when she was 5 years old.[2] Her older brother, actor Chiwetel Ejiofor,[3][4] was in the car and was the sole survivor. She is of Igbo descent; her family are originally from Enugu state, Nigeria.

Asher attended Oxford University and graduated in 2005 with a degree in French and Spanish.[5] The following year, she attended the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, in New York City.[6] In 2021, she was named an honorary fellow of Keble College, Oxford University.[7]

Early career

After graduation, Asher initially worked as a receptionist at a production company[8] before eventually becoming a freelance reporter at News 12 Brooklyn where she covered local news.[9] She also worked as a reporter for Money, where she wrote personal finance articles about careers and investing before moving to CNN.[10]

CNN

In 2012, Asher met a CNN executive who invited her to the company headquarters in New York for a screen test.[11] She was first hired as a business correspondent before becoming an anchor at CNN International based in Atlanta. In 2014, she reported from Abuja, Nigeria on the hundreds of Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram.[12] She has also anchored breaking news coverage during August 2020 explosion in Beirut, the End SARS protests in Nigeria, and the deaths of Fidel Castro, Muhammad Ali and George Michael. [12] She currently anchors One World with Zain Asher, airing weekdays on CNNI at 12pm ET. She is now based in New York.

Book

Her memoir Where The Children Take Us was released by HarperCollins on 26 April 2022.[11] The book was inspired by her 2015 Tedx talk "Trust Your Struggle", which has been viewed 2.2 million times on YouTube as of 2022.[8]

Personal life

In 2014, Asher met her husband Steve Peoples while on a work trip to Boston. In 2017, they were married in Sintra, Portugal. They have two sons.

See also

References
  1. "Where the Children Take Us".
  2. "Chiwetel Ejiofor revisits Nigerian bloodshed of his youth". 28 March 2014.
  3. Mesure, Susie (27 January 2013). "Chiwetel Ejiofor: 'I find racial concepts fascinating'". The Independent. London. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  4. "Quick Links". CNN.com.
  5. "35 Years of Keble Women". keble.ox.ac.uk. Keble College, Oxford University.
  6. "Quick Links". CNN.com.
  7. "Five New Honorary Fellows Elected". Keble College.
  8. "Trust your struggle | Zain Asher | TEDxEuston". YouTube.
  9. "About Zain Ejiofor Asher". Zain E. Asher.
  10. "Quick Links". CNN.
  11. Asher, Zain E. (2022). Where the Children Take Us: How One Family Achieved the Unimaginable. ISBN 978-0063048836.
  12. "CNN Profiles - Zain Asher - Anchor". CNN.
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