Zain Ejiofor Asher (born 27 August 1983) is a

British Nigerian British Nigerians are British people of Nigerian descent or Nigerians of British descent. This article is about residents and citizens of Nigerian descent living in Britain. Many Nigerians and their British-born descendants in Britain live in So ...

news anchor at

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inte ...

, based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. 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'' was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

in April 2022.

Early life and education

Asher was born to

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

parents in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and grew up in

West Norwood West Norwood is a largely residential area of south London within the London Borough of Lambeth, located 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south south-east of Charing Cross. The centre of West Norwood sits in a bowl surrounded by hillsides on its east, ...

, 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 car accident during a road trip in Nigeria when she was five years old. Her older brother, actor

Chiwetel Ejiofor Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor ( ; born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

, was the only passenger in the car and the accident's sole survivor. She is of

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

descent; her family are originally from Enugu state,

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Asher attended

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

and graduated in 2005 with a degree in French and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. The following year, she attended the Graduate School of Journalism at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, in

. In 2021, she was named an honorary fellow of

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

Early career

After graduation, Asher initially worked as a receptionist at a production company before becoming a freelance reporter at

News 12 Brooklyn The News 12 Networks are a group of regional cable news television channels in the New York metropolitan area that are owned by Altice USA. All channels provide rolling news coverage 24 hours a day, focusing primarily on regions of the metr ...

where she covered local news. She also worked as a reporter for ''Money,'' where she wrote personal finance articles about careers and investing before moving to

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

CNN

In 2012, Asher met a

executive who invited her to the company headquarters in New York for a screen test. She was first hired as a business correspondent before becoming an anchor at

based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. In 2014, she reported from Abuja,

on the hundreds of Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. She has also anchored breaking news coverage during August 2020 explosion in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, the

End SARS #EndSARS is a decentralised social movement, and series of Demonstration (political), mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria. The slogan calls for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Ni ...

protests in

, and the deaths of Fidel Castro, Muhammad Ali and George Michael. Since 2021, she has anchored ''One World with Zain Asher'', airing weekdays on CNNI.

Book

Her memoir ''Where The Children Take Us'' was released by

on 26 April 2022. The book was inspired by her 2015

Tedx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

talk "Trust Your Struggle", which has been viewed 2.2 million times on YouTube as of 2022.

Personal life

Asher resides in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. ...

with her husband and two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asher, Zain 1983 births Living people people from West Norwood Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Black British television personalities British expatriates in the United States CNN people Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni English people of Igbo descent English people of Nigerian descent English women journalists Igbo journalists Igbo television personalities