Zain Asher is one of the most recognisable faces on CNN International — and the younger sister of Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. The British-Nigerian journalist anchors the network’s flagship global news programme One World, but her path to the anchor’s desk ran through Oxford, Columbia, a receptionist’s desk and years of local news grind.
Asher was born Zain Ejiofor on 27 August 1983 in Balham, south London, to Nigerian parents — her mother, Obiajulu Ejiofor, a pharmacist, and her father, Arinze Ejiofor, a doctor. When she was five, her father was killed in a car crash in Nigeria — a tragedy in which her 11-year-old brother Chiwetel was the sole survivor — and their mother raised the children alone.
In 2022, Asher published Where the Children Take Us, a memoir centred on her mother, that turned her family’s story of loss and resilience into what one news agency called “a handbook of hope”. It is a story the public record shows she tells on her own terms.
BLUF: Zain Asher is a British-Nigerian news anchor at CNN International, based in New York, where she anchors the global news programme One World. Born in London in 1983, she is the younger sister of actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. She read French and Spanish at Oxford and journalism at Columbia before working her way up from local news to CNN, which she joined in 2013. Her 2022 memoir, Where the Children Take Us, recounts how her mother raised the family after her father’s death in a 1988 car crash.
At a Glance
- Full name: Zain Ejiofor Asher (née Ejiofor)
- Born: 27 August 1983, Balham, London
- Occupation: News anchor, CNN International; anchors One World and hosts Marketplace Africa
- Education: Keble College, Oxford (French and Spanish, 2005); Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (2006); named an honorary fellow of Keble College in 2021
- Parents: Obiajulu Ejiofor (mother, pharmacist) and Arinze Ejiofor (father, doctor; died 1988)
- Siblings: Chiwetel Ejiofor (older brother, actor); Kandibe Ejiofor (sister, doctor); Obinze Ejiofor (brother, entrepreneur)
- Memoir: Where the Children Take Us (HarperCollins, April 2022)
From Oxford to the anchor’s desk
Asher’s mother pushed her towards academic excellence early — she was taken to visit Oxford University at the age of 13 and told, “That could be you someday.” She went on to graduate from Keble College, Oxford in 2005 with a degree in French and Spanish, followed by a master’s from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 2006. In 2021, Keble College named her an honorary fellow.
Her route into broadcasting was unglamorous. After graduation she worked as a receptionist at a production company before becoming a freelance reporter at News 12 Brooklyn, covering local news across Brooklyn, the Bronx and Connecticut. She then moved into print as a reporter for Money magazine, writing personal finance articles about careers and investing. One profile also reports earlier stints as a researcher for France 3 in Lille and reporting work in Mexico.
In 2012, a meeting with a CNN executive led to a screen test at the network’s New York headquarters, and she joined CNN as a business correspondent in February 2013, covering markets from the New York Stock Exchange. She went on to co-anchor CNN Newsroom before becoming an anchor at CNN International. Since 2021 she has anchored One World, the network’s primetime global news show — most recently alongside Bianna Golodryga — and she hosts Marketplace Africa, CNN International’s weekly business programme.
Her reporting CV includes some of the decade’s biggest stories: she reported from Abuja, Nigeria, in 2014 on the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram — coverage that won a Peabody Award — and has anchored breaking news on the 2020 Beirut explosion, Nigeria’s End SARS protests, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the Gaza war. She is reported to be fluent in English, French, Spanish and Igbo, and has hosted panel discussions at the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.
The Ejiofor family
The Asher family’s roots are in Ezeagu, Enugu State, Nigeria, and they are of Igbo heritage. Her parents moved from Nigeria to London to build a life together; her father Arinze trained as a doctor and her mother Obiajulu worked as a pharmacist in Brixton.
On 3 September 1988, everything changed. Arinze and 11-year-old Chiwetel were on a road trip in Nigeria when their car was involved in a crash that killed Arinze and several others. Chiwetel was the accident’s sole survivor, left with serious injuries. Asher was five years old at the time; according to one account, her mother was pregnant with her younger sister Kandibe when the news arrived.
Obiajulu raised the children alone in London, running her pharmacy and holding the family to exacting standards of education and discipline. All four children went on to distinguished careers: Chiwetel became an Academy Award-nominated actor and director (12 Years a Slave, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind), Kandibe became a doctor, Obinze an entrepreneur, and Zain one of CNN’s most prominent international anchors.
Where the Children Take Us
Published by HarperCollins in April 2022, Asher’s memoir Where the Children Take Us is at its heart a tribute to her mother — the woman who, widowed in her thirties with young children, refused to let the family be defined by tragedy. The book recounts the 1988 crash and its aftermath, her mother’s exacting parenting, and the values of education and resilience that carried all four children into accomplished adulthood.
The memoir was widely covered on publication, with Asher giving interviews about grief, immigrant parenting and the debt she feels she owes her mother. It remains her only book to date.
People Also Ask
Who is Zain Asher?
Zain Asher is a British-Nigerian journalist and news anchor at CNN International, based in New York City. Born Zain Ejiofor on 27 August 1983 in Balham, London, she anchors the network’s global news programme One World and hosts Marketplace Africa. She is the younger sister of actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and the author of the 2022 memoir Where the Children Take Us.
How is Zain Asher related to Chiwetel Ejiofor?
Zain Asher is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s younger sister. Born Zain Ejiofor, she is six years younger than her brother, who was born in 1977. Both were born in London to Nigerian parents, and both have spoken publicly about the close bond between them and the family tragedy that shaped their childhoods.
What happened to Zain Asher’s father?
Zain Asher’s father, Arinze Ejiofor, a doctor, was killed in a car crash in Nigeria on 3 September 1988, when Asher was five years old. Her 11-year-old brother Chiwetel was travelling with him and was the accident’s sole survivor. Their mother raised Asher and her siblings alone in London afterwards.
What is Zain Asher’s memoir about?
Where the Children Take Us, published by HarperCollins in April 2022, is a tribute to Asher’s mother and an account of how she raised four children alone after her husband’s death in 1988. The memoir covers the family’s grief, the discipline and emphasis on education that shaped the siblings’ lives, and Asher’s reflections on immigrant parenting and resilience.