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Lo and behold , an anchor position opened up , and Iwas invited to audition . I got the job , even though there were lots of people with way more experience than me . I had a signi�cant advantage because Ihad prepared for many months . I ’ m so grateful to my mother for teaching me that you don ’ t have to wait for your dream job to open up ; you can begin now to acquire the skills and be ready for it . It sort of combines with the eight-hour rule , about using your spare time productively . These are the greatest lessons of my childhood .
HOW DID YOUR MOTHER LEARN THE S�ILLS SHE PASSED ON TO YOU� My mother grew upduring the Biafran war . She had to eat snakes and crickets to survive ; she missed three years of school . Her mother taught her kids what she thought they ’ d be learning in school so they wouldn ’ t be behind when the war ended . She taught them basic math drawing numbers in the dirt with sticks and using donated textbooks . Other kids would join in . When my mother took her exams for high school , she scored very high and it was abig deal , the �rst time a woman in the village had achieved such high results .
HOWDID YOUEND UP IN MONTCLAIR� We were living in Brooklyn when Noah turned 1 in 201� . Weknew our family would grow and wanted more space . So many media people live here , including a lot of CNN people . They were like , “ My gosh , you have to live here .” Christine Romans , who anchors the 5 a . m . show on CNN , lives here , and a senior producer lives on my street . And obviously , being not only a Black woman but African and British and an immigrant , diversity was really important to me . When we saw the house on �ates Avenue , it just felt like home . Montclair feels like an extension of me , where Ifeel 100� welcome , and �t in completely .
FAMILY MATTERS The E�iofors , fro� left to right� �andi , O�in�e , O�ia��l� and Chiwetal E�iofor , and �ain E�iofor Asher
HOWDOYOU JUGGLEYOURJO� AND PARENTING� I ’ m up between 5:30 and �a . m ., juggling screaming children and prepping for the show . It ’ s always chaos before I leave . I have a�5-minute commute . My show is on at noon and then Istay and prepare for the next day . Steve has been working from home since the pandemic , but he travels quite a bit . We have an aupair who helps alot , especially when he ’ s travelling .
My mother still lives in London , along with all my siblings . She visited in January and again in July . She ’ s retired , so she ’ ll stay a month . It ’ s lovely having her here .
DO YOUPLANTOAPPLYYOUR MOM�SLESSONS AS YOURAISE YOUR OWNCHILDREN� We haven ’ t really thought about it ; my kids are so young ( Noah is 3 , Louis is 1 ). Our life is so different . Steve is avery involved and present parent , and though I work a lot , I make sure I ’ m very , very present with my kids when I ’ m not working . Our children are , to a certain extent , privileged . And it ’ s a different time . I don ’ t know what the landscape will be when it comes to social media when they ’ re teens . I ’ ll have to �gure out what makes sense for the modern world .
Right now , family time on the weekends is very important to me , especially because I didn ’ t have a dad and my mom was always working . Imake sure my kids have alot of exposure and balance in terms of activities . My son does a lot of sports , but his favorite activity is cooking ; he ’ s taking a cooking class at the Y . I don ’ t know about making TV “ forbidden fruit .” Kids watch out of boredom . I like the idea of making not watching TV much more exciting than staring at the screen . ■
COURTESY OF �AIN ASHER
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