CNN's Zain Asher is grateful for her mom's tough love — even if it meant no TV

CNN international anchor Zain Asher poses with her mother, Obiajulu Ejiofor. After losing her husband in a car crash, Ejiofor raised four children with strict and innovative practices — including, when Asher was a teenager, using scissors to cut the power cord of the TV set. Obiajulu told her daughter she could watch television again once she'd earned admission to Oxford. (Courtesy of Zain Asher)

CNN international anchor Zain Asher was just 5 years old when her mother, a Nigerian immigrant who was living in London, received a devastating phone call.

Asher's father, a physician, and her 11-year-old brother Chiwetel Ejiofor had embarked on a road trip in Nigeria.