Asante was born in London to a Guyanese, South American mother and Ghanaian, West African father, who met as students at the University of Cambridge.
Asante spent her early and primary school years with her grandparents in both Demerara and Linden, Guyana before returning to the United Kingdom for secondary education in North London.
[2] Asante returned to the United Kingdom in 2000, and became a presenter for BBC Radio 3's Late Junction from 2001 to 2007, during this time the show won a Sony gold award in 2003 for Music Programming.
In 2007, she created Ghana 50 and Forward Africa as two large-scale contemporary curatorial exhibitions, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the opening of which music producer Quincy Jones attended.
In March 2007, Asante co-hosted Resistance and Remembrance, an event at the British Museum to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.