Bela Bajaria (born 1970 in the London Borough of Brent[1]) is an Indian-American businesswoman and media executive. She joined Netflix in 2016 to oversee unscripted and scripted series.[2] Bajaria is currently the Chief Content Officer.[3]

Early life and education

Bajaria was born in London, England, to parents of Indian descent and spent her time in London and Zambia.[4] In the 1970s, when Bajaria was 4, her parents moved from London to the United States' West Coast with her brother to explore business opportunities. However, her parents overstayed their visas and became illegal immigrants, resulting in her being raised by her grandparents until they could legally obtain residency.[5] Upon joining her parents in the United States in 1978, she enrolled in the local Los Angeles public schools during a time when it was "not cool to be Indian." As a teenager, she was enrolled at Torrance High School and Rolling Hills High School while working as a cashier.[5]

Upon graduating high school, Bajaria was encouraged to enter the beauty pageants by a friend. She subsequently won the Miss LA India contest, Miss India USA, and was eventually crowned Miss India Worldwide 1991.[4] Bajaria graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 1995 with her Bachelor of Arts communications degree from their College of Liberal Arts.[6]

Career

Upon graduating from university, Bajaria accepted a position with CBS in 1996 as an assistant in the movies and miniseries department. As an assistant, she read all of the scripts and spent hours in CBS' basement videotape library studying old films.[4] She left CBS shortly for a management position at Warner Bros. Television Studios but returned in 1997 as a director. After the January 2002 departure of longtime CBS Movies and Miniseries senior vice president Sunta Izzicupo, under whom she had worked since the mid-'90s, Bajaria was promoted to vice president and then senior vice president of the department.[6] When television films began to decline, she requested a move to CBS' production studio to develop cable shows.[4] She joined Universal Television as executive vice president in 2011[7] and shortly thereafter became president of the studio.[8]

Bajaria joined Netflix in 2016 as head of unscripted and scripted content.[9] In the same year, she was ranked 43rd on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list.[10] In 2019, she began leading all local language series.[11] In 2020, she was promoted to the role of global head of television for Netflix.[12]

In 2021 and again in 2022, Bajaria was named one of the top "captains" of the home entertainment industry in the annual Media Play News Women in Home Entertainment issue.[13] In December 2022, she was named to The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100.[14]

Personal life

Bajaria and her husband, writer-producer Doug Prochilo, have three children together: two daughters and one son.[15]

On May 4, 2021, the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League announced that Bajaria had joined the women's soccer team's ownership group.[16][17][18][19]

Accolades

  • 2022 – Time 100 Most Influential People[20]
  • 2022 – The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100[14]
  • 2016 – 43rd on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list[10]

References

  1. ↑ Find My Past website
  2. ↑ "Bela Bajaria Joins Netflix as VP Content". THR. October 5, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Reed Hastings Shifts To Executive Chairman Role At Netflix; Greg Peters New Co-CEO, Bela Bajaria & Scott Stuber Get New Titles". Deadline. January 19, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 James, Meg (May 22, 2016). "How I Made It: Universal TV President Bela Bajaria embraces East and West". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 22, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Low, Elaine (2020). "Inside Netflix's Quest to Become a Global TV Giant". Variety. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Tsering, Lisa (August 25, 2011). "Bela Bajaria named EVP of Universal Media". The Times of India. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  7. ↑ Rose, Lacey (August 1, 2011). "Bela Bajaria to Head Universal Media Studios". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  8. ↑ Golberg, Leslie (September 10, 2013). "Universal TV's Bela Bajaria Set as New HRTS President". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Former Miss India USA Bela Bajaria will decide what world will watch on Netflix". The Indian Express. September 9, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  10. 1 2 "Bela Bajaria". fortune.com. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Bela Bajaria to Lead Netflix's International Non-English TV Originals". Variety. March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  12. ↑ Syme, Rachel (January 9, 2023). "How Much Netflix Can the World Absorb?". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Women in Home Entertainment 2022: Meet the Captains and See What They Have to Say". Media Play News. October 24, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  14. 1 2 "The Hollywood Reporter's 2022 Women in Entertainment Power 100". The Hollywood Reporter. December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  15. ↑ Wilson Hunt, Stacey (December 12, 2014). "Why Universal TV Exec Bela Bajaria's Daughters Won't Follow in Her Hollywood Footsteps". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Chicago Red Stars Announce Expanded Ownership Group" (Press release). Chicago Red Stars. May 4, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Ownership Group". Chicago Red Stars. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  18. ↑ Watkins, Claire (May 4, 2021). "Red Stars see new investment as opportunity to change pro sports lexicon – Equalizer Soccer". The Equalizer. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Luminaries buy into Red Stars". Chicago Sun-Times. May 5, 2021. p. 44.
  20. ↑ Kaling, Mindy (May 23, 2022). "Bela Bajaria". Time. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
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