Bela Bajaria is an Indian-American businesswoman and media executive. She is Vice President of International Originals at Netflix, the world’s leading internet entertainment service.
Wiki/Biography
Bela Bajaria was born in 1966 in London, England (55 years old in 2021). She spent part of her childhood in England, Zambia and Los Angeles. Her grandparents were from India, but they moved to Africa to start a business. Later, her parents, who were born in East Africa, moved to London. Her parents moved to the United States after Bella was born, when Bella was only 4 years old. In 1978, she enrolled in local public schools in Los Angeles and worked as a cashier while attending Torrance High School and Rolling Hills High School. She graduated from the College of Liberal Arts at California State University, Long Beach in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in communications.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′3″
Weight (approximately): 55kg
Hair color: black
Eye color: light brown
Body measurements (approximately): 34-30-34
Parents and siblings
In the 1970s, when Bella was only 4 years old, her parents moved to the United States with her 4-month-old brother and sister to start a car wash business. Soon, Bajaria’s parents overstayed their visas and became illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, her parents arranged an investor visa and Bella lived with her grandparents. Bella met her parents in 1978 and recalled how she lived her life without them. she says,
Moving to Los Angeles at 8 was a very unpleasant experience. As the oldest child, I absolutely felt the need and responsibility to succeed in order to honor my parents’ sacrifices. So it definitely taught me a lot about who I am. ”
husband and children
Her husband’s name is Doug Procillo. He is a writer and producer. The couple has three children, two daughters, Rami Prochilo and Sofia Prochilo, and a son, Enzo Porchilo. In an interview, Rami and Sofia said of their mother:
“She taught us to give 100 percent to everything and I’m so proud that she works so hard and still has time for us.”
Rami and Sofia talk about their mothers’ careers:
It’s so cool that she gets to work with interesting people and I love visiting this place with my friends. But I don’t think I want to go into the entertainment industry,” said Rami. It seems like everything is so different every day! I always wanted to be a doctor. “I want to play football,” said Sofia. “
Bela Bajaria and her husband Doug Porchilo
Bela Bajaria and her daughters Rami Porchilo and Sofia Porchilo
Profession
She started working as a cashier while still in high school. After high school, she participated in beauty pageants and won Miss India Los Angeles 1991, Miss India USA and Miss India Global. When asked by the interviewer how this all happened, she said:
I was 19 years old. While assimilating to America, I tried to understand what it meant to be proud of my heritage. My family said, “You should do this. You will meet Indian girls from all over the world.” This pageant allowed me to embrace Indian culture on my own terms. People were surprised that I won, but I think I did a good job because there was no risk for me. I’m confident because I don’t have an identity of my own. “
In 2006, she recalled her days competing in Indian-American beauty pageants. Sharing her memories of the pageant, she said:
I take this title very seriously. I use my platform to talk about issues that really matter to me. How much you achieve is entirely up to you. I took every opportunity that came my way. “
After graduation, she started working as a creative executive in charge of production at Vijay Amritraj’s company First Serve Entertainment. In 1996, she worked in the movies and miniseries division of CBS. She briefly left CBS and joined Warner Bros. Television as a manager of movies and miniseries. She then rejoined CBS in 1997 as a director of films and miniseries. In 1999, she was promoted to vice president and in January 2002, she was named senior vice president, movies and miniseries. In 2011, she joined Universal Television as executive vice president and was quickly promoted to studio president. Universal Media Studios received 49 Emmy nominations that year, including “30 Rock,” “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” Show” six nominations. Bajaria joined Netflix in November 2016 as vice president of local language originals, where he was responsible for leading non-English television programming. Bajaria oversees Netflix’s original content in India, Asia, the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and Latin America. She is known for shows like Indian Matchmaking, Never Have I Ever and Sacred Games. In 2020, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced,
“Since joining Netflix in 2016, Bella has demonstrated her versatility and creativity – building out our improv team and helping us take our local language board to the next level, which is increasingly important to our members . In her new role, Bajaria will take over all Netflix television programming, including English, scripted and unscripted, series and limited series.”
Awards and Honors
- Bela Bajaria was honored by the I Have a Dream Foundation, The March of Dimes Foundation in Los Angeles.
- Bela Bajaria received the Industry Leadership Award at the Los Angeles Indian Film Festival.
- Bajaria wins 2018 Lenny Somberg Award
- Bajaria was honored by THR Women in Entertainment and Variety’s Women of Impact Report in Los Angeles.
Facts/Trivia
- She has a very strong bond with her family. She once said,
I was lucky enough to grow up in a very close family, so we had a very solid foundation.
- Bela Bajaria said in an interview that she found her job as vice president at Netflix to be both challenging and fun.
- She said sharing childhood memories with her daughters
It wasn’t cool to be Indian back then. “
- She also worked with her parents, who owned a car wash business.
- Bella in an interview revealed what helped her win the Miss India competition. she says,
One of the reasons why I did so well in Miss India is that my identity was not wrapped up in it. “
- She never wanted to become a Bollywood actress. She admitted this in an interview, saying:
I am not interested in becoming an actor or going to Bollywood. But I lean more towards the entertainment industry. “
- In 2020, she ranked 43rd on Fortune magazine’s list of most powerful women.
- Fortune writes that Bela Bajaria has had great success with Squidward,
The man behind “Squid Game”‘s sudden success is Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global television, who was hired a year ago to oversee the production of local-language originals in 40 countries. “
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education