BEAT SHAZAM

LAUREN ZALAZNICK

Executive Producer

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Lauren Zalaznick is a seasoned business leader with 25+ years’ experience creating and implementing growth strategies for leading media companies and digital startups.  She began her creative career in film, producing award-winning independent feature films. The hallmark of her corporate career was in her most recent role as Chairwoman, Entertainment & Digital Networks at Comcast/NBCUniversal. Today, in addition to her producing roles, she is an advisor to CEOs and founders across a range of top-tier digital and media entities in audio and video content, marketing, sales and direct-to-consumer strategy.

From 2004 to 2014, Zalaznick held progressive positions of leadership within NBCUniversal, ultimately leading the Entertainment & Digital Networks portfolio that included Bravo Media, Oxygen Media, the Style Network and the Telemundo broadcast network, as well as digital assets Fandango and Daily Candy.

Under her leadership, Bravo Media grew from a niche cable network into a Nielsen Top 10, globally recognized brand and revenue powerhouse. It remains a leading voice in pop culture. Under her watch, the network originated, developed and launched blockbuster IP, such as “Project Runway,” “Top Chef,” “The Real Housewives” franchise, “Million Dollar Listings,” “Flipping Out,” “Below Deck,” “Southern Charm” and Andy Cohen’s “Watch What Happens: Live.” For more than a decade, the network garnered countless awards, including the first-ever Emmy Award nomination and win for a cable network in the primetime category of Competitive Reality, for “Project Runway” and “Top Chef,” respectively. “Project Runway” was awarded a Peabody, Zalaznick’s second.

Zalaznick has devoted her career to transforming the cultural landscape and has been widely recognized as an industry shape-shifter and innovator. She has received many honors for her achievements. Time magazine named Zalaznick one of the Time 100: World’s Most Influential People; and Vanity Fair named her to its New Establishment list. Earlier in her career, she was the subject of a New York Times Magazine cover story. Original interviews have been conducted and archived by the Television Academy Foundation. And the Smithsonian Institute includes an original interview in its Entertaining America exhibit, which opened in 2021. She delivered a TED talk, entitled “The Conscience Of Television,” which has been viewed and shared close to a million times.

In her spare time, she curates the influential weekly newsletter The LZ Sunday Paper, for which she culls the most important news of the week by and about women in business, media and pop culture.

 

Cast Photos

Bio

Lauren Zalaznick is a seasoned business leader with 25+ years’ experience creating and implementing growth strategies for leading media companies and digital startups.  She began her creative career in film, producing award-winning independent feature films. The hallmark of her corporate career was in her most recent role as Chairwoman, Entertainment & Digital Networks at Comcast/NBCUniversal. Today, in addition to her producing roles, she is an advisor to CEOs and founders across a range of top-tier digital and media entities in audio and video content, marketing, sales and direct-to-consumer strategy.

From 2004 to 2014, Zalaznick held progressive positions of leadership within NBCUniversal, ultimately leading the Entertainment & Digital Networks portfolio that included Bravo Media, Oxygen Media, the Style Network and the Telemundo broadcast network, as well as digital assets Fandango and Daily Candy.

Under her leadership, Bravo Media grew from a niche cable network into a Nielsen Top 10, globally recognized brand and revenue powerhouse. It remains a leading voice in pop culture. Under her watch, the network originated, developed and launched blockbuster IP, such as “Project Runway,” “Top Chef,” “The Real Housewives” franchise, “Million Dollar Listings,” “Flipping Out,” “Below Deck,” “Southern Charm” and Andy Cohen’s “Watch What Happens: Live.” For more than a decade, the network garnered countless awards, including the first-ever Emmy Award nomination and win for a cable network in the primetime category of Competitive Reality, for “Project Runway” and “Top Chef,” respectively. “Project Runway” was awarded a Peabody, Zalaznick’s second.

Zalaznick has devoted her career to transforming the cultural landscape and has been widely recognized as an industry shape-shifter and innovator. She has received many honors for her achievements. Time magazine named Zalaznick one of the Time 100: World’s Most Influential People; and Vanity Fair named her to its New Establishment list. Earlier in her career, she was the subject of a New York Times Magazine cover story. Original interviews have been conducted and archived by the Television Academy Foundation. And the Smithsonian Institute includes an original interview in its Entertaining America exhibit, which opened in 2021. She delivered a TED talk, entitled “The Conscience Of Television,” which has been viewed and shared close to a million times.

In her spare time, she curates the influential weekly newsletter The LZ Sunday Paper, for which she culls the most important news of the week by and about women in business, media and pop culture.