Bela Bajaria is an Indian-American media executive and businesswoman. She works for Netflix, the world’s leading internet entertainment business, as the Vice President of International Originals.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Bela Bajaria was born in London, England in 1966. She grew up in the United Kingdom, Zambia, and Los Angeles. Her grandparents were from India, but they migrated to Africa to start a business. Her parents, who were born in East Africa, later relocated to London. When Bela was four years old, her parents relocated to the United States.
Doug Prochilo is her husband’s name. He works as a writer and producer. The marriage has three children: Rami and Sofia Prochilo, two daughters, and Enzo Porchilo, a male.
EDUCATION
Bela Bajaria began attending local Los Angeles public schools in 1978, and she worked as a cashier while attending Torrance High School and Rolling Hills High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications from California State University, Long Beach’s College of Liberal Arts in 1995.
CAREER
Bela Bajaria began working as a cashier while still in high school. After graduating from high school, she competed in beauty pageants, winning Miss LA India, Miss India USA, and Miss India Worldwide in 1991. When asked how it all transpired, she replied, “I was 19 at the time.” I was trying to figure out how to be proud of my ancestry while yet adapting in America. “You should do this,” my relatives advised. You would encounter Indian women from all over the world.” The pageant forced me to accept Indian culture on my terms. People were astonished that I won, but I think I did well since I had nothing to lose. I was confident because my identity was not at stake.
“I took the title extremely seriously,” she recalled of the pageant contest. I used my platform to discuss problems that were important to me. How much you can accomplish is entirely up to you. “I seized every opportunity that presented itself to me.”
She began working as a creative executive in charge of production at Vijay Amritraj’s company, First Serve Entertainment, after graduating. She began working for CBS in the movies and mini-series department in 1996. She briefly left CBS to work for Warner Bros. Television, where she was the manager of movies and mini-series. She then returned to CBS in 1997 as a director of movies and mini-series. In 1999, she was elevated to vice president, and in January 2002, she was made senior vice president, movies and mini-series. She joined Universal Television as executive vice president in 2011 and was quickly promoted to studio president. In that same year, Universal Media Studios received 49 Emmy nominations, including six for “30 Rock,” “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Bajaria joined Netflix as VP of local language originals in November 2016, where she oversaw non-English TV programming. Bajaria is in charge of original content for Netflix in India, Asia, the Middle East, Turkey, Africa, and Latin America. She is well-known for her shows such as “Indian Matchmaking,” “Never Have I Ever,” and “Sacred Games.”
