In March 2021, Netflix announced that over the course of the next five years, they will be funneling $100 million into the creative equity pipeline to support and amplify traditionally underrepresented voices in the film industry. Bela Bajaria, head of global TV at Netflix, is at the heart of this initiative and announced that the first $5 million of the streaming platform’s fund will go toward uplifting women in the entertainment industry worldwide. As a daughter of immigrant parents and a global citizen, Bajaria is among those who are traditionally underrepresented in the entertainment industry and is working to diversify the original content produced by Netflix for its 200 million subscribers in over 190 countries. As head of global TV, Bajaria facilitates the export of shows written and created all over the world, in many different languages, and finds audiences for those programs.
Investing in women is investing in the future of storytelling. Not only are women the force behind some of our biggest shows, like The Witcher and Sex Education, but we’re also working hard to nurture the next generation,” says Bela Bajaria, head of global TV at Netflix. “One of the most exciting things for me in this last year was seeing the reception to Al Rawabi School for Girls, a show from Jordan with two young Arab women creating and writing a story for and about Arab women.”
