Bela Bajaria

Bela Bajaria (born 1970) is a British-American businesswoman and media executive. She joined Netflix in 2016 to oversee unscripted and scripted series. Bajaria has been the chief content officer since January 2024.

Early life and education Bajaria was born in London, England, to parents of Gujarati descent and spent time in London and Zambia growing up. In the 1970s, when Bajaria was four, 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 Baja being raised by her grandparents until her parents could legally obtain residency. Upon joining her parents in the United States in 1979, she enrolled in the local Los Angeles public schools. Bajaria graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications. and shortly thereafter became president of the studio.

Bajaria joined Netflix in 2016 as head of unscripted and scripted content. In the same year, she was ranked 43rd on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list. In 2019, she began leading all local language series. In 2020, she was promoted to the role of global head of television for Netflix and three years later she was named Chief Content Officer.

In both 2021 and 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. In December 2022, she was named to The Hollywood Reporter'''s Women in Entertainment Power 100.

Personal life Bajaria and her husband, writer-producer Doug Prochilo, have three children: two daughters and one son.

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.

Accolades 2023 – Forbes World's 100 most powerful women 2023 – 53rd on Fortune 's list of Most Powerful Women 2022 – Time 100 Most Influential People 2022 – The Hollywood Reporter'' Women in Entertainment Power 100