Zola Mashariki

Zola Mashariki (born Los Angeles, United States) is an American attorney, film producer and executive. She is the head of Audible Studios.[1] Mashariki also served as the Head of Original Programming and Executive Vice President of BET Network. She was also the Senior Vice President of Production for Fox Searchlight Pictures.[2][3]

Early life and career

Zola Mashariki Reyes was born in Los Angeles, California. Mashariki attended Dartmouth College where she studied Arts and obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the institution in 1994. After attending Dartmouth College she enrolled in Harvard Law School in 1994 and obtained a Doctor of Law. She taught at the University of South California.[4]

Mashariki started her career in 2000 when started working for Fox Searchlight Pictures as the Senior Vice President, Production. Between 2000 and 2015 some of her successful projects with Searchlight were book adaptations including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Last King of Scotland, The Secret Life of Bees, In America, Never Let Me Go and Antwone Fisher. While at Searchlight during the acquisition process she also worked on Slumdog Millionaire and 12 Years a Slave.[5]

In 2015, she was announced as head of original programming at BET. Mashariki led the creative team and oversaw the programming for BET and Centric Networks. Mashariki also executive produced and developed The New Edition Story which gave BET its highest ratings in a decade and won two NAACP Image Awards. She has collaborated with Laurence Fishburne on Nelson Mandela's miniseries Madiba and with John Singleton on his series Rebel.[6][7]

Mashariki joined Good Films, LLC as its chief content officer where she was in charge of its 2020 film Just Mercy, starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson. She is the co-founder of the African Grove Institute for the Arts.[4]

Mashariki was named as the head of Audible Studios in April 2021.[4][8]

Filmography
Year Title Role
2019 Jezebel Executive producer
2017 The New Edition Story Executive producer

References
  1. Chan, J. Clara (May 16, 2022). "Do You Have a Development Deal With Audible Yet?". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  2. Hayes, Dade (April 5, 2021). "Audible Names Fox Searchlight And BET Vet Zola Mashariki Head Of Studio Operations". Deadline. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  3. Folk, Antwane (September 14, 2022). "Brandy and John Legend Tapped for Audible's 'Words + Music' Series". Rated R&B. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  4. Spangler, Todd (April 5, 2021). "Audible Hires Film and TV Veteran Zola Mashariki to Oversee Original Content". Variety. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  5. Service, Defender News (March 31, 2017). "Stephen Hill steps down as BET's president of programming". DefenderNetwork.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  6. "Painéis do RioContentMarket com John Singleton e Zola Mashariki discutem representatividade de negros no audiovisual". BRAVI (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  7. "Viacom's BET network shuffles top programming ranks". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  8. "Zola Mashariki appointed Head of Audible Studios". podnews.net. April 6, 2021. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
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