NBC chairwoman Lauren Zalaznick – who marked her eighth day as the head of the television network on Feb. 9, the same day she spoke to about 100 Boston University students and faculty members in the School of Management – told her audience that what’s written on their diplomas isn’t as important as their true life goals.
“I say to be open to what you ultimately want, as opposed to what your diploma tells you,” Zalanick said at an event entitled “Lauren Zalaznick, Indie Producer to NBC Chairman” on Wednesday.
Zalaznick, producer of hit reality television programs “Top Chef” and “Real Housewives,” described the “crossroads” that led to her new corporate position.
“This is not a path that you as communication majors or I as a double concentration in English and medicine could have predicted,” she said.
Zalaznick’s success as president of Bravo and of NBC Universal Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks earned her a nomination for TIME magazine’s Person of the Year.
Named chair of NBC Universal Networks and Integrated Media after the merger with Comcast, Zalaznick said she will continue to work with Bravo and oversee Oxygen, PBS Sprout, Swirl, Telemundo and other networks.
As an undergraduate, Zalaznick said she pursued a “traditional” education at Brown University. She began to play around with photography and other media her junior year, spending her last three semesters on what would lead to a career in media.
Zalaznick said she landed a job after college as the assistant director of “Compromising Positions,” a 1985 feature film.
She continued assistant directing for films for three years, until she decided to work as producer on an independent film with former acquaintances from Brown.
“I came to a sort of career crossroads,” Zalaznick said.
“I met up with friends from Brown to help get their film ‘Poison’ off the ground.”
“Poison” won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festive and played at other independent film festivals. She produced several other movies while making commercials and promotional videos with her husband.
College of Communication graduate student Remona Outar said the lecture shed light on Zalaznick’s past as a film producer.
“I had no idea she was [involved] in independent film,” Outar said. “It’s fascinating to see the different ways you could get to where she is.”
Zalaznick said she encountered her “second crossroads” in 1994, when she signed with VH1 president John Sykes. The former producer said she found herself moving in a different direction, as she found that “everyone in TV was trying to get into film.”
For 18 months, Zalaznick worked as senior vice president of original programming and development for VH1 to reinvent the network and proceeded to try her hand at produce TV shows as the head of programming. She said she left her mark by creating shows like “Pop Up Video,” “VH1 Divas” and the trademark countdowns.
After seven years at VH1, Zalaznick made her next move, this time to TRIO, a small network that was eventually bought by NBC. After the merger she was left in charge of Bravo, which she said at the time was a struggling arts and culture entertainment network.
“You never want the ‘Queer Eye,’ the one-hit wonder channel,” she said.
Zalaznick said she revived network, creating a diverse and popular network with shows like “Top Chef” and “Real Housewives.” Her transformation of Bravo led to her recent promotion to chairman of NBC Universal Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integrated Media.
Students said they were fascinated by Zalaznick’s transformation from a humanities major to a film producer to a corporate executive.
“I’m surprised that she had such an indirect path,” said COM sophomore Celia Hubbard. “I thought she would have taken the standard corporate path.”
“What struck me was how she was talking about getting [her job] done,” said COM senior Catherine Sutherland. “If you work hard, you will make it happen.”
