Zola Mashariki, Producer
Zola Mashariki is a senior executive, independent producer, and Hollywood industry
veteran with over twenty years of experience creating award-winning content for film,
television, and audio. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Ms.
Mashariki spent 15 years at Searchlight Pictures (formerly Fox Searchlight), where she
was Senior Vice President of Production, developing and producing indie, niche, and
prestige films, including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Secret Life of Bees, The
Last King of Scotland (in which Forest Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor),
Denzel Washington’s directorial debut, Antwone Fisher, and acquisitions Slumdog
Millionaire (winner of 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture) and 12 Years a
Slave (winner of 3 Academy Awards, including Best Picture). As Head of Original
Programming for BET/Viacom, Zola was responsible for managing the development,
production, finance, and business affairs teams for all scripted and unscripted content,
and executive produced The New Edition Story, BET’s highest-rated miniseries of all
time. She later served as Chief Content Officer of One Community LLC (formerly Good
Films), a co-financing and media company dedicated to producing content with a social
impact. Most recently, Ms. Mashariki was Head of Audible Studios at Audible/Amazon,
acquiring and creating distinct podcasts, as well as making content deals with Plan B
(Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner), Smokehouse (George Clooney and Grant
Heslov), Higher Ground (Barack and Michelle Obama), Kenya Barris, and many other topnotch
creators.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Zola is a graduate of Dartmouth College and
Harvard Law School. She lives in Los Angeles, California, holds a black belt in Tae Kwon
Do, and is a wife and mother of twins.