Iranian-American Cyma Zarghami presiding over Nickelodeon
American women have long feared the invisible "glass ceiling" on their way up corporate ladders. But Iranian-American Cyma Zarghami has crossed barriers to become the President of Kids & Family Group (including Nickelodeon) of the $20 Billion Entertainment giant Viacom.
Zarghami's Iranian father, while studying for medical school in Scottland, met and married a Scottish nurse. After the couple moved to Iran, Cyma was born in the Iranian city of Abadan. The family later moved to Canada and finally to New Jersey (United States). Zarghami has not been back to Iran since 1976.
In 1980, Zarghami entered The University of Vermont in Burlington as an elementary education major, but did not complete her degree. She joined Nickelodeon as a scheduling clerk in 1985 but by 1996, her hard work, management style and productivity had earned her the position of the channel's General Manager, overseeing programming, scheduling, acquisitions, marketing and day-to-day management of the network. In January 2006 Zarghami became president of the newly formed Kids & Family Group, which includes Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Movies, Noggin, Nicktoons Network, and world-class brands such as SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer. Dora the Explorer is an educational and culturally diverse program popular with younger aged children. SpongeBob, however, is not as educational. He is a simpleminded yet optimistic character, and acting foolish at times.
Zarghami was named Women in Cable Telecommunications' Woman of the Year for 2006. She lives in New York City with her husband and three sons. In her personal life, she has supported some democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
Zarghami's advice for budding artists or filmmakers is to have passion. She says "passion goes a long way so knock on every door until you get someone to open the door."
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