Cyma Zarghami (, born December 15, 1962) is an Iranian-born American film studio and former cable television executive who served as the president of

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and Viacom Media Networks' Kids & Family Group from 2006 to 2018. She is the founder and CEO of MiMo Studios.

Early life

Zarghami was born in

Abadan, Iran Abadan (; ) is a city in the Central District (Abadan County), Central District of Abadan County, Khuzestan province, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. The city is in the southwest of the coun ...

to an Iranian father, Gholam, and a Scottish mother, Catherine. The family later moved to Canada and finally to

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...

, where she graduated in the class of 1980 from the Dwight-Englewood School and was a recipient of the school's Distinguished Alumni Award. At Dwight-Englewood, she played

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

. In 1980, Zarghami entered the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

as an elementary education major, later changing her major to English; she did not complete the degree. She was awarded an honorary diploma by the University of Vermont College of Education and Social Services in 2000.

Career

Zarghami traveled in Europe after leaving college, then returned to Burlington to work for Business Digest. Zarghami joined

as a scheduling clerk in 1985. She moved up through the programming department and became the channel's general manager in 1996, overseeing programming, scheduling, acquisitions, marketing, and day-to-day management of the network. She was promoted to general manager and executive vice-president in 1997. In 2004, the position of president of Nickelodeon Television was created for her, where she oversaw production and development for the network, along with marketing, programming and creativity. After the resignation of

Herb Scannell Herb Scannell (born January 11, 1957) is an American media executive and businessman. He was the president of Nickelodeon and TV Land from 1996 to 2006, was the founding CEO of Next New Networks, and the president of BBC Worldwide America. He was ...

on January 5, 2006, she became president of the newly formed Kids & Family Group, which included Nickelodeon, Nick@Nite,

Nick Jr. Channel The Nick Jr. Channel, sometimes shortened to Nick Jr., is an American pay television, pay television channel owned by the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. An offshoot of Nickelodeon ...

, TeenNick,

Nicktoons Nicktoons is the brand name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division's MTV Entertainment Group. It was originally launched as Nick at Nite’s TV Land as a spinoff of Nick at Nite programing block consisting e ...

, CMT, and CMT Pure Country. On June 4, 2018, she resigned as president of Nickelodeon following 33 years with the network. In February 2020, Zarghami launched a production company and consultancy firm, MiMo Studios, to develop original film properties of one hour or less in length for young audiences. MiMo is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "mini movie".

Personal life

Zarghami lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with her husband and their three sons. She formerly served on the

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ...

of the

Children's Museum of Manhattan The Children’s Museum of Manhattan is located on West 83rd street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded by Bette Korman, under the name GAME (Growth Through Art and Museum Experience), in 1973. The museum adopted ...

Filmography

Television

References

External links

MIPCOM Junior 2008 Keynote addressCyma Zarghami
biography on Nick.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zarghami, Cyma Living people Nickelodeon executives American women television executives 20th-century American businesswomen Iranian emigrants to the United States Dwight-Englewood School alumni Businesspeople from Englewood, New Jersey University of Vermont alumni American people of Scottish descent 1962 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople