Description
'The little girl raised above a corner shop by her Indian grandparents in 1970s north London who grows up to become one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, dictating what we stream, absorb and talk about.' British VogueSquid Game. Bridgerton. Indian Matchmaking. Beef. All of these mega hits have one thing in common: Bela Bajaria. She is the Chief Content Officer at Netflix, at the pinnacle of a powerful and storied career in television, ushering in today's truly global era of entertainment. But it all started at her parent's car wash. Bela was just nine years old when she immigrated to California. Her parents had big dreams for their newly American family, but they were still distinctly Indian: part of a community and tradition that, at times, felt stifling to a young girl trying to assimilate. She was encouraged to dream big, but most women in her community stopped working after marriage. She was asked to be obedient and reserved in large group settings. She rebelled as a teenager, refusing to be the "good Indian daughter." Her parents had their community and their car wash. She was determined to succeed on her own terms. And she did, working her way up from assistant, to executive, to running content for the biggest streamer in the business. She's one of few women of colour with greenlight authority in Hollywood. Her superpower is using her identity to help create global, unique and yet entirely relatable content. Often, she is asked- how did you do it? In answering, she's been surprised to realize that she owes much of it to the values she learned from the very Indian upbringing she rebelled against. Those values have served her in many pivotal moments of her career. She's worked hard to learn each part of a job, create her own community, lead with grace and determination. Any company she runs, no matter how big or prosperous, she treats as if it's her own family's car wash. The Car Wash Way: How an Indian Daughter Learned to Entertain the World is part memoir, part instruction, and part inside look at the rise of streaming. With her indelible wit, wisdom, and style, Bela showcases how her family's values have informed her biggest bets. She offers powerful instruction for embracing the lessons of your culture to find your own voice, and she explains how she convinced Hollywood that deeply personal, ultra-specific immigrant and international stories can find mainstream success.