Women in Television: Lauren Zalaznick

By Michele Greppi

Who: Lauren Zalaznick, president, NBC Universal Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks

Why: She spins cable niche properties and their related Web sites into gold by creating high-buzz, advertiser-involved programs and environments that attract viewers in such upscale, clued-in and engaged sweet spots that the New York Times Magazine recently profiled her as the “Affluencer.”

During her run as president of Bravo, the network begat Bravo Media, including BravoTV.com, OUT zone.com, BrilliandButCancelled.com and acquisition TelevisionWithout Pity.com, all of which added up to record Web traffic in 2007. Her portfolio expanded with the addition of iVillage.com, Women@NBCU, the company’s Green Is Universal effort and Oxygen.

What: So upwardly and outwardly mobile is this mother of three—she wheedled until NBC Sports let her work at the Beijing Olympics—that it’s worth remembering she has lived within the same three blocks since 1985 and has been with her husband for 23 years.

But Ms. Zalaznick, for whom three years at one job is a long stay, said, “One of the things I love is not doing the same thing careerwise for a very long time. I love to do the same thing as long as I’m adding to it.

“In a changing product marketplace environment, consistency is actually a slow death. … You want to change and evolve and work very hard to define what it means to get better at something.” Her experience at creating those opportunities for herself tells her that NBCU offers her plenty of room to grow.