television home of Sponge Bob Squarepants and other characters popular with kids, says she was just lucky to stumble across the network 24 years ago and find people and a product that she loved to work with.
Cyma Zarghami, President of Nickelodeon, MTVN Kids and Family Group—which includes Nick at Nite, Nick Movies, Nick Jr. and TeenNick—told the Persian Mirror that she got to where she is today after starting off as a scheduling assistant in 1985.
Zarghami, who was born in southwestern Iran, told the Persian Mirror, “My mom [Catherine] is Scottish and my father [Ghoram] is Iranian. They met in Scotland where my dad attended medical school and she was a nurse. They moved back and forth between Scotland and Iran and I was born in Abadan. Shortly thereafter, we moved again, first to Canada and finally to New Jersey. I was in the 3rd grade. I haven’t spent much time in Iran and 1976 was probably the last time we were there.
We have family in Shiraz and my dad goes back and forth as often as he can. We feel very lucky though to have all of our family around and close by to us.” Zarghami’s huge success in the entertainment business is attributed to her ability to link with the younger generation. Her view of today’s kids will bring joy to parents who worry about the painful parent-child frictions common in recent American generations. “The millennial generation is happier,” she said in reference to those born since the turn of the millennium. “They like their parents more than the previous generation.
I think this is because you often have two working parents or a single parent. And those kids like spending time with their parents.” She said today’s children “are both materialistic and altruistic— so they want to do good, but they are mostly just happy. And that means their entertainment will be different than in the past. Cynicism is out and optimism is in. That’s why Sponge Bob does so well.” The New York City-based mother of three studied English at the University of Vermont, but quit school to begin working. “I thought I was going to be a teacher, then a writer, then I just needed a job. So I moved to New York and became an assistant here [at Nickelodeon],” she said, adding, “I was lucky and stumbled into it. When I first came to Nickelodeon it was very small. When you’re looking for your place in the world you either have a passion for something or you find people that you love or a product that you love. I found people and product that were fantastic. I have been here for 24 years.” At Nickelodeon, Zarghami moved up through the ranks, from scheduling assistant to the channel’s general manager in 1996, where she oversaw programming, scheduling, acquisitions, marketing and day-to-day management of the network. From there, she was promoted to general manager and then executive vice president in 1997. Seven years later, in 2004, the position of president of Nickelodeon was created for Zarghami. The following year, after the resignation of Herb Scannell, Zarghami became president of the Kids & Family Group, which includes Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Movies, Noggin, The N, and Nicktoons Network. Zarghami advised budding artists and filmmakers, “Passion goes a long way, so knock on every door until you get someone to open the door. Any way in is a fine way, so being an assistant, for example, is not a bad way in. Being a production assistant or whatever is the right idea. Persevere.” When asked what three things she’d take to a desert island, Zarghami said, “I’d have to take four. I have three sons [Liam, Ethan and Wyatt] and a husband [George Obergfoll] so that would be it.” Zarghami, who was named Women in Cable Telecommunications’ Woman of the Year in 2006, is credited with adding several critically acclaimed series to the network, including Little Bill, from creator Bill Cosby, and Rocket Power, from Rugrats’ creators Klasky Csupo. She currently lives with her husband and their three sons in New York City.
