With over a decade of experience at every level of some of reality television’s most exciting original programs, Christian Sarabia has long been a driving creative force behind one of unscripted TV’s most original and audacious production companies, 51 Minds Entertainment. In 2014, Sarabia was named President of the studio, which is a subsidiary of Endemol Shine North America. 51 Minds now has some of the hottest unscripted shows on cable TV, several franchises spawning spin-off series and a slew of new shows coming to multiple networks/platforms in the months ahead.

51 Minds’ Below Deck and Below Deck: Mediterranean on Bravo are two of the fastest-growing reality programs on any platform and the studio is behind two hit series with actor/rapper T.I., including T.I. & Tiny: Friends and Family Hustle on VH1 and The Grand Hustle on BET. Last year, 51 Minds launched popular new series Truck Night in America on History and its producing upcoming series Unspouse My House for HGTV, as well as original film Beats for Netflix with Global Road Entertainment.

Starting at the very bottom of a burgeoning medium, Sarabia paid his dues on the ground level of the “celebreality” explosion, assisting, coordinating, and finally producing a number of memorable VH1 hits that put reality on the map. After stints on The Surreal Life and Flavor of Love, Sarabia worked his way up as an assistant director, supervising producer and, finally, executive producer on such successful series as VH1’s For the Love of Ray J and CBS’ Same Name.

Solidifying his position as a seasoned showrunner, Sarabia shepherded future hits Marrying the Game and TI & Tiny: The Family Hustle from early development to landmark television mainstays. Having subsequently produced and sold hundreds of hours of reality programming to both cable and broadcast networks alike, Sarabia took the reins at reality mainstay 51 Minds five years ago with an eye towards further groundbreaking programming.

Williams first worked with 51 Minds as Executive Vice President and General Manager from 2009 to 2012. In the Interim, Williams served as Chief Operating Officer of Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley’s, DiGa Vision in New York City. Earlier in his career, Williams spent ten years at Viacom in various production roles including Senior Vice President of Production at MTV and later, Senior Vice President of Production for the Viacom Entertainment Group which includes Comedy Central, Spike TV and TV Land. Williams began his career as Managing Director of the Tony Award winning Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago.

Chris Kinsella joined 51 Minds in 2010, serving as the Director of Development until June of 2014. Prior to unscripted television he produced long and short-form independent films for the festival circuit and spent 4 years at RSA USA, working in commercials and music videos.

As the Senior Vice President of Development, Jessica Bofshever oversees development for the lifestyle and pop-culture focused networks. Having worked on both the network and production side, as well as a development executive and on-set producer, Bofshever brings a holistic vantage point to her role. Bofshever joined 51 Minds in 2014 as Director of Development before being upped to Vice President of Development. Prior to her tenure at 51 Minds, she served as the Director of Development for Good Clean Fun and previously worked as a freelance producer on such genre-defining series as The Bachelorette and Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Bofshever began her television career at MTV Networks, where she worked in talent, casting and series development.

Andrew Jacobson joined 51 minds in April as Director of Development after previously serving as the Director of Creative Development and Production for Electus. During his two year tenure with Electus, Andrew was tasked with overseeing the build out of Electus’ production infrastructure and responsible for developing NBC’s Get out Alive with Bear Grylls and ABC’s Bet on Your Baby with in partnership with Walmart and Proctor & Gamble. Andrew’s extensive experience developing branded and distinct content was built while he spent five years as a freelance producer with credits ranging from CBS’ Same Name, Lifetime’s Fairy Jobmother, and Gotti’s Way for VH1. Andrew got his start in television working as a set costumer.

Hanan Abdelaal joined 51 Minds in the Spring of 2016 as Director of Development. She began her television career at CBS in the On-Air Promotion department, and thereafter at Pilgrim Studios, where she worked in pre-production, post-production and production on shows such as: Dirty Jobs on Discovery, The Ultimate Fighter on Spike, and Top Shot on History. In 2010, she moved over to the Development side at Endemol Shine, 51 Minds parent company, where she helped develop and produce shows for ABC, FOX, FOX Syndication, AMC, VH1, E! and MTV.  During her time at Endemol Shine, Hanan also worked as a Celebrity Talent Executive, packaging A-list talent for broadcast, cable and syndication for shows such as Superhuman and Bullseye on FOX and Page Six on FOX Syndication.

Zach joined 51 Minds as their Director of Production in January 2017. In his role, he spearheads day-to-day operations while overseeing production of 51 Minds’ slate. He has over a decade of experience working in Reality Television. Having worked on a variety of shows for ABC, NBC, FOX, MTV, Vh1, CMT, TLC and Netflix, Zach has worked in all aspects of Production. He thrives when the pressure is on and deadlines have to be met. Zach started working for 51 Minds five years ago on projects such as Whodunnit, Tiny Tonight, Redneck Island, Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge and I Love Kellie Pickler. He looks forward to the challenges that each individual production brings and seeing them through their completion. Zach’s ability to develop positive relationships with networks and merge the creative with strategic nuts and bolts of physical production make him an invaluable resource in today’s entertainment landscape.