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 company, which is a subsidiary of Endemol Shine North America, now a division of Banijay, the world’s largest international content producer and distributor. 51 Minds 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 (Bravo), Below Deck: Mediterranean (Bravo) Below Deck: Sailing Yacht (Bravo), and Below Deck: Down Under (Peacock) are some of the fastest-growing reality programs on any platform that continue to grow. 51 Minds is producing an upcoming renovation series with Marsai Martin (Discovery+) and is behind hit shows like Marriage or Mortgage (Netflix), Cakealikes (Discovery+/ Food Network) and two series with actor/rapper T.I., including T.I. & Tiny: Friends and Family Hustle (VH1) and The Grand Hustle (BET) while having an additional 15+ projects in development with the Discovery family alone.  51 Minds has also done the original film Beats for Netflix with Global Road Entertainment and produced the popular series Truck Night in America on History.

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 seven years ago with an eye towards further groundbreaking programming.

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.

As Executive Vice President of Development, Jessica Bofshever oversees development for lifestyle and pop-culture focused platforms, creating and selling new series to the likes of Netflix, HGTV, and Discovery+. Bofshever joined 51 Minds in 2014 as the Director of Development and, before her tenure at 51 Minds, served as the Director of Development for Good Clean Fun.  Bofshever began her television career at MTV Networks, where she worked in talent, casting, and series development and then became a freelance producer on such genre-defining series such as Keeping Up With The Kardashians and The Bachelorette before making the move to development executive.

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

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 Media Group, where she worked in pre-production, post-production and production. In 2010, she moved over to the Development side at Endemol Shine (now Banijay), 51 Minds parent company, where she helped develop and produce shows for the top broadcast and cable networks.  During her time at Endemol Shine, Hanan also worked as a Celebrity Talent Executive, packaging A-list talent for broadcast, cable and syndication.

Andrew Jacobson joined 51 minds in 2014 as Head of Branded Entertainment 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.