Salaam Coleman Smith
President, Style Media
The Style Network has experienced dynamic evolution and growth under Coleman Smith’s leadership. As the home of transformations — from fashion to beauty to home to community – The Style Network provides inspiration, expert advice, and engaging content for women who aspire to look fabulous, live well, be daring, and celebrate life in progress. Since her appointment to run The Style Network, Coleman Smith has led the network to achieve significant ratings gains, delivering a record breaking +86% Increase in Primetime Total Viewers over last 3 years and the network’s most watched year ever in 2009. In 2009, The Style Network joined the ranks of the top 50 cable networks and was one of the top five fastest growing cable networks for the first time ever in the history of the network.
On the programming front, Coleman Smith is responsible for The Style Network’s highly popular series “Ruby,” “Giuliana & Bill,” “Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane,” “Jerseylicious,” “Clean House,” “How Do I Look?,” “The Dish” and “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway.” Over the last three years, The Style Network has received 11 Daytime Emmy Award nominations for outstanding talent and programming. In 2010, Style won the network’s first-ever Daytime Emmy award for “Clean House: Messiest Home in the Country” in the category of Outstanding Special Class Special.
Under Coleman Smith’s leadership, The Style Network continues to leverage the power of its brand to promote charity and non-profit organizations, including a multi-faceted partnership the network forged with the international non-profit organization “Dress for Success,” which promotes economic independence for disadvantaged women. Style has also launched a year-round skin cancer awareness and breast cancer awareness initiatives under the network’s “Fight with Style” banner. Additionally, Style has enjoyed many partnerships with other leading brands in the fashion and women’s lifestyle space, including The Knot, Glamour, Marie Claire, and Allure magazines. In 2008, Style received a NAMIC (National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Cable) Award for a network special of “How Do I Look?” that focused on teachers in New Orleans affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Coleman Smith joined E! Networks in 2003 as Senior Vice President, Programming and quickly led E! to record-breaking growth and performance. She was promoted to run The Style Network as its lead Executive Vice President in 2006 and was named President of The Style Network in 2008. Prior to joining E! Networks, Coleman Smith spent nearly 10 years with MTV Networks. As Vice President of Programming for Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, she oversaw the successful programming shift and re-branding for Nick at Nite. Additionally, Coleman Smith played an integral role in MTV and Nickelodeon’ global expansion, managing programming and brand localization activities for the launch of 12 international Nickelodeon networks in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Prior to joining MTV Networks, Coleman Smith worked in management consulting at Andersen Consulting.
Coleman Smith currently serves on the national board of Women In Cable Telecommunications and the worldwide board of Dress For Success. She is a previous Walter Kaitz Foundation Fellow and Betsy Magness Leadership Institute Class XV Fellow. In 2009, Coleman Smith was bestowed a LEA “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Women In Cable Telecommunication’s for her achievements and active mentorship of the next generation of diverse leaders and was one of the youngest recipients ever for this honor.
In 2009, Coleman Smith was named one of “8 to Watch” by Fortune Magazine in Fortune Magazine’s “40 under 40” issue. Coleman Smith has been named one the “Most Powerful Women In Cable” and “Top 10 Most Influential Minorities in Cable” by Cable Fax and one of the “Top 50 Black Hollywood Powerbrokers” in Black Enterprise Magazine. Additionally, Coleman Smith was named one of the “Top 40 Executives Under 40” by Multichannel News in 2006 and was named one of the “Top 35 Executives Under 35” by the Hollywood Reporter in 2003.
Coleman Smith graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Dr. Christopher Smith, a Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, and their 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter.
