--- description: Find out why Bela Bajaria is one of the 100 most influential people of 2022. title: Bela Bajaria: The 100 Most Influential People of 2022 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt655eebee33839e10/698a31fa4ee2620e9c31a333/Bela-Bajaria-time100-2022.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- May 23, 2022 # Bela Bajaria by Mindy Kaling  Bela Bajaria Peter Yang—August Bela Bajaria Peter Yang—AugustPeter Yang—August You know those people who just make things happen? The ones that hear no, or are told, “It’s not going to work out,” and take that as simply a matter of opinion, and not as fact? That’s Bela Bajaria. Her career is full of gambles that have materialized into huge successes. This is a risky path that we—as women of color in entertainment—are not always encouraged to take. Bela is helping [create the future of television](https://time.com/6132884/shonda-rhimes-profile/ "undefined"). The [shows she has shepherded](https://time.com/collection/time100-companies-2022/6159385/mindy-kaling-production-company-interview/ "undefined") have become global phenomenons, bridging people and cultures by reminding us that, at the end of the day, we all love sex _(_[_Bridgerton_](https://time.com/5922654/bridgerton-review-netflix-shonda-rhimes/ "undefined")_),_ love _(Indian Matchmaking),_ and sometimes, yes, murder competitions _(_[_Squid Game_](https://time.com/6104461/jung-ho-yeon-squid-game/ "undefined")_)._ She is opening doors for women and people of color by supporting them and giving them a platform to make hits. My show, [_Never Have I Ever_](https://time.com/5827768/maitreyi-ramakrishnan-never-have-i-ever/ "undefined")_,_ a coming-of-age comedy about an Indian American teen, was seen by 40 million people when it debuted on [Netflix](https://time.com/collection/time100-companies-2022/6159482/netflix-titans/ "undefined"). It was Bela’s idea to make that show! I worried it would be too specific and niche to have wide appeal. Bela had the foresight to see that there is no “niche” anymore—there’s just good, relatable storytelling, which is always universal. [_Kaling_](https://time.com/collection/time100-companies-2022/6159385/mindy-kaling-production-company-interview/ "undefined") _is an actor and an Emmy-nominated producer and writer_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177814/bela-bajaria/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177814/bela-bajaria/"},"headline":"Bela Bajaria","datePublished":"2022-05-23T10:06:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:11.117Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177814/bela-bajaria/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","TIME100 2022"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt655eebee33839e10/698a31fa4ee2620e9c31a333/Bela-Bajaria-time100-2022.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt655eebee33839e10/698a31fa4ee2620e9c31a333/Bela-Bajaria-time100-2022.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177814/bela-bajaria/","name":"Bela Bajaria"}}]}] ```