Diversity reboot

Rishi Rajani is the CEO for Hillman Grad Productions, the multi-platform entertainment company founded by actor, producer, and Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe. In his role, Rajani oversees all divisions across Hillman Grad, guiding the company’s strategic and creative direction, while developing new business partnerships.

Since joining the company in 2018 as president of film and television, Rajani has played a key role in furthering Hillman Grad’s mission to “create art that redefines the status quo by amplifying and celebrating the stories and voices of diverse, historically marginalized communities across all industries.”

Rajani works strategically to produce award-winning content and expand Hillman Grad’s burgeoning business. He has secured strategic partnership deals with the likes of Warner Bros. Television Group, a joint venture partnership with Def Jam Recordings to launch Hillman Grad Records, a multi-project development deal with Audible to launch the company’s podcast division and Zando Projects to create Hillman Grad books with additional projects in the works for branded content, fashion, cannabis and kids, to name a few. Moreover, Rajani also originated the company’s Rising Voices director fellowship with Indeed, serves as an Executive Mentor for the Hillman Grad Mentorship lab, and launched a South Asian mentorship program under “The Salon.”

Under the Hillman Grad production banner, Rajani executive produced the series The Chi, Twenties, and Boomerang, as well as the Sundance award-winning film, The Forty-Year-Old Version. His upcoming feature film projects include A Thousand and One written and directed by AV Rockwell, starring singer-songwriter Teyana Taylor for Focus Features; Disney+’s original, live-action Chang Can Dunk written and directed byJingyi Shao; Being Mary: The Mary Tyler Moore documentary, the first authorized biography of the iconic actor and producer; and the Verzuz documentary, Gifted & Black for Amazon Prime both of which are directed by James Adolphus.

Since its inception in 2015, and under Rajani’s leadership, Hillman Grad has grown to include six divisions and twenty employees, rising to become one of the most groundbreaking companies in entertainment.

Born in London, and raised in upstate New York and Portland, Ore., Rajani graduated from NYU before rising through the ranks as a film and television development executive at 20th Century Fox, UTA, Paradigm and Studio 8.