OZY MEDIA TAPS FORMER GLOBAL IMPACT EXEC BEVERLY J. WATSON AS MANAGING EDITOR

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- OZY Media, the award-winning news and entertainment company, has announced that Beverly J. Watson, a highly regarded lawyer, entrepreneur, and philanthropic executive, has joined OZY to lead its editorial operation and expand OZY's premium newsletters.

A graduate of Stanford Law School and Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, Watson is the sister of OZY Founder Carlos Watson and played a critical role in the inception of OZY Media. Her voice was extremely influential in the company's forward-looking identity."As you can imagine, I love OZY and am so proud of what has been built. The smart, flavorful, and global stories that we tell have always stood out and had an impact. I am excited to help us tackle new topics in novel ways in this incredibly transformative time."   

Watson has held positions at the US State Department, Laureate Education, Shearman & Sterling LLP, and King Philanthropies, a grantmaking foundation that works to combat extreme poverty. Watson has already put her stamp on OZY with the launch of a new Sunday Magazine called Elevate the Conversation. The weekly issue tackles tough and nuanced conversations from critical race theory to addiction to loneliness to the next Zelensky's.  

"Beverly is a genius, and we are lucky to have her," said Michael Moe, Chairman of the OZY Media Board. "I love the global team she is assembling from Paris to Johannesburg and from Lagos to the Berkshires.OZY is a smart, important, and unusually inclusive voice in these transformative times, and I am excited to see how Beverly will serve ambitious Gen Z readers as well as Millennials and Gen Xers."

OZY Media was an early adopter of editorial newsletters and over the years they have amassed a significant following reaching millions of readers every month. As Managing Editor, Watson intends to make OZY's premium newsletters more interactive, allowing readers to not only read the newsletters, but also encourage readers to weigh in and discuss the issues and articles.

"As a black woman, new mother and global citizen, I am excited to be a part of this new era of media,"said Watson. "As our offering suggests, we aim to help elevate critical conversations."  

Watson has assembled a team of editors, freelance and full-time reporters and intends to continue to build a strong, diverse, global team as OZY further expands its editorial coverage.

Watson is the fifth major team announcement from OZY Media in the last few weeks, following David Lawrence, former Goldman business intelligence chief and federal prosecutor,  who joined the OZY Board as Senior Advisor;  Michael Safran, former Time Inc, Gannett and Bloomberg executive, who joined the company as Chief Revenue Officer; Mukul Pandya, former Founding Editor-in Chief of Wharton's online Business Review and Executive Director of Knowledge@Wharton(K@W), who joined OZY as Senior Editor-at-Large; and Aparna Ranganathan who joined as Vice President of Human Resources. 

ABOUT OZY 

Launched in 2013, OZY has built a diverse and unique voice in media, including 5 newsletters, 12 tv shows, 9 podcasts, and 4 festivals. In 2020, OZY won an Emmy Award for its ground-breaking television program, Black Women OWN the Conversation.

SOURCE OZY Media