NUSRAT DURRANI

“We live in an electric time- of uncertainty and upheaval- but also of unprecedented opportunity to create radical, systemic change for a better future. 

 In business today, we see external challenges compounded by a failure of leadership, imagination, and equity. 

 Media companies, in particular, will either seize this pivotal moment, reset their strategies, and reorganize their people to reflect the new world that is emerging or perish. 

I harness twenty years of experience as a successful global innovator in a Fortune 500 company to elevate organizations. I transform culture and generate new business and creative opportunities by connecting you authentically to the rapidly changing world. 

 We are never returning to the normal of yesterday and need visionary leadership rooted in the realities of today and tomorrow.”

BIOGRAPHY

Nusrat Durrani is a pioneering media executive inspiring and leading teams to develop transformative, multiplatform content and branded entertainment for commercial and social impact. Nusrat kept MTV front and center in the global youth marketplace in senior leadership roles from 1996 until 2016 by boldly and unflinchingly advancing the conversation around race, color, gender, and sexual identities. His inclusive vision and resolute allyship to underrepresented identities led him to develop platforms and content for unheard voices across the globe.

MTV founder and former Viacom Chairman Tom Freston calls Nusrat “a sage when it comes to music and pop culture.” His cutting-edge creative sensibility, expertise in identifying next-generation talent, and ability to predict cultural changes have built him a unique reputation. At Viacom, Nusrat converted emerging trends in television, digital and social media into new businesses. Nusrat infuses American culture with global influences across film and music and is a critical catalyst for change.

In 2005, Nusrat founded MTV World, a global content incubator and innovation engine; Nusrat served as General Manager and Senior Vice President of MTV World until 2016. He developed and nurtured a vast network of creative talent in 45 countries to launch new brands in multiple formats, with the revolutionary vibe of early MTV. He launched MTV Desi, MTV K, and MTV Chi channels targeting emerging Asian-American audiences, as well as MTV Iggy, its first cross-cultural, digitally-focused brand.

Nusrat created, and executive produced the acclaimed “Rebel Music” documentary series about young change agents fighting the status quo in turbulent countries. The Native American episode generated the most views, shares, and comments in MTV’s social media history. He was honored by President Obama for his representation of indigenous youth. 

His progressive world vision is vividly evoked in “Madly,” an omnibus film about uncommon love stories he conceived and executive produced. Featuring works by Mia Wasikowska (Australia), Gael Garcia Bernal (Argentina), Sion Sono (Japan), Natasha Khan (U.K), Sebastian Silva (USA), and Anurag Kashyap (India), the film was selected to open the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Actress. 

Nusrat has created groundbreaking and impactful branded entertainment and music programs for companies including GM, Smirnoff AT&T, and Intel’s “The Music Experiment.” This multi-year fan-powered franchise fused live music with social media, a first for MTV. He collaborated with an eclectic range of artists and musicians like Arcade Fire, Joan Baez, Laura Jane Grace, and artist/activist Shepard Fairey. 

Before creating MTV World, Nusrat held several executive positions at MTV Networks, including Vice President Strategic Partnerships and Operations. He was an integral member of the team that launched MTV.COM, where he negotiated and managed partnerships driving seven-figure revenue deals. He also built the company’s first e-commerce infrastructure. Nusrat served as Chairman of MTV Networks’ Diversity Council from 2001 to 2003. 

Nusrat is a distinguished transmedia storyteller and photographer. He is also a dedicated humanitarian who worked in Lebanon in a Syrian refugee camp and advocated humane treatment for the displaced. He recently produced “The Heartland,” a new series of short films about ordinary American citizens engaged in extraordinary struggles in small town USA. Nusrat’s latest feature documentary, “An American Prayer,” about the American dream at the intersection of the pandemic and racial uprising, is screening at festivals in 2021. He is currently working on three books of photography. 

He is a frequent social innovation honoree for advancing the cultural dialogue and a prolific public speaker. Nusrat’s latest talks include “Voices of the Voiceless,” at TEDx Cannes; “Stories I Told My Mother,” and “The Consequences of Apathy” which premiered at PopTech in 2018 and 2019, and “Stories from the World/Stories from the Heartland,” a keynote at the Microsoft Storytelling Summit.

A vegetarian who rides a Triumph Bonneville T100, Nusrat lives in Brooklyn with his family next to his beloved Manhattan Bridge.

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