Author, entrepreneur and award-winning journalist Sharon Waxman is Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of TheWrap.com, a bold and independent new voice covering the business of entertainment and media. “Our aim is to create the premiere news and information platform for the business of Hollywood in the digital age,” says Waxman. “TheWrap.Com is for anyone who is interested in understanding the changes going on in entertainment and media culture, and navigating a global industry. We believe these exciting times demand a new perspective on covering the industry, one that embraces the interactivity of the web.”
Founded in 2009, TheWrap is the fastest-growing news organization covering the business of entertainment. Launching new products and platforms every year, The Wrap News Inc. reached profitability in 2012. It is comprised of TheWrap.com, the award-winning, industry-leading outlet for high-profile newsbreaks, investigative stories and authoritative analysis; ItsontheGrid.com, the most current, relevant film development database; ThePowerGrid, an algorithmic, data-driven ranking system for every person, project and company in the film business; and TheGrill, an executive leadership conference centered on the convergence of entertainment, media and technology.
Waxman is a leading authority on the entertainment business and media and a frequent television commentator on matters relating to media and entertainment. She is the founder of TheGrill, an annual conference that brings together leaders of entertainment and media companies to discuss the challenges and opportunities created by technology. Waxman was previously the Hollywood correspondent for The New York Times until January 2008. Before joining the Times, she was a correspondent for the Washington Post based in Los Angeles, from 1995 until 2003.
She was a foreign correspondent for 10 years, covering the Middle East and European politics, principally for The Washington Post.
Waxman has won many awards for her work, including the award for best online columnist in the National Entertainment Journalism awards in 2012. She was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by The Washington Post in 1999 for her work covering the second Palestinian intifada, the year before she won the prestigious feature writing award for Arts & Entertainment writing from the University of Missouri. While at the Post, she returned to the Middle East on several occasions to write a series about Islamic culture, to cover the war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Waxman is also the author of two books, including the best-seller, “Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System.” Her most recent book, “Loot: The Battle Over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World,” examined who ought to own the trophies of history, Western museums, or the countries that were plundered over 200 years. It was published by Times Books in November 2008.
Waxman attended Barnard College, Columbia University, where she studied English literature, then earned a Masters of Philosophy degree in Modern Middle East Studies from St. Antony’s College at Oxford University.
She lives in southern California with her family.