Shana Waterman '90, Distinguished Alumna 2025

Growing up, Shana says, “I was fairly precocious. I had no trouble speaking my mind. And I loved being part of anything creative, like the chapels.” One year, she recalled, she and fellow future TV producer Todd A. Kessler, ’90, were chosen to co-write their class chapel. 

“Even at a very young age, I was empowered to be creative and share stories and language with other kids,” she said. “At Cranbrook Kingswood, I was taught how to be creative, to be a leader. Cranbrook Kingswood excelled at shaping education to the interests and talents of each child. I felt very much at home and I thrived in that environment.” 

Throughout her time at Cranbrook, Shana embraced the arts. She took dance classes with the Upper School instructor Jesse Sinclair, who led the dance troupe on an extraordinary trip to the former Soviet Union to perform. Shana joined Madrigals, too, under the tutelage of Nina Machus, and acted in Upper School musicals and dramas. 

“I got to produce, direct and perform in my own shows, not just the official ones,” she says. “I was able to present an idea and make a plan and have the support to develop and implement it.” 
She remembers working with future Grammy and Tony Award winner Renee Goldsberry, ’89, and Ryan Bradley, ’90, who today is senior vice president of marketing at DreamWorks Animation, along with other friends, on shows such as the musical revue, A…My Name Is Alice, and the original play, Body Blow, which focused on social justice themes and which so captivated students that future classes continued to produce it annually for many years.  

Following Cranbrook, Shana went to Yale University, where she earned a degree in history, “exploring more stories about people.” Upon graduation, she stayed in New Haven for a number of years, working with underserved communities and joined an AmeriCorps-funded group, where she worked with children in an afterschool leadership, mentoring and education program. 

She also continued to participate in the arts, doing community engagement work for New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre. Within a few years, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment, pulling together all her skills and passions. 

After a stint as a story analyst, she took a full-time position at NBC and began working her way up the production ladder. She made the jump to FOX, where she was senior vice president of current programming, overseeing Glee, House and other iconic shows such as Fringe, Family Guy, American Dad and The Mindy Project. 

“I really had fun working as a creative executive on Glee,” she said. “It was the story of the underdog, so it was fun to see it become such a phenomenon. It struck a chord – pun intended.”

At Fox Broadcasting Company, Shana then transitioned into producing as senior vice president, event series development and production, where she brought specials and long-form series into being. These included Grease Live, People v. OJ: American Crime Story and Wayward Pines, which she shepherded alongside film director M. Night Shyamalan. 

From Fox, Shana moved to One Race TV, where she co-produced Fast and Furious: Spy Racers. For that series, she was joined reunited with Goldsberry and Bradley.

Shana’s recent projects include executive producing a contemporary adaptation of Judy Blume’s novel, Forever, which recently debuted on Netflix. 

“I love being a producer because you build shows from the ground up,” Shana says. “I really enjoy being on set and working with writers at the earliest stages. You get to touch all aspects of the creative process”   
Shana looks back at Cranbrook as the place that cultivated her love of story. “I was exposed not only to great art and literature at Cranbrook but also to varied perspectives,” she said. “One of the greatest things I remember from Cranbrook was the encouragement we got to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and be open to new ideas.”

And there are still plenty more stories to tell. “I believe in storytelling and how powerful it is to be able to empathize with others,” she says. “Comedy, mystery, thrillers – they all play to our universal wants and needs, the things that tie us together. My deepest interest is to continue to tell stories that create understanding across lines of difference. These kinds of stories tie us together in our collective global experience.”

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