January 12

Media Mogul Andy Cohen

Cohen, the rare media executive who pulls double-duty as on-air talent, is also a blogger of note, posting daily on "Andy's Blog" at BravoTV.com, where he covers pop culture, television, media and his daily life. He is about to be a published author. Cohen is currently writing a memoir, to be published this coming summer, and says he is writing every word of it himself. Publisher Henry Holt has released a synopsis of the Bravo Executive VP’s forthcoming book:

"Growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Mo., Cohen knew two things about himself: that he loved popular culture and that, around the age of 12, he was gay. He suppressed the latter and fed the former. His media diet was a steady stream of 70s shows like 'The Brady Bunch,' 'Laverne & Shirley,' and 'Donny & Marie.' He had a passion too for the medium's stars like Farrah Fawcett, Mary Tyler Moore and Susan Lucci, many of whom he would later meet. By his twenties, he was out of the closet and out of St. Louis.  In 1989, his life changed forever when he landed an internship at CBS News in New York. With his irrepressible personality and sky's-the-limit attitude, over time he went from intern to producer, absorbing everything he could about the industry and the guest stars on the network’s morning show. His book will include many hilarious moments of mishaps on the set and while on assignment, and tell of his coming-of-age social life filled with antics and mayhem."

Andy Cohen is the Bravo TV Network's Executive Vice President of Development and Talent and executive producer on the Top Chef and The Real Housewives franchises. In addition, Cohen is the host and executive producer of Watch What Happens: Live, Bravo's late-night, interactive talk show. The sixth season of the show, which started off as a blog that spawned a Web series before migrating to TV as a weekly series, now airs every Sunday through Thursday. It is the only nightly late-night TV show to air live.

Cohen, who started at Bravo in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Original Programming & Development, was previously Vice President of Original Programming for TRIO (pop, culture, TV). Cohen received an Emmy in 2010 for season six of Top Chef in the Outstanding Reality Competition Program category.

Last year Cohen was featured in OUT magazine's "Out 100" issue. He has appeared on the cover of The Advocate and was profiled in New York magazine, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Entertainment Weekly. 

Cohen is a graduate of Boston University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism.  Cohen, who resides in New York City, is currently on the board of directors for the charity Friends In Deed.