Tehmina Jaffer ’92 Returns for PolyConnect

On Wednesday, nearly 30 students attended the second PolyConnect lunch of the year, where Tehmina Jaffer ’92 shared her educational and career journey that has landed her on the business affairs team for Netflix Original Series — somewhere she didn’t originally expect to find herself.

After Poly, Jaffer attended Brown University, where she greatly enjoyed her time DJing for the school’s radio station. “Music is my true passion,” she explained, but while she thought about pursuing a career in radio, Jaffer decided that she didn’t want the instability of the music business after college. Instead she thought about other ways to break into the industry and decided to try again after law school.

Law school appealed to Jaffer because of the amount of writing she would have to do, an interest and skill she developed thanks to Poly English teacher Grace Hamilton. In between college and graduate school, she worked in New York City as a paralegal, something she does not recommend to those intending to go to law school: “You won’t go,” she warned. She did not enjoy her experience as a paralegal at a big law firm but decided to pursue her J.D. anyway, on the promise to herself that she would work for a small company upon graduation.

Jaffer was preparing to exit law school in 2000, right as the music business was tanking. The industry “was not ready for the internet,” she explained. Jaffer managed to get in a room with some studio representatives and asked how someone could be a strong candidate for the few legal openings that were available in the music business. The response? “You need big law firm experience.”

“I went back on my word to myself,” Jaffer admitted, and she spent a few years writing briefs at Latham & Watkins. From there, she transitioned to ABC Studios, where Jaffer became more involved with what goes into TV production. Throughout the process of drawing up contracts, she learned a great deal about the negotiations surrounding production and licensing deals. Jaffer naturally progressed to the business affairs team.

Now at Netflix, Jaffer is working on many of the company’s upcoming Original Series productions, including “Flaked” with Will Arnett and “Love,” a Judd Apatow creation. As a mom, one of the advantages to working at Netflix is that “it’s not a place where face time is very important,” allowing her the flexibility to work from home. When asked about the biggest impact Poly had on her, Jaffer again spoke about the focus on writing at Poly. “[It’s] an invaluable skill in life,” she affirmed, and Jaffer assured students writing would be important in any career and help distinguish them from others. “Even writing an email — to make it persuasive and grammatically correct — you’d be surprised.”

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