Barbara is renowned for her strategic vision and her ability to connect dots and people. She reinvigorated ABC News and is credited with transforming the face of the organization by hiring and promoting women and people of color at a pace never seen before in television news. Barbara’s efforts were recognized by Disney CEO Bob Iger.
She was a founder of Fusion, the Univision and Disney joint venture cable channel that was built to serve a young, diverse audience.
Barbara is uniquely skilled at finding exceptional talent and supporting talent to do exceptional work. Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Strahan, Byron Pitts, Jon Karl, Cecilia Vega, Tom Llamas, Jorge Ramos, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, Dr. Juan Rivera, Will Reeve, Rebecca Jarvis, Rachel Scott, Mary Bruce, Erielle Reshef, Seth Doane and many others have all acknowledged the importance of Barbara’s support in their careers. ABC News special contributor Tory Johnson wrote that Barbara’s support was “life-altering” and would “propel her on a different course.”
At ABC News, she tapped Michael Strahan to join the Good Morning America cast, transitioned Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight brand under the news umbrella, and monetized Steals and Deals, an e-commerce segment on GMA that expanded across the network and became one of the most talked-about e-commerce plays in network television. She partnered with Disney Parks and ESPN often to amplify each division’s work across the company.
When Barbara was on the leadership team overseeing The View, that program became the #1 show in daytime television and was named the most important political show on TV by the New York Times Magazine. Thanks to Barbara’s diligent and meticulous efforts in crafting the ABC News talent lineup, the news division was recognized with three consecutive Edward R. Murrow Awards for overall excellence.
Barbara spent her early career as Peter Jennings’ producer, traveling the globe and covering stories from the drug trade in Latin America to the Pope’s visit to Cuba. She produced the groundbreaking 26-Hour Millennium broadcast, which aired from December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000, and was hosted by Peter Jennings. On September 11, 2001, Barbara Fedida was an integral part of ABC’s coverage of the terrorist attacks on the US and produced the award-winning Answering Childrens' Questions Special in the ensuing days. Barbara also worked closely with Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters.
Barbara’s parents and siblings immigrated from Casablanca, Morocco to Ellis Island in 1959. She is the first American-born member of her family and among the first generation of her family to attend college. In 1988, she graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. While at NYU, she interned at Late Night with David Letterman and The Alan Colmes Show. As a student senator, she was selected to deliver the commencement address at NYU's 1988 graduation ceremony.
Barbara Fedida has been on the Hollywood Reporter’s list of most powerful people in New York media and Variety’s Power of Women lists. She has won the Peabody, DuPont, Emmy, Telly, and Murrow award.
Meet Our Founder
Barbara Fedida is a television executive, media consultant and award-winning journalist. She is the founder and principal of Casablanca Strategy Group (CSG), an advisory firm serving media and business clients.
Barbara’s decades-long career in media at Disney and CBS Inc – as well as her work at The Markle Foundation – gives her a depth and breadth of expertise in business strategy, content creation, talent management, branding, e-commerce, and fintech, as well as team building and leadership in the C-suite.
Barbara recently produced an all-star line up to honor Holocaust Survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation. The event raised a record-breaking amount of money and included performances by Bruce Springsteen, Itzhak Perlman, Meryl Streep, Alex Edelman, Debra Messing, and Wendell Pierce, among others. She created and launched a series of podcasts from 'Lost Boys with Anthony Scaramucci and Scott Galloway' to ‘The Enemies List with Rick Wilson’ to ‘Open Book’ to ‘Set the Pace’ and ‘Searching For Never Again’. Lost Boys landed at 18 on the Apple Society and Culture chart the week it debuted. The Enemies List has consistently been in top 20 podcasts in news commentary since its launch in 2022. She also produced an award-winning ad for USC’s entry to the BIG10 voiced by Will Ferrell.