World of Wonder Bolsters Team, Makes Further Investments

RuPaul’s Drag Race producer World of Wonder (WOW) has added four new hires to its team, coming on the heels of its direct-to-consumer business growth and international expansion.

Matt Vafiadis joins World of Wonder as senior VP of development. The former VP of production at Discovery will be reporting to Chief Creative Officer Tom Campbell, who will continue to oversee the department.

Maitee Cueva, a former OWN executive, comes on board as senior VP of current series and programming.

Ryan Slattery has been named senior VP of digital content, having previously served as senior VP of production and development at Collab.

Joining from Rolling Stone, Matt Habib has been hired as head of brand partnerships.

The four new hires join World of Wonder after a record-breaking year that included four Emmy Awards for RuPaul’s Drag Race and robust expansion in the direct-to-consumer space, including worldwide growth of its SVOD WOW Presents Plus, welcoming more than 100,000 attendees at its owned-and-operated bicoastal convention RuPaul’s DragCon and the announcement of the upcoming Official RuPaul’s Drag Race Official Season 11 Tour.

“We have experienced steady year-on-year growth for the past 15 years, largely thanks to the amazingly talented executives we’ve already had on staff. We’re thrilled to add to our WOW family,” said World of Wonder co-founders Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey. “We look forward to taking on the creative challenges of a continually changing industry landscape with these experienced and dynamic additions to our team.”