Estee Bardanashvili

Estee Bardanashvili is Senior Director & Supervising Producer at Sesame Workshop. Estee is responsible for creative development and production of Ahlan Simsim, the award-winning television series produced in the Middles East as part of Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) joint humanitarian initiative, delivering early learning and nurturing care to children and caregivers affected by the Syrian refugee crisis. She is also overseeing production efforts of Sesame Workshop’s Welcome Sesame initiative to support families affected by the crises in Ukraine.

Estee is a member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and a judge on various children’s media festivals. Her past experience includes production and project management of Baghch-e-Simsim TV, Radio and Outreach series (Afghanistan) and the multi-platform award-winning series of Sesamstrasse (Germany) and Sesamstraat (The Netherlands). Estee has led creative development, production and partner workshops, as well as capacity building on numerous international adaptations of Sesame Street (Denmark, Russia, Kosovo, France, Israel/Jordan/Palestine, and Latin America) and contributed to the creation of the first international version of the Play With Me Sesame series as well as creative development of the Sesame Global Animated Series.

Originally from the Republic of Georgia, Estee holds degrees in New Media and Economics. And prior to moving to the US as a teen, she studied Fashion Design and Classical Piano in the Republic of Georgia and Russia.