About the Rainbow Project

Mission

The Rainbow Project was born from the need to celebrate and elevate LGBTQ+ representation in Children’s Media. It is our mission to acknowledge the brave creators who push the boundaries of queer storytelling in order to produce positive mirroring for a new generation.

The Team

A photo of Chris Nee in a colorful button up shirt.

Chris Nee

American Children’s Television Screenwriter and Producer

Peabody, Humanitas, Annie Award, five-time NAACP award, and three-time Emmy Award-winner Chris Nee was the creator and executive producer of the acclaimed series, “Doc McStuffins” for Disney Junior, where she also developed for television and executive produced the hit animated series “Vampirina.”

In 2018 Nee began her own company, Laughing Wild, and signed a multiyear overall deal at Netflix, where she created, developed and EP’d, “Ridley Jones,” “Ada Twist, Scientist,” and “We the People” working with H.E.R, Janelle Monae, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Brandi Carlile and Bebe Rexa amongst others. “Ada Twist” and “We the People” were a co-production of Nee’s Laughing Wild Productions and Higher Ground Productions, with President and Mrs. Obama serving as executive producers alongside Nee. Both shows won Emmys for best series in their respective categories on the same night.  “Spirit Rangers,” was created and executive produced by Native American Karissa Valencia and is staffed with an entirely Native writing staff. Nee served as the Executive Producer, and the show was a collaboration between Netflix and Laughing Wild. Spirit rangers accounts for seven of the eleven Emmy nominations for Laughing Wild shows in 2023.

An accomplished children’s television writer, Nee has also managed to juggle a successful career as a documentary and reality TV producer. While on location in Alaska for Discovery Channel’s cult hit documentary series “Deadliest Catch,” Nee was simultaneously writing the first “Wonder Pets” Christmas Special for Nickelodeon. Nee received Emmy Award nominations for her work on both series. She is currently writing a musical that will premiere at the Kennedy Center in the 2024 season. 

Nee has received twenty Emmy Award nominations. “Doc McStuffins” won the Peabody Award in 2014. “Ada Twist” won the Annie Award in 2022. Her series have attracted top voice talent with series regulars Lauren Graham, Loretta Devine, Wanda Sykes, Blythe Danner, Patti LuPone and James Van Der Beek. Her series have also highlighted the voice talents of Michelle Obama, Ludacris, Carol Kane, Geena Davis, Portia de Rossi, Curtis Stone, Andrew Rannells and Audra McDonald amongst many others.

Nee began her career as an associate producer at Sesame Street International and spent time in Mexico, Finland, Israel and Jordan working on the local productions of the award-winning show, before transitioning over to writing for Sesame Workshop. 

A photo of Kristi Reed in glasses.

Kristi Reed

Animation Casting & Voice Director

Kristi Reed is an Emmy Award winning casting and voice director in the animation industry. She has made committed efforts in pushing for greater inclusivity of queer characters in children’s programming. She was the casting and voice director on Steven Universe, the first animated series in history to win a GLAAD award. She was the voice director on Kipo & The Age of Wonderbeasts, the first all-ages animated program to have a character (a main character) voice the words, “I’m gay”. She also voice-directed  DeadEnd: Paranormal Park which featured the first transgender lead character in an all-ages animation. She is a founding member of GLAAD’s Kids and Family Advisory Council and currently directing series for Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Animation,  Disney+,  Nickelodeon & Sony Pictures Animation.

A photo of Jeremy Blacklow in a black tshirt with the word 'Disco' repeated on it.

Jeremy Blacklow

Media and Entertainment Executive

Jeremy Blacklow has worked in journalism and entertainment for over 25 years, focusing throughout his career on increasing the representation of marginalized communities and voices in media. He began his career at NBC News’ TODAY show and has worked over the years for CNN, NBCU’s Access Hollywood, Yahoo!, and Amazon MGM Studios, From 2017-2022, he was the Director of Entertainment Media at GLAAD. While at the non-profit LGBTQ+ media organization, he helped establish and run GLAAD’s Kids & Family Advisory Council and assisted in creating the Kids & Family and Children’s Programming GLAAD Media Award categories.

Tracy Levesque

Web Developer

Tracy Levesque co-founded YIKES, Inc. a web development agency located in Philadelphia until she and her wife sold the company to Canadian strategy and marketing agency, karmadharma, in 2024. Certified Women and LGBT owned, YIKES was also a proud B Corporation focusing on sustainable business practices and observing the triple bottom line: People, Planet, Profit. With a life-long love of TV and a passion for quality queer representation, she co-founded LezWatchTV, the greatest online database of queer female, non-binary, & transgender televison. When not behind a computer, Tracy loves to enjoy the Philly food scene, ride her bike around the city, watch live music, hang out with her wife & kid and watch a lot of television.