Indigenous creatives stay winning this year 💪 Come celebrate Spirit Rangers and Molly of Denali's recent Emmy nominations next Friday, March 14 from 6:30 - 8:30 PM at The Chapter House!
Following screenings of select episodes of Spirit Rangers and Molly of Denali, Joey Clift will moderate a panel discussion and Q&A session featuring Spirit Rangers creatives Karissa Valencia (Showrunner), Nicolette Ray (Storyboard Artist), and Marshell Becton (Producer), and a few of the minds behind Molly of Denali, including Dorothea Gillim (Executive Producer) Rochelle Adams (Alaska Native Cultural Advisor and Writer), X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell (Writer and Cultural Consultant). Stick around for the reception to celebrate all the work that went into making these two historic kids' shows authentically, with Native people front and center.
Food will be provided. We suggest a $15 donation if you’ll be eating!
ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Joey Clift
COWLITZ | MODERATOR
Joey Clift is a comedian, Emmy nominated producer and TV writer, and enrolled Cowlitz Indian Tribal Member. Writing credits include Spirit Rangers on Netflix, New Looney Tunes on Cartoon Network, Paw Patrol on Nickelodeon and Molly of Denali on PBS. He created, wrote and directed the Shorty Impact Award winning Comedy Central digital series "Gone Native" and his short films have screened everywhere from Just For Laughs to The Smithsonian Museum. Most importantly, he started the LA Underground Cat Network, which is a 16,000-member strong online community for Los Angeles comedians to share pictures of their cats. He's kind of a cat guy.
Karissa Valencia
SANTA YNEZ BAND OF CHUMASH INDIANS
Karissa Valencia is an Emmy nominated writer, producer and author. She is the creator and executive producer of Netflix Animation's Spirit Rangers, a fantasy-adventure preschool series that celebrates nature, community and the rich heritage of Native American storytelling. In celebration of her work on Spirit Rangers, Karissa has received several accolades including inclusion in The Hollywood Reporter's inaugural Kids Entertainment Power List, Variety's 10 Animators to Watch, and Animation Magazine's Rising Stars of Animation. Prior to showrunning Spirit Rangers, Karissa wrote for preschool favorites such as Disney Junior's Doc McStuffins, Vampirina, T.O.T.S and The Chicken Squad. Karissa is a proud Chicana and member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell
LINGÍT, HAIDA, YUPʼIK, SAMI
X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell is a Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, and lives in Juneau with his wife and bilingual children. He speaks and studies the Lingít language, and advocates for Indigenous language reclamation through teaching, program development, legislative changes, and healing. Twitchell is an author of poems, stories, and screenplays, and is a filmmaker, musician, and Northwest Coast Artist. He has been a writer and cultural consultant for Molly of Denali, an Emmy nominated children’s show on PBS that features a female Alaska Native child as the lead character. His first book of poetry, G̱agaan X̱ʼusyee / Below the Foot of the Sun, is available from the University of Alaska Press and the University Press of Colorado.
Rochelle Adams
GWICH’IN
Rochelle Adams is from the Interior Alaskan villages of Fort Yukon and Beaver. She is a mother of three. Rochelle is an artist, Indigenous linguist, cultural educator and a steward of her homelands and waters. She is a co-creator, Alaska Native Cultural Advisor and Writer for the PBS kids show Molly of Denali. Rochelle is the founder of Yukonjik K’aaht’ii Nąįį, Yukon River Protectors a community group that stands to protect the Yukon River and Salmon. Rochelle works to uplift Indigenous language and ways of knowing in all spaces.
Nicolette Ray
ACOMA PUEBLO
Guwaatzee! Nicolette is a Native American storyboard artist living in Glendale, California with her many critters and occasional foster kittens. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she graduated from San Jose State University in 2015 with a BFA in Animation/Illustration. She started her professional career in 2016 as a storyboard revisionist at Wild Canary on Disney Jr’s Puppy Dog Pals and was soon promoted to storyboard artist and continued to work on all 5 seasons of the show. She stayed at Wild Canary to storyboard on season 1 of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures before leaving to work freelance for Netflix on Spirit Rangers. Since her freelance wrapped in 2022, she has been doing freelance illustration work on the upcoming Ojibwe language-learning video game Reclaim!
Dorothea Gillim
Dorothea Gillim started her career as a 5th grade teacher. Seeking a bigger “classroom” she eventually wound up in kids’ media, creating WordGirl for PBS KIDS. Dorothea is the Creative Director of GBH Kids and has produced such award-winning shows as Curious George, Pinkalicious & Peterrific, and Molly of Denali.
Marshell Becton
Marshell Becton is an animation Producer from Collierville, Tennessee now living in Los Angeles with her three wonderful kiddos. She started her career in local news but moved to Los Angeles to pursue her love for animation. She started her career working with Mattel on Hot Wheels, Barbie and WWE Slam City. After producing hundreds of hours of animation for various networks she shifted to Netflix Animation to produce 3 successful seasons of Spirit Rangers. Currently she’s producing the tv series Invincible.
ARRIVAL
Arrival: The Chapter House is located on Glendale Blvd. Please enter through the green rolling gate on Branden St.
Parking: Free street parking is available on Branden St, Alvarado St, Aaron St, Clifford St, and other surrounding residential streets. Parking is also available on Glendale Blvd Monday through Friday, 8 am - 3 pm for 1 hour, and Saturdays and Sundays anytime.
Public Transportation: Glendale/Clifford is the closest N bound Metro stop which runs buses 92 and 603. Glendale/Branden is the closest S bound Metro stop which runs buses 92 and 603.
Restrooms: There are 3 restrooms at The Chapter House, one is ADA accessible.