Karissa Valencia is a deeply innovative and award-winning creative in the children’s animation space. Valencia is the first California Native American showrunner, and the creator, executive producer and showrunner of Netflix’s Spirit Rangers, a fantasy-adventure preschool series that celebrates community, nature and the rich heritage of Native American storytelling.
“Karissa is a creative visionary — a star who’s built an incredible team, and who casts a warm glow on everything and everyone she works with,” offers Heather Tilert, Director of Preschool Content at Netflix.
In celebration of her work on Spirit Rangers, Valencia 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.
“Through Spirit Rangers, Karissa Valencia, along with the largely Native creative team she has built and the tribal leaders who gave permission to tell their stories, beautifully celebrates several historically silenced cultures and challenges the notion that all Native American and Indigenous people are the same,” says Joely Proudfit, Ph.D., Native Production Consultant on Spirit Rangers.
Prior to developing Spirit Rangers, Valencia wrote for preschool favorites such Disney Junior’s Doc McStuffins, Vampirina, T.O.T.S and The Chicken Squad. Valencia is a member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, and currently resides in Los Angeles. Forbes sat down with Karissa Valencia to talk about her inspirations, life journey and career moves.
Goldie Chan: Hello Karissa, thank you for joining Forbes. What has been your favorite project to work on?
Karissa Valencia: I’ve been lucky enough to work on so many amazing projects during my career. Writing for kids is extremely fulfilling! We get to make them laugh and create characters that can directly impact how they’ll grow up and view the world. With that in mind, I have to say that the most fulfilling project I’ve worked on is Spirit Rangers. It was both a career and personal goal all wrapped in one. Creating a show where an Indigenous family exists in the present day, while also believing their culture is magic, has been a dream come true. Growing up on the Chumash reservation in the Santa Ynez Valley in California, I was fortunate to be surrounded by my culture. But when I would leave, I only saw my culture represented in my school’s history books or as a caricature in TV and Film. I’m so happy that Spirit Rangers is part of a new wave of Indigenous media that combats those stereotypes. Spirit Rangers is also the first job I’ve ever had where I wasn’t the only Indigenous person in the room. We have had over 100 Indigenous crew members who worked with our team of veterans at Netflix and SuperProd. It has been an incredible collaboration. I’m so proud of the content we have all made together, but also how we made it. Representation behind the scenes is just as important as what’s on screen.
Chan: How did you break into animation?
Valencia: Right after I graduated from Syracuse University in 2014, I had the opportunity to join Nickelodeon Animation Studios as an intern (“Nick-tern”). I worked in the Talent Development Department assisting the Writing and Artist Programs. It was such an incredible intro into the world of animation and truthfully, the ’90s kid in me was fan-girling every day. The community was extremely welcoming and I met so many incredible people.
Chan: How does your tribe and your greater Native American identity and community impact and inspire you?
Valencia: Great question! I feel proud to be Indigenous every day, especially as a California Native. My tribe’s resilience and perseverance to keep our culture alive was what motivated me to do the same for our community. It’s the reason why Spirit Rangers exists. I am also constantly in awe of our Native Youth. Watching our young Indigenous climate activists fight to protect our wildlife and planet is inspirational. They’re keeping Indigenous communities as part of the conversation and solution for climate change, which I greatly admire. I’m a huge fan of our National Parks and after realizing I had never met an Indigenous park ranger in my own ancestral land, it inspired me to create a family of park rangers in Spirit Rangers.
Chan: Describe your personal brand.
Valencia: I’m a storyteller with a passion for representation in front of and behind the camera. I enjoy challenging old Hollywood and creating spaces for artists to be themselves. As someone who is part of several minority groups, I enjoy writing stories about underdogs who learn to embrace who they are.
Chan: What is a book or podcast that you’re reading or listening to now that you’d recommend?
Valencia: There are so many! First one to come to mind is “The Screenwriting Life” with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna. Their perspective is so honest and genuine. They tackle the emotional side of getting to the core of a script or being a writer in general. I also laugh out loud to “Scam Goddess.” The host is hilarious as she unpacks the wildest scams and stories of con artists. And last but not least, I’ve also been really enjoying “Pod Crushed” where different celebrities share personal stories from their Middle School years. Their first crushes or embarrassing stories feel like they’re straight out of a movie.
Chan: What is a life lesson you’d share with your younger self?
Valencia: “Be Yourself.” The cheesiest, but simplest advice. The modern world makes it so easy to assimilate and move away from who we are. In my case, my Indigenous or Mexican roots felt easy to move away from when I was the only one in the room. But as soon as I embraced who I was, my family, my culture, everything started to click into place and my voice as an artist began to shine through.
Chan: What are you working on now?
Valencia: I’m happy to share that we’re currently working on Season 3 of Spirit Rangers. We have incredible new ocean characters and get to see beautiful new animation of ocean and beaches. We also have an amazing new voice cast, tribal partnerships, and new writers. An episode I am personally very proud of is one that I co-wrote with former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. She is someone I look up to as a fellow Indigenous woman writer and brought a new perspective into the writers room. I can’t wait for everyone to see her episode!
Chan: Any career advice for this year?
Valencia: As a new showrunner, a piece of advice I wish I listened to sooner was that resting and recharging is part of our jobs. I love showrunning and can easily fall into the trap of working too much. Luckily, writing about National Parks for four years has only inspired me to visit so many new ones this year!
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