WHO WE ARE
“Rainbow Child Productions is on a mission to produce a body of material that will inspire the next generation of 'thinkers' to create narratives that are authentic to their truths." -Ashley Jackson
WHAT WE'RE ABOUT
Founded by Ashley Jackson, Rainbow Child Productions is a multi-platform media company that prioritizes the fusion between art and scholarship and promotes inclusive and authentic content creation. Supplemented by the team's roots in entertainment, social activism, and academia, content developed via the Rainbow Child Production banner uses storytelling as a catalyst for meaningful change and serves as a vessel to disrupt the status quo.
Ashley Jackson
CEO & FOUNDER
Ashley Jackson is an actress, screenwriter, producer, and recording artist. She is known for starring in the Netflix film BEATS as Niyah, alongside Anthony Anderson, Uzo Aduba, and Khalil Everage. Her most recent feature film debut, a Sony Pictures, MACRO Entertainment collaboration, “BLAST BEAT,” premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2020. At age fifteen, Jackson became a protégé of veteran actor Richard Lawson and has appeared in numerous film and television projects in the years since. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackson accepted an Apprentice for Freeform & ONYX Collective position in the first inaugural Disney General Entertainment Content Apprenticeship Program.
Jackson is the youngest daughter of American political activist Jesse Jackson and author and intellectual Karin Stanford; sister of American politician Jesse Jackson Jr.; and niece of renowned songwriter Charles "Chuck" Jackson. Her interests in gender equality, education, and civil rights, paired with her upbringing influenced by her politically active parents, inform her most-recent writings and acquisitions.
After earning her high school diploma from Sierra Canyon School at age sixteen, Jackson attended California State University, Northridge, where she studied Cinema & Television Arts, emphasizing Screenwriting. During her studies, she unveiled her research paper entitled "The Liberation of Cinema: Nurturing Pan African Narratives During a Cultural War" at the 2018 National Council for Black Studies Conference and published her research on her father in an article entitled "Jesse L. Jackson, Sr." in the two-volume Black Power Encyclopedia: From "Black is Beautiful" to Urban Uprisings that same year.
She then transferred to Spelman College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in an independent major she developed: "African American Narratives in Cinema and Television" with an emphasis in Screenwriting, under the advisement of director Julie Dash and Elyce Strong-Mann. Although Jackson was a working actress while enrolled, she maintained a consistent presence on the "Dean's List" and graduated as a “Top Ten” student with Summa Cum Laude Honors. She holds membership in the National Society of High School Scholars, National Society of Collegiate Scholars Honor Society, and the “illustrious” Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
After contracting COVID-19 at Sundance Film Festival and experiencing a resurgence of the virus a few months later, Jackson has been deemed a "COVID-19 Long Hauler." Turning her pain into power, she has continued to advocate for those navigating chronic illness during the pandemic. In 2021, she was also recognized as one of the Most Influential People of African Descent by MIPAD in their Class of 2021 "100 Under 40" Edition, spotlighted in Media & Culture: High Achievers of African Descent Worldwide.
Karin Stanford
SVP & PARTNER
Dr. Karin Stanford is a Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and producer. Before joining the faculty at CSUN in 2003, where she served as Chair of the Pan African Studies Department and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities in subsequent years, Dr. Stanford served as a faculty member in Department of Political Science at the University of Georgia. Dr. Stanford’s teaching areas are African American Politics, Social Movements, Hip Hop Politics, and Public Policy.
Dr. Stanford has received several awards and recognition for her publications, including: a 2003 NAACP Image Award nomination for her co-authored book with Ollie Johnson III, Ph.D., Black Political Organizations in the Post-Civil Rights Era and Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award in 2009 for If We Must Die: African American Voices on War and Peace. Her article “Keepin’ it Real in Hip Hop Politics: A Political Perspective of Tupac Shakur," has remained one of the most-read articles since its debut in 2011. And earlier in her career, her 1997 publication Beyond the Boundaries: Reverend Jesse Jackson in International Affairs won the National Conference of Black Political Scientists Outstanding Book Award in 1998.
In 2014, she co-authored the book, Nine Lives of a Black Panther: A Story of Survival with Wayne Pharr, a former member of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. She is also a co-editor of the Black Power Encyclopedia: From “Black is Beautiful to Urban Uprisings,” published in 2018. That same year, Higher Learning: Hip Hop in the Ivory Tower, which she co-edited with Charles E. Jones, was released. In 2020, an exhibit curated by Dr. Stanford, “From Selma to Montgomery: The Voting Registration Campaigns of 1963 and 1965,” debuted at CSUN. The documentary short she directed, “Los Angeles: Displacement in Utopia” became an official selection of the Pan African Film Festival.
Recognizing the importance of health disparities, Dr. Stanford has integrated health equity into her research and community work, evidenced by her groundbreaking book, Breaking the Silence: Inspirational Stories of Black Cancer Survivors. She serves on the boards of: the California Black Women’s Health Project, the National Council for Black Studies and the International Journal of Africana Studies Editorial Board. Additionally, Dr. Stanford is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and Special Projects Director of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center.
Dr. Stanford earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science from Howard University, specializing in African American Politics and International Relations; a Master’s in Public Administration (MPH) from the University of Southern California (USC), and undergraduate degrees from Chico State. Dr. Stanford became a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Congressional Black Caucus Fellow.
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