Peabody, Emmy, and Humanitas Prize-winning children’s television screenwriter and producer Chris Nee has signed an overall deal with Netflix. The pact sees Nee writing and producing new animated and live-action series for preschool and all audiences exclusively for the streamer, a press release announced. Netflix will also have a first-look option on features from Nee and Laughing Wild, her production company.

Best known as the creator of  Disney Junior’s “Doc McStuffins,” the first preschool show to feature an animated African American female as the lead character and a family led by LGBTQ parents, Nee also developed and exec produced “Vampirina.” She launched her career as an associate producer at Sesame Street International, working in local productions around the world for “Sesame Street.” A long-time and vocal champion of inclusivity, Nee was drawn to Netflix due in part to their support of her stance.

“The beauty of Netflix is that they don’t define me by what I’ve done in the past, but by who they think I can be in the future,” said Nee. “I love that they don’t believe in boxes but rather encourage creators to dream big and swing for the fences creatively. Just as important is my ability to define the culture of my company and double-down on finding and nurturing new and diverse voices. My mission is to create work that reflects the world we live in and lend a voice to the storytellers who haven’t always had access. I can’t wait to get started.”

Melissa Cobb, Vice President of Kids & Family for Netflix, added, “Chris is an absolute master at crafting characters that kids want to spend time with and telling stories that are representative of all different types of families and communities. She is among the very best and most prolific artists working in kids content today and we are so honored that Chris has chosen to make Netflix her creative home.”

“When Doc came around, Doc could have been either [a boy or a girl], and I felt really strongly [that she be a girl],” Nee has revealed. “I mean the story with Doc is that I created it for my son but I made her an African American girl. I really believed that was the representation that mattered. We didn’t need another boy lead character. I was still making it for my son and I believed that he would still care about the character,” she recalled. “And that I could do both things and that it was more important to shine a light and bring representation that we know is sorely lacking on the screen. So, it’s definitely something that I feel passionately about and that will always be the case.” She emphasized, “I enjoy being able to bring out what I know girl characters can be, which is anything and everything.”