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The Top 13 Power Lesbians in Entertainment in 2007

Who are the top lesbians in the entertainment industry? Who actually brokers the deals, tops the charts and brings lesbians onto the silver screen, into our living rooms and our iPods every day? Though there are countless queer women out there working hard to make your life a bit more entertaining, we’ve narrowed them down to the top 13. These power lesbians – and we believe they probably own a power suit or two – are the ones who make our jobs here at AfterEllen.com possible.

13. Amy Ray — Musician; President, Daemon Records

For countless lesbians of a certain age, the soundtrack to their coming-out was likely the Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine” – it even made it into an episode of The L Word. But the Indigo Girls’ trademark acoustic folk and vocal harmony are quite different from Amy Ray’s solo endeavors, which ride on the punk edge of the rock spectrum. She released her first solo album, Stag, in 2001, and followed that up with Prom in 2005, an album that did not shy away from controversial topics such as the Christian right, homophobia and violence against gays.

In addition to speaking out in her own music, Ray, now 42, founded her own record label, Daemon Records, in 1992. Daemon aims to provide a nurturing environment for independent musicians – often with a queer bent – including alt-folk trio Girlyman and transgender spoken word artists Athens Boys Choir.

“There’s a lot of great queer music that does not get recognized and put out, and so just by default, a lot of artists ended up with us … because they had no other place to go, and I’m very proud of the artists,” Ray told AfterEllen.com in January 2007. “We have straight artists too, but they’re sort of queer too, because they have to have this perspective to be on our label. Because if you didn’t have a very subversive perspective, you wouldn’t really want to be on the label.”

12. Stacy Codikow – Founder and Executive Director, POWER UP

When Stacy Codikow co-founded, with Amy Shomer, the Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment Reaching Up in 2000, her goal was to meet other gay women in the entertainment business. Seven years later, POWER UP has grown into much more than a social or networking organization; it has become a veritable mini-studio, producing short films such as Stuck (2001), D.E.B.S. (2003), which became a feature film in 2004, and Little Black Boot, among others. This year POWER UP releases its first feature-length film, The Itty Bitty Titty Committee, directed by Jamie Babbit (But I’m a Cheerleader).

Codikow learned the Hollywood ropes by attending USC’s School of Cinema, followed by working as a producer’s coordinator on Cagney & Lacey. Her work supporting and promoting lesbian filmmakers has not gone unnoticed; in 2003 she received the LACE Award from the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center for her contributions to the gay community in arts and entertainment, and in 2004, POWER UP received the Leadership Award from the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.

When asked whether Itty Bitty would be successful, she told The Advocate in 2005: “I’ve always said to people, ‘Things move like a train. Don’t ask questions. Hang on. We’re going somewhere.'”

11. Lisa Sherman – Senior Vice President and General Manager, Logo

In 2004, MTV Networks announced that it would launch an ad-supported cable channel devoted entirely to LGBT programming: Logo. Because the channel would be ad-supported, perhaps it is not surprising that a former ad exec, Lisa Sherman, was brought in to oversee daily operations at the fledgling network. Though Sherman had never previously worked in television, under her guidance Logo’s advertisers have grown from three at its debut in 2005 to more than 60.

In addition, Sherman has overseen the expansion of the network’s programming to a broad range of shows, including its flagship drama Noah’s Arc , reality series such as First Comes Love and Curl Girls, and classic queer programs such as Queer as Folk and Britain’s Bad Girls. And we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that in 2006, Logo broadened its internet presence by acquiring AfterEllen.com and AfterElton.com.

Sherman is a board member of God’s Love We Deliver, an organization that works to alleviate hunger in those living with HIV/AIDS or other serious illnesses, and she is a former executive committee board member of the Human Rights Campaign. She and her partner, Sophie Dagenais, announced their marriage in the New York Times in 2003.

“The gay and lesbian audience was once invisible and then on the periphery,” Sherman told the Jack Myers Media Business Report on Logo’s two-year anniversary. “We have emerged as visible, viable and, from an advertisers perspective, very valuable.”

10. Nancylee Myatt – Co-executive Producer, South of Nowhere

On television, there are two programs with regular lesbian characters: The L Word and South of Nowhere, a half-hour drama about a Southern California family including queer teen Spencer Carlin (Gabrielle Christian). Overseeing South of Nowhere‘s lesbian story line is out lesbian writer Nancylee Myatt, who advocated for Spencer’s coming-out story from the beginning, even though network execs were initially wary of it. Since South of Nowhere debuted in 2005, it has become a fan favorite and been renewed for a third season.

Prior to South of Nowhere, Myatt produced the 2003 comedy Wave Babes and wrote episodes of numerous television series, including Night Court and Living Single. She also wrote and produced the pilot Nikki and Nora, a drama about two lesbian detectives, for UPN. “In the entertainment business the real power comes from the people who have the money and can greenlight your project: The studios, the networks, the advertisers, etc.,” said Myatt when we asked her about being a powerful lesbian in entertainment.

“On the creative side, writing, directing, producing, power comes with success. You’re successful by being able to tell a story and connect with an audience. But first you need visibility and opportunity to even get up to bat. And those variables have very little to do with sexual orientation. But I’ve been at it a while and I do like to think that I’m a Made Woman in my particular ‘Muffia’ family.”

9. Melissa Etheridge – Musician

When Melissa Etheridge came out in 1993 at one of President Clinton’s inaugural balls, she was taking a career risk that paid off in spades. A few months later, she won a Grammy Award for her song “Ain’t It Heavy” from Never Enough, and her next album, Yes I Am, sold over 25 million copies. She proved, once and for all, that a mainstream recording artist could continue to be successful after coming out of the closet.

And Etheridge has taken that fact to heart. Since she came out, she has been a consistent supporter of gay rights (especially the rights of gay parents) while maintaining a mainstream image. She and her partner Tammy Lynn Michaels allowed their wedding to be televised on ABC’s In Style Celebrity Weddings, and in 2004, when she weathered a battle with breast cancer, she received unprecedented support from her fans and the mainstream media. This past Sunday, Etheridge won an Academy Award for her song “I Need to Wake Up” that she wrote for Vice President Al Gore’s documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.

Though she hasn’t released a new full-length album since Lucky in 2004, Etheridge still makes a difference through her openness about her life, from her frankness about her battle with cancer to thanking her wife while accepting her Oscar. “Career is such a small part of what we are right now,” she told US Weekly last fall after Michaels gave birth to their two twins. “Her career is different from mine. I went from selling less than a million copies ’til I came out then I sold six million — [being gay] actually amplified my career.”

8. Angela Robinson – Director and Writer

Writer and director Angela Robinson burst onto the lesbian movie scene in 2003 with a campy, quirky short film produced by POWER UP titled D.E.B.S. and starring Tammy Lynn Michaels. The short film, about a group of girl spies who take on a lesbian villain, caught the eye of Screen Gems after it screened at Sundance, and a feature-length version of D.E.B.S. was released in 2004. That film caught the eye of Disney, who quickly pegged her to direct Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), starring Lindsay Lohan, and then signed her to a two-year first-look deal to write, produce and direct.

These days, the 36-year-old Robinson has her hands full. Not only is she writing and directing episodes of Showtime’s The L Word, she is working on three more Disney films. Jenbot is a comedic Bionic Woman about a ditzy girl who is implanted with robotics; Witches is about a soldier who recruits a witch hunter to help him rescue his love from a warlock; and Mi Casa, Su Casa is billed as a comedy about a Latino family.

In Robinson’s spare time, she pens a column for AfterEllen.com, Fringe Theory. Last fall, when she considered the film landscape in light of lesbian moviemaking, she wrote a veritable call to arms for aspiring queer filmmakers everywhere: “We have the power now. We have the tools of creation and the means to distribute our work. We don’t have to beg for scraps and try to cross over. We can make our own stuff and let them come over here if they want. In fact, let’s break down this here and there crap and just make great, fun, moving, hilarious, intense, bold work.”

7. Christine Vachon – Producer

In 1994, producer Christine Vachon — already known as one of the key producers in New Queer Cinema for her films Swoon (1992) and Poison (1991) — took a chance on a little lesbian film, Go Fish. That film made Vachon a legend to lesbian film fans, and since then she has gone on to produce a treasure trove of critically acclaimed films that often have a queer edge, including Velvet Goldmine (1998), Boys Don’t Cry (1999), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) and most recently, Infamous (2006).

Vachon, now 44, co-founded Killer Films in 1995, and she has written two books about her career in independent filmmaking: Shooting to Kill: How an Independent Producer Blasts Through the Barriers to Make Movies That Matter (1998) and A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond (2006). She is currently working on a number of projects, including a Bob Dylan biopic starring Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Richard Gere as various aspects of the legendary musician.

Though Vachon’s projects may include lesbian and gay characters or themes, she insists that she is not driven to make films only about those issues. “This industry has always been driven by people going to see what they want to see, either because it strikes a chord or because it’s something they haven’t seen before,” she told AfterEllen.com last November. “And that is always the way it’s going to be.”

6. Nina Jacobson – Producer

After eight years as president of the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group, where Nina Jacobson oversaw such blockbusters as The Sixth Sense (1999), Remember the Titans (2000) and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the executive was summarily fired during a major restructuring of the film studio. But Jacobson was not unemployed for long. In December 2006 she signed a three-year first-look production deal with DreamWorks Studios, where she had worked prior to her stint as a Disney executive.

At DreamWorks, Jacobson developed What Lies Beneath (2000) and the animated film Antz (1998). Before DreamWorks, Jacobson was a senior vice president at Universal, where she oversaw films including Dazed and Confused (1993) and Twelve Monkeys (1995). She has long been an out lesbian, and co-founded with producer Bruce Cohen the organization Out There, a group for out gay and lesbian entertainment activists.

Jacobson and her partner have three children. When she was named one of the most powerful gay women in show business by POWER UP in 2001, she said: “I hope that as an out lesbian and working mom, I can inspire others to pursue all of their goals, personal and professional, no matter how many people tell you that one must be sacrificed for the other.”

5. Rosie O’Donnell – Comedian

The comedian formerly known as the Queen of Nice has undergone a major transformation since the days of her talk show, Rosie, which ruled the daytime airwaves in the mid-1990s. In years immediately following the end of her talk show, O’Donnell underwent more than her share of bad press and had to deal with fallout from the failure of her magazine (and the lawsuit that followed), the failure of her Broadway play Taboo, and the failure of her haircut. But in 2006, she returned to the media spotlight by landing a gig as co-host on Barbara Walters’ The View, where she upped the ratings by 27 percent from the year before.

In the four years between Rosie and The View, O’Donnell also came out as a lesbian, advocated for the rights of gay parents, launched R Family Cruises with her partner, Kelli O’Donnell, married Kelli on the steps of San Francisco City Hall in February 2004, and became a blogger and artist. As if that weren’t enough to keep her busy, last fall O’Donnell made a guest appearance on Nip/Tuck that led to rumors that the show would launch a spinoff based on her character.

But despite her recent successes, O’Donnell has continued to be spotlighted negatively in the media due to her outspokenness — something that thrills gay activists when she talks openly about her same-sex marriage on The View, but is upsetting when she inadvertently makes racist comments in the name of comedy. “There are people who think that I’m strident and bossy and much too New York and left-wing liberal,” she told Newsweek last September. “You get what you paid for, and there’s no way that I’m going to change.”

4. Ilene Chaiken – Creator, The L Word

In 1999, television writer Ilene Chaiken wrote a magazine article about same-sex couples with children; that article sparked an idea for a television series based on her experiences as a lesbian mother in Los Angeles. At the time, she didn’t receive a positive response to her pitch, but in 2001 the timing was right, and when she pitched the idea a second time, Showtime greenlit what has since become a historic series: The L Word, the first dramatic series focusing on the lives of a cast of lesbian characters.

Chaiken got her start in television by working as an executive for Aaron Spelling Productions and Quincy Jones Entertainment, honing her craft in the era of shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Beverly Hills 90210. She went on to write the Pamela Anderson action flick Barb Wire (1996) and two features for Showtime, Damaged Care (2002) and Dirty Pictures (2000), which won a Golden Globe for Best Television Movie.

But it is The L Word that has brought Chaiken more acclaim — and criticism — than any of her previous projects. Despite the criticism that she and The L Word have faced, she told Screentalk.com: “I never write with an audience in mind. I write hoping an audience will come to the show, but I don’t write to please a particular audience or to try and capture a particular audience. I write to tell my stories as best I can.”

3. Carolyn Strauss – President, HBO Entertainment

Unlike many Hollywood executives, Carolyn Strauss hasn’t moved from one production shingle to another. She started out as a temp in HBO’s documentary department in 1986 after earning her B.A. from Harvard, and since then has moved steadily up the corporate ladder to become their President of Entertainment. In her tenure at HBO, she has supervised the development and production of such acclaimed series as The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Oz and others — many of which are particularly queer-friendly.

Currently, Strauss is overseeing the development of True Blood, a new project from Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) based on Charlaine Harris’ novels; a series about a family of surfers from David Milch, the creator of Deadwood; a pilot from Linda Bloodworth-Thomas about a Dallas matriarchy; and a series about intimacy between couples called Tell Me You Love Me.

Might she have any advice for aspiring lesbian television execs? “On every step of the corporate ladder here, you could just put a little stiletto heel print next to it,” Strauss told Broadcasting and Cable in 1995, “and I’ve done it. Well, make that a sneaker. I don’t wear stilettos.”

2. Linda Perry – Musician, Producer

Though this rock star first hit the big time in 1992 with her band, 4 Non Blondes, and their chart-topping single “What’s Up,” Linda Perry has since made a name for herself behind the recording studio mixing boards rather than in front of the mic. After the worldwide success of 4 Non Blondes’ debut album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, Perry split from the band before they had a chance to make a follow-up album, instead releasing a critically acclaimed solo album that nonetheless failed to get anywhere close to Bigger‘s 1.8 million copies sold.

It wasn’t until 2001, when Perry penned another chart-topping hit — this time the No.1 smash “Get the Party Stated” on Pink’s M!ssundaztood — that Perry’s career took another turn for the top. Her producing of Pink’s blockbuster second CD was followed by producing Christina Aguilera’s Stripped (2002), including the No. 1 hit “Beautiful,” cementing Perry’s new status as hitmaker to young, edgy pop stars. Collaborations with other artists followed, including Gwen Stefani, Kelly Osbourne and the Dixie Chicks (Perry co-wrote “Voice Inside My Head” on 2006’s Taking the Long Way).

Despite Perry’s mainstream success as a producer and songwriter, she has remained true to an independent ethos in her own music. She re-released her solo album, In Flight, on indie label Kill Rock Stars two years ago and also founded her own label, Custard, which is behind James Blunt’s ubiquitous tune “You’re Beautiful.” Perry told Entertainment Weekly in 2005: “If I start doing stuff again that I don’t believe in, I’ll pack up my bags, sell the studio, and go work at Wal-Mart.”

1. Ellen DeGeneres – Comedian

Nearly 10 years after the most public coming-out in history, comedian Ellen DeGeneres, whose career has seen a major comeback since the premiere of her talk show in September 2003, is clearly on top of the Hollywood pile. Her hosting of the 79th Academy Awards on Feb. 25, 2007, was a success: Ratings were up 3 percent overall from last year, averaging 39.9 million viewers according to initial Nielsen reports, with particular improvements in women viewers.

The fact that DeGeneres, an out lesbian comedian who suffered serious popular backlash after she came out in 1997, was able to draw such a wide audience shows that her mild-mannered approach to comedy as well as her low-key presentation of her life has finally paid off. When DeGeneres first launched her daytime talk show, she rarely mentioned her personal life — an omission that many LGBT viewers found both telling and somewhat disappointing. But as the program has continued to be successful, garnering 15 Emmy awards to date, DeGeneres has relaxed the apparent rules on gay content, and now mentions her girlfriend, Portia de Rossi, much more often than in earlier years.

But the experiences she underwent after her coming-out have clearly stayed with her. “I expected everybody to understand right away,” she told W magazine this month, recalling the negative effects of her coming-out. “I still think I was right. But I got to learn how to sit back and watch other people and learn what judgment was and have compassion. And learn that not only was I strong enough to make it in the first place, but I was strong enough to come back and make it again.”

What do you think of our top 13? Tell us who you would add to the list, and watch Power Lesbians on Logo on March 1 at 12 p.m., March 3 at 9 a.m., or March 5 at 12:30 a.m.

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