Creative, Editorial & Production Consultant
Artist | Graphic Memoirist | Book Mentor
Janine is an Asian and Black Native multidisciplinary artist grounded in racial justice, children's books and visually-driven storytelling. When they are not working on their own projects, Janine provides creative and production management services as a consultant, and mentors and coaches authors with unique visions whose atypical books boggle norms and transcend convention.
As we uncover, reconcile,
and share our stories,
we heal ourselves and each other.
Photo by Jean Melasaine
Janine has worked on dozens of picture books as an employee, consultant, and publisher. After studying publishing at New York University, Janine worked at ColorLines Magazine and interned at Chronicle Books in San Francisco before apprenticing at Children’s Book Press, the first and longest standing first voice multicultural children’s publishing house in the nation (before it was acquired by Lee & Low Books). There, she explored the ins and outs of editorial, marketing and publicity before focussing on graphic design and print production as a full-time employee. In 2013, Janine launched Blood Orange Press to correct the invisibility of people of color in children’s literature. Before transitioning to consulting, they worked for racial justice nonprofit organizations for fifteen years, in roles from Business Associate to Development Director to Chief Operating Officer and Chief Diversity Officer. Janine received bachelors of arts degrees in Ethnic Studies (via American Studies), and Cultural Anthropology (emphasis in systems of difference) from UC Santa Cruz.
Janine has spoken at conferences, and moderated and sat on panels exploring art and the movement for social change, and diversity in children’s literature. Their work has been covered in television, radio, and print media.
She is third generation Oakland, California, second generation born and raised, and a product of Oakland Public Schools.
Photo by Clemente Aseron
Oakland author-illustrator Janine Macbeth celebrates boyhood and fatherhood in this remarkable picture book. … [Oh, Oh, Baby Boy] puts a spotlight on a kind of dad rarely seen in picture books, portraying a joyous mixed-race family thriving in a happily multiracial world.
— San Francisco Chronicle (in print!)
