About Us

Rainbow Routes reimagines study abroad as a tool for empowerment, creating identity-affirming experiences that connect LGBTQ+ students across cultures and generations.

Our Approach

LGBTQ+ students often face significant barriers when it comes to participating in study abroad opportunities. Many are excluded from educational programming due to a lack of support or recognition of their needs. Furthermore, queer history is often overlooked or actively erased in academic curricula, leaving students with little knowledge of or connection to the global queer community. Many LGBTQ+ students experience social isolation, with few role models or communities of support in their academic environments. This is compounded by the dominant narrative that the world is unwelcoming or limiting because of our queerness.

Rainbow Routes empowers students to see their identities as a source of joy, pride, and global connection. Through our programs, students gain the confidence to embrace their full selves in global spaces, supported by a network of queer mentors, role models, and communities. Through these experiences, we not only offer them a chance to connect with queer activists, artists, and educators from around the world but also encourage them to see their queerness as a point of pride—an identity that can link them to global communities, role models, and futures they may not have realized were possible.

Rainbow Routes is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives.

What Sets Us Apart?

  • At Rainbow Routes, we customize every aspect of the experience—from applications and pre-departure orientations to in-country support and re-entry—ensuring a safe and welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ students. Our programs facilitate access to LGBTQ+-affirming resources, including mental and physical health services, community centers, and safety networks, providing students with essential support throughout their journeys.

  • Rainbow Routes celebrates LGBTQ+ pride and the richness of queer cultures, fostering a strong sense of belonging and joy. Our programs create supportive environments that empower students to connect deeply with their communities, embrace their identities, and take pride in their journeys.

  • Students live with local LGBTQ+ community members and actively engage with community centers, fostering intergenerational connections and building relationships with LGBTQ+ role models. We collaborate with organizations in host countries to facilitate students' integration into local queer events and provide meaningful opportunities to connect with the community.

  • Our programs prioritize LGBTQ+ history, narratives, and advocacy, providing deep engagement with global LGBTQ+ issues while ensuring that students understand the cultural context of each location.

  • Rainbow Routes integrates leadership development and advocacy training, empowering students to contribute meaningfully to the global LGBTQ+ movement. The skills and experiences gained will equip them to be effective advocates and leaders in their own communities long after the program ends.

Meet Our Founder

Lizzy Monroe (she/her)

B.A. Stanford University

M.A. SIT Graduate Institute

Lizzy Monroe (she/her) has over a decade of experience in international education and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming. Throughout her career, she has overseen programmatic design, delivery, and partnership engagement for various experiential learning formats. Her responsibilities have included managing quarter-length programs, designing short-term faculty-led trips, and providing on-site emergency response. She has worked in study abroad administration and programming at institutions including Pomona College, Stanford's Bing Overseas Studies Programs, Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and Diversity Abroad, where she conducted workshops and tailored guidance for universities and study abroad providers, advocating for equitable programs for underrepresented students.

Inspired by her personal and professional experiences, Lizzy founded Rainbow Routes to ensure that all queer students have the opportunity to travel and connect with a vibrant global queer community. She lives in Denver, CO, with her wife and their two spoiled dogs.

Our Advisory Board

  • Photo Credit: Julian Naderer

    Jon is a publisher based in Berlin, Germany. He spent six years designing sex toys, sports equipment, and homeware before founding Polar Embassy. What started as a side hustle has grown into an independent publishing house that spotlights queer and trans* artists through a portfolio of games, puzzles, and workbooks. 

    As someone who cherished his study abroad experiences, and has immigrated, Jon is very excited to help LGBTQIA+ youth find adventure and community abroad with Rainbow Routes. He hopes to be an allrounder resource for the team, especially when it comes to his adopted hometown.

    When not building Polar Embassy, Jon is most likely reading a horror or science fiction novel, watching Studio Ghibli, or trying to find the best bagel in Berlin.

  • Cierra currently serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Lyra Health. At Lyra, Cierra leads a team that aligns and champions internal and external DEIB values across the business. She's developed and implemented global internal and external stakeholder engagement strategies that advance inclusion and support business objectives. Before joining Lyra, Cierra was an Assistant Director for Student Life at Stanford's Graduate School of Business and a Program Associate for Stanford's Residential Education program, where she led the Education and Equity team and supported the Faculty in Residence in Residential Education.

    Cierra’s professional career began in collegiate athletics, advocating for a holistic student-athlete experience. Cierra is a trained Student Affairs professional and specializes in using design thinking to build creative and innovative learning experiences.  

    Cierra is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University (B.A.) and Michigan State University (M.A.). She accredits her family- especially her parents for her foundational upbringing and always aspires to be a reflection of her late mother's light, hope, and unconditional love. Cierra spends most of her time in Oakland, CA, and Atlanta, GA. 

  • Julie-Anne is an Experiential Education and International Education specialist. She has spent most of her career focusing on developing partnerships between universities and organizations that are centered around the principle of reciprocity. This has meant fostering sound relationships between NGOs and civil society organizations and academics, student groups and university departments. She currently manages the Organizational Projects for Stanford’s Overseas Studies Program in Cape Town, designing partner projects and overseeing student engagement with Cape Town based organizational partners.