Angela Santomero

Angela Candace Santomero (born April 26, 1968) is an American television executive producer and co-creator of the Nickelodeon children's television programs Blue's Clues, its spin-off Blue's Room, and its reboot Blue's Clues & You!, as well as the PBS children's shows Super Why!, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, & Rosie's Rules the Amazon Studios series Creative Galaxy, Wishenpoof!, and the Netflix original series Charlie's Colorforms City. Santomero has won a Peabody Award, a 2012 Emmy Award for Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, two Television Critics Association Awards, and the 2018 World Screen's Kids Trendsetter Award. She has been nominated for more than twenty-five Emmy Awards and numerous Parents' Choice Gold and Silver Awards. Early life and education Santomero grew up in Harrington Park, New Jersey, where she attended Harrington Park Public School before attending and graduating from Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan in 1986. She received her bachelor's degree from Catholic University, which later presented her with their Young Alumni Merit Award. She earned a master's degree in child development and psychology, with a specialty in instructional technology and media, from Columbia University. During graduate school, she was influenced by the research of Daniel R. Anderson, who studied the effects of television violence on children and later served as a researcher and consultant for Blue's Clues, and "became fascinated with the idea that if television could have a powerful negative effect on kids, it could have an equally powerful positive effect on them..." She was also influenced by Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and the researchers of Sesame Street. Career Santomero worked as a researcher for Nickelodeon in the early 1990s, when the network was looking to create a new television show for preschoolers. In 1994, Santomero, along with director Todd Kessler and animator Traci Paige Johnson (a group that Nickelodeon executive Brown Johnson called a "green creative team"), created the "landmark" series Blue's Clues. According to writer Diane Tracy, Santomero, Kessler, and Johnson did not possess traditional backgrounds of most producers of children's programs, but "did possess an amazing combination of talents, backgrounds, and personal attributes." Santomero served as executive producer and head writer, and designed the show's research and curriculum.