Peter Dzubay · CC BY-SA 3.0

Rebecca Sugar created Steven Universe for Cartoon Network after cutting her teeth as a writer and storyboard artist on Adventure Time, becoming, at the show's 2013 premiere, the first woman to independently create a series for the network -- a distinction that shifted after she came out as non-binary. Her work across the two series has earned seven Primetime Emmy nominations, and she has used her platform to argue for LGBT representation in children's entertainment.