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
Queer history is rarely taught. Mentors are hard to find. Community can feel out of reach. For too many queer students, the path through education can feel isolating. Without reflection or belonging, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s possible.
Research shows that studying abroad expands opportunity. It’s linked to higher graduation rates, stronger career mobility, and a greater sense of confidence and purpose. Yet many LGBTQ+ students are discouraged by real and perceived safety risks and limited guidance on navigating identity while abroad. Others simply never see global learning presented as something meant for them. When queer history is erased from classrooms, the idea of discovering it in another country feels distant or even unimaginable.
Rainbow Routes changes that. Our programs bring queer history and community to life through place-based learning and local partnerships. Students learn directly from activists, artists, and educators who have shaped movements around the world. They return with new confidence, deeper connection, and a clearer sense of how identity can be a source of strength and pride.
Each program strengthens ties across generations and borders, building community, expanding opportunity, and creating new routes to belonging.
Rainbow Routes is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives.
What Sets Us Apart?
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Every Rainbow Routes program is designed with care for the full LGBTQ+ experience. From pre-departure orientations to in-country partnerships and re-entry support, students are met with community every step of the way. We connect participants with affirming health resources, local LGBTQ+ networks, and trusted mentors to ensure they feel supported, seen, and safe throughout their journey.
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Rainbow Routes centers queer pride and joy as essential parts of learning and community. Each program highlights the creativity, resilience, and connection that define LGBTQ+ life around the world.
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Rainbow Routes programs are rooted in community. Students live alongside local LGBTQ+ hosts and engage directly with community centers, artists, and activists. These experiences foster intergenerational connection and offer students real relationships with role models who model queer life and leadership. Through partnerships with local organizations, students become part of ongoing community work and celebrations, experiencing queer culture as something living, shared, and global.
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Rainbow Routes’ curriculum is designed by award-winning professors and grounded in learning theories that emphasize access, engagement, and reflection. Each program blends classroom learning with experiential activities that explore queer history, advocacy, and culture in context. Students connect theory with lived experience, developing a deeper understanding of identity, community, and global belonging.
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Rainbow Routes integrates leadership development and advocacy training that prepare students to contribute meaningfully to the global LGBTQ+ movement. Each partnership is built to share knowledge, resources, and visibility, strengthening both students and local communities. The skills and relationships formed through these programs equip participants to lead and advocate long after their journey 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. She has led program design, delivery, and partnerships across a range of experiential learning models, including quarter-length programs, short-term faculty-led trips, and on-site emergency response.
Her background includes roles in study abroad administration at Pomona College, Stanford’s Bing Overseas Studies Program, and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, as well as work with Diversity Abroad, where she supported universities and providers in creating more equitable programs for underrepresented students. In 2025, she was selected as an IGLTA Foundation Fellow, joining a global network of leaders advancing inclusive travel and LGBTQ+ visibility worldwide.
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
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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.
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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.
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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.