The Rainbow Readers Cruise Crew
Joel Leslie (Froomkin)
Host and Creator
Joel is an Audie nominated, twelve-time Earphones Award-Winning narrator of over 450 titles. He was the recipient of the 2020 Best Male Narrator Award at the Independent Audio Book Awards and the 2020 Best Humor Narration recipient at the Society of Voice Arts Awards (in addition to his five other SOVAS nominations). He is the recipient of two Audiobook Reviewer awards and was named the first member of the Narrator Hall of Fame and All-Time Favorite Narrator in the Goodreads M/M Reader’s Choice Awards.
He is a sucker for Disney and dachshunds.
www.joelleslienarration.com
Rich Najuch
Producer, Creator, and Travel Arrangements
Rich is the one you will be emailing, phoning, or texting with! All cruise and conference bookings will be handled by him.
Rich is an Accredited Cruise Counselor, member of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), and a registered cruise travel agent.
He is familiar with planning and executing events through his work as Executive Producer at The New Huntington Theater for 10 years, as Executive Assistant to the Dean of Columbia Business School, and a lifetime in the theater. When not booking cruise adventures, Rich is usually working at a sewing or embroidery machine.
www.cruisingwithrich.com
Joyfully Jay
Promotional Partner and Moderator
Jay (she/her) runs Joyfully Jay, an LGBTQ romance review blog she founded in 2011. Joyfully Jay reviews all subgenres of LGBTQ romance, along with other related odds and ends. The blog runs about 15 reviews per week, as well as hosting frequent guest posts from a variety of authors. Jay loves LGBTQ romance and has been reading in the genre for about 14 years. She averages about 4 books a week and loves to talk about them with readers.
Jay is married to her high school sweetheart and is the mom of two amazing girls, a wrangler of cats, and a bossy redhead. She is an avid reader and lover of beaches, lazy days, and all things chocolate and peanut butter. In her day job, Jay works in IT training and communication. In addition to the blog, Jay also hangs out on Twitter or Facebook and always loves meeting fellow readers! You can also reach her by email at jay@joyfullyjay.com.
Mo Sytsma
Guest Host and Moderator
Mo is a multi-passionate fangirl with a love for words, storytelling, and the authors and narrators who bring those stories to life. As a freelance editor and co-founder of Comma Sutra Editorial, she enjoys collaborating with authors to polish and perfect their stories for both print and audio.
Mo is part of the team at Audibly Addicted Productions, a boutique audio production house producing and promoting romance audio, including some of your favorite gay romance titles. She also co-hosted the Audibly Addicted podcast, celebrating romance lit and its creators.
She is the Audiobook Coordinator for the Indies Invade Philly author event, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2024. Mo organizes the narrator presence at the event, bringing voice actors and authors together to meet and greet the listeners who love them.
She is also the head Joel Junkie.
www.facebook.com/CommaSutraEditorial
www.audiblyaddicted.com