Photo by Jazz Jennings on twitter
Photo by Steven Pisano on flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenpisano/27347311053/, CC BY 2.0

Jazz Jennings

TV Personality

Trans Kids Purple Rainbow Foundation

POSITION

TV Personality

COMPANY

Trans Kids Purple Rainbow Foundation

COUNTRY

USA

AGE

23 years

SCENE

Social

SOCIAL

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

What makes Jazz Jennings a Global Shaker?

Jazz Jennings is a YouTube star, spokesmodel, television personality and LGBT rights activist.

Jennings, a transgender woman, is notable for being one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender and for being the youngest person to become a national transgender figure, speaking publicly about her life as a young trans woman through her YouTube channel, “I Am Jazz.”

in 2007, Jennings received national attention following an interview with Barbara Walters, which aired on 20/20.

This kickstarted a career of other high-profile interviews and appearances. Christine Connelly, a member of the board of directors for the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, stated, “She was the first young person who picked up the national spotlight, went on TV and was able to articulate her perspective and point of view with such innocence.” Her supportive parents have also spoken out, stating that Jennings was clear on being female from the moment she could speak.

Jennings is an honorary co-founder of the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation, which she and her parents founded in 2007 to assist transgender youth. In 2013, she founded Purple Rainbow Tails, a company in which she fashions rubber mermaid tails to raise money for transgender children.

In March 2015, Johnson & Johnson announced a deal for Jennings to appear in the Clean & Clear “See The Real Me” digital campaign and shared “the trials of growing up transgender.” She also modelled for the NOH8 Campaign.

Jennings stars in the TLC reality TV series, I Am Jazz, which focuses on her life with her family as a teenager and as a transgender youth. The series premiered on July 15, 2015. The fifth season, chronicling the weeks leading to Jazz’s surgery, premiered in 2019.

Tags: Activism, children, LGBTQ+, TV

Last updated: March 31, 2020