Jazzie Jelks

Jazzie Jelks is a US-based artist, writer, dancer, entrepreneur, 2021 RISE Global Finalist, and 2022 Alumna of the Global Citizen Year Academy, born, raised, and homeschooled in the state of Alabama. She is incredibly passionate about exploring the diverse nature of the human experience through the lens of visual and literary arts. Her unique response for the Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust’s inaugural “Rise for the World” Challenge, Jazzie Jelks Creative Studios—a Black-owned creative production studio designed to create more positive representation for people of the African diaspora and other historically-excluded, marginalized communities through the power of art, media, fiction, and creative nonfiction—gained her recognition as a RISE Global Finalist in 2021. She is also a recipient of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards 2021 Silver Key Awards for her personal essay, “Floating Into My Destiny.”