Activist at Heart: Skai Jackson's Campaigns for Change

Skai Jackson is undoubtedly influential. She’s been modeling since she was 1 year old, and she’s been acting since she was 4 years old. She’s an overachiever in her own right. And throughout her career, she has built a huge following.

She got on Twitter when she was 10 and created her Instagram account when she was 11 years old. On Instagram, the 21-year-old now has 8.8 million followers, a following that very few people have.

While she uses her platform as an actress, YouTuber, and model to promote her brand and interact with her followers, she also uses her huge it to advocate for social and political issues she is passionate about.

In 2017, she collaborated and worked with DoSomething.org and Takis on the "Treat Yo Friends" campaign. The anti-bullying campaign focused on and advocated for an end to bullying and isolationism. DoSomething and Takis encouraged young people to help their friends build confidence and improve their self-esteem.

DoSomething noted that about 1 in every 4 students in the country reported being bullied for having something that makes them unique. The goal of the nationwide campaign was to build a society that accepts and appreciates things that make every young person different and bold.

She’s also an advocate for girl empowerment in developing countries. She has worked with and advocated for organizations that help girls advance their education to college-level.

In 2018, she visited Kenya and explored the work of an organization called WE.org. She posted a video on Instagram, saying, “I think creating opportunities for girls, especially with education, is super important.”

She additionally notes in the video that, “A few years ago, girls weren’t really given the opportunity to go to college and go to different schools. WE is doing such an amazing job getting all these girls to pursue their dreams. It is truly inspiring to see.”

She started sharing screenshots of racist bullying that her fans and followers had shared with her in the DMs. In some cases, she shared the bullies’ names, putting a name and face to racist bullying on the internet. In other cases, she shared more information, such as where they worked or schooled.

Speaking with ET’s Melicia Johnson, Skai said, "I would always just get DMs from my fans because people know I'm an advocate for anti-bullying." She continued to say, "So I would always just look at my messages and see a bunch of my fans saying, 'Look at what this person said to me, I don't know how to deal with this.'"

When the fans' DMs exposing racism increased, she decided to help out in her own small way. "The more I saw it, it became 20 in a day, I was like, you know what? No! I'm gonna speak out about it, 'cause I think it's really important.”

Acknowledging her desire to do good with her platform, she said, that “people go through these struggles every day in life, and for me, it's kinda like my duty with the big platform that I have, to use it for good."

She started sharing screenshots of racist bullying that her fans and followers had shared with her in the DMs. In some cases, she shared the bullies’ names, putting a name and face to racist bullying on the internet. In other cases, she shared more information, such as where they worked or schooled.