From Child Star to Digital Trendsetter: The Skai Jackson Story

Born in 2002, Skai Jackson might be one of the most exciting young stars of her generation. Despite her age, she is already one of the most recognizable faces around — not just for her roles in Disney, but also for her strong social media presence.

Today, Skai continues to work hard in both her career and her activism as well. She continues to not only entertain her fans, but she also uses her massive platform to spark change in the world, especially for people who go through bullying.

Most people know Skai from her role in the Disney Series Jessie, but her career began years before she appeared there. She made several appearances as a child actor before that, including films like Liberty Kid (2007), Rescue Me (2008), The Rebound (2009), Arthur (2011), and she even did voice acting in The Smurfs (2011).

But it was her role as Zuri Ross in Jessie that caught the attention of the public. The series ran for four full seasons, and Zuri quickly became a very beloved character on television. So beloved, that the same character appeared in a bunch of other television shows like Austin & Ally, Good Luck Charlie, Ultimate Spider-Man, Bunk'd, and even Zendaya's K.C. Undercover.

Skai played the character so well that she was nominated for the Outstanding Performance by a Youth Award by Image Awards, and she won the Best Young Ensemble in a Television Series at the Young Entertainer Awards.

Skai was brilliant every time she played Zuri Ross. But, of course, it wasn’t going to last forever. She eventually started getting different roles in different television series, and she even did a few movies as well.

She continued voice acting for the Marvel Rising short films, and she also did the voice of Summer in the series Dreamwork’s Dragons: Rescue Riders.

Skai also featured in the music video of Lil Nas X’s song Panini. The song was a major success, and the music video went viral too thanks to Skai’s terrific performance.

Whenever someone achieves fame, there’s always a big question as to what they’re going to do with their platform. Skai decided to use hers for the good.

Skai is a very strong advocate for anti-bullying. Even as a child star, she experienced bullying first-hand in both her professional and private life. This is something that she constantly speaks about in speeches, as well as in social media to over 9 million followers on Instagram.

In 2019, Skai wrote a book titled Reach for the Skai: How to Inspire, Empower, and Clapback which went over her life as a child star, her experiences, and how to deal with bullying and other challenges as a young teen.

Most of Skai’s activism takes place on social media. Aside from bullying, Skai also talks about racism, representation, and a bunch of other social issues that affect so many people who don’t have a voice.