We were lucky to catch up with Jayla Jackson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jayla, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Interestingly enough, I found things that made me mad. I have always defined activism and an activist in very different ways. Activism is work that is centralized around social justice with intentions to destroy hate, injustice, and discrimination. An activist is someone mad enough to move. I got an opportunity to speak to Andrew Young and I asked him what kept him going. There had to be hard nights and times that seemed impossible. He told me a story about MLK. He said MLK’s best kept secret is that he was extremely funny. And in those moments where everyone was defeated or when they got a moment to rest and exhale, he would joke about all the crazy people he has surrounded himself around. He would look around at his team and joke on them and himself for how insane they had to be to believe that they were going to change this world. And to me that spoke volumes.

I became an activist because there were things that made me angry enough to act, confused enough to cause change, and disgusted enough to divert from the status quo. I became mad. Crazy and insanely caught up in the idea of a better world. I found other people equally as insane. As always, I must give flowers to the Ron Clark Academy and Veritas Debate Institute for surrounding me with people who celebrated my crazy. Specifically, Susan Barnes and Pamela Haskins showed me how to use words to achieve change.

Anyone looking to go into an industry that is depended upon you being mad, I suggest that they learn an acute sense of self. I hope that they find people equally as insane or even more. I would encourage them to practice. Before I give a speech, finish a poem, or put a period to the end of some chapter I’ve written I ask myself why should anyone read, listen, or accept what I’m saying? If I wasn’t me, what would this do for me? And even with the films, the central question I surround myself around is; if this was in the theaters today and a group of people just finished watching it, as they leave the theater, what do I want them to take with them?

You are more in control than you were made to believe. Find yourself and your passion in everything.

Jayla, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am from Atlanta, Georgia. I am currently a high school senior and will be attending Agnes Scott College in the fall. Go Scotties! I stay in Stone Mountain with my parents and my four siblings. My introduction into the arts and activism was in middle school and my career started my sophomore year of high school when my debate partner and I became one half of the first black girl duo to win Harvards International Debate Competition. After the win, my partner and I found ourselves on every major news platform in America. It was also my first chance to share my individual projects and my platform with the world.

Due to the historic win, my partner and I were inducted into the Microsoft black history museum, we received a day in our names, and we were invited to speak all over the country. It also landed me my first speaking gig as an independent, in which, I spoke at the March On For Voting Rights in Atlanta.

Since then I have started a career as a professional public speaker, professional poet, host, filmmaker, and teacher. I have spoken and performed poetry for Coca-Cola, Future coalition, Warner Media, The 72nd International Women’s Convention, and many more. I currently host my own show called The Socialite available on my Instagram and YouTube where I have worked as a correspondent for New York Fashion Week, Revolt TV, and others. And my work as a filmmaker has led me to serve as an executive producer on the short film Ahmad with Emmy winner Dario Harris, write and produce two of my very own short films with Conversations productions, and my most recent project as an associate producer on Speak Up Brotha current playing in the Cleveland International Film Festival!

As I end my high school career, I am finishing my year serving as the Youth Poet Laureate for Atlanta and the Youth Lieutenant Governor for Georgia. I have been focused on taking the final steps to publish my poetry book which is coming soon and launching my own master class and crash course that offers resources, services, and a boatload of game that I have learned in my journey so far.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

On my show, I had the opportunity to interview Irv Gotti. Irv Gotti is the head of Murder Inc. Records and responsible for hits from major artist like Ashanti and Ja Rule. I asked if he could give advice to the members of the youth who are viewing my show about how to accomplish their goals as an artist. To my surprise, he looks directly in the camera and says nobody needs you. He wasn’t saying that to destroy anybody’s dreams but he was providing perspective that many people don’t give. He goes on to explain how people like him and other successful people are in their position for a reason. People try to pitch him music and ideas all the time but he has his own ideas and their good ones, that’s why he’s in his position. The advice he gave was to simply do good work. Do not focus on pitching or someone picking you, just do good work. Do the thing that you love. He ended by saying when you do good work, trust me, we will find you. The right people will find you.

I thought this was extremely powerful and phrased in a phenomenal way. I had always convinced myself that the goal was to get in the room with the right person or to be prepared enough to shoot my shot when in the presence of someone higher. I had to unlearn this. Because what the goal should actually be, is to do good work. To do the thing that you love. And to do it so fiercely that the people who you sought for will be seeking you!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I don’t believe there’s a such thing as non-creators. I think we all express creativity in our own way. But there are occupations that require more imagination than others. For those of us who find themselves aspiring to be or currently in roles that demand creativity, there can be times where it feels like there is a deep distinction between ourselves and others.

I find that it comes down to this. Creativity is channeled in two different ways. As a weapon or as a workshop. When an artist channels their voice through their art to destroy harmful and discriminatory messages, it is a sword. That artist has now enlisted themselves into a war that weighs on the physical, mental, and spiritual health. No claim goes unchallenged in our world. But when an artist uses their creativity as an invitation for discourse or as a love letter to a group of people, it is a tool. Despite an artists
intentions, the general public gets to decides their impact and methodology. In both methods of channeling, the artist is producing. They are pulling a piece out of them and selling it or sharing it.

Artist are seen as flaky, unserious, and moody. But if every day you had to decide whether you want to pull yourself apart for the promotion of a philosophy or for the good of a society, I think you’d be a little on the fence or whimsical. Art is emotional and it’s immersive. You’re not looking at a piece or a project, you are reading, viewing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling, and holding a person.

Contact Info:

• Website: jaylajackson.com
• Instagram: @thejaylajackson
• Facebook: @thejaylajackson
• Youtube: @thejaylajackson

Image Credits
Jay Jackson