Jazz Jennings (born October 6, 2000) is an American YouTube personality, spokesmodel, television personality, and LGBT rights activist. Jennings is one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender. Jennings received national attention in 2007 when an interview with Barbara Walters aired on 20/20, which led to 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 parents noted that Jennings was clear on being female as soon as she could speak. Jennings is a 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. Jennings hosts a series of YouTube videos about her life, titled "I Am Jazz". 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. Early life and education Jennings was born in South Florida to parents Greg and Jeanette. Jennings has an older sister, Ari, and two older brothers, twins Sander and Griffen. The family is Jewish. Regarding the last name, Jeanette explained that "Jennings is our pseudonym, to sort of make life easier. We try to hide our real last name as much as possible...Our last name is a very Jewish, long last name." Jennings was assigned male at birth and was diagnosed with gender dysphoria by age five, making her one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender. Jennings made it clear as soon as she could speak that she was female, and, although the family presented her publicly in gender-neutral clothing, she wanted to be presented in feminine clothing. As a child, Jennings went to Camp Aranu'tiq, the first sleepaway camp for transgender children. She attended Broward Virtual School, where she was the valedictorian of the class of 2019. She was accepted to Harvard University, but delayed entry for a year. Career At six years old, Jennings and her family began appearing on television