Hi, I’m Jazmine. I am a writer, editor and professor.
I write about people: celebrities, civilians and, of course, myself. I spend a lot of time thinking about social codes and interpersonal relationships and cultural pull and why we like the things that we like. (I was homeschooled until the fifth grade and I’ve been trying to make up for it ever since.)
When Fran Lebowitz retires from being New York’s Public Speaker, I’d like to throw my hat in the ring. I’ve moderated panels and hosted events for the Tribeca Film Festival, American Express, the New York Times, the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival and Netflix, among others. In 2023, I joined The New School as a part-time lecturer, teaching magazine journalism.
From 2015 to 2023, I served my country as a member of the editorial staff of the New York Times. I began as an editor but left as a writer, mostly doing profiles on people like Lil Nas X, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny DeVito, Viola Davis and Judge Judy. For my work there, I received two National Magazine Awards and an award from the National Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists.
I am represented by Mollie Glick and Abby Walters at CAA. I split my time between Brooklyn, NY, and Oaxaca, Mexico, so, yes, I am willing to be paid in Aeromexico points.
This photograph was taken by James Emmerman.
selected writing
selected writing
I spent a year reporting on the aftermath of a white supremacist mass shooting, how not even the survivor’s lives are their own. It is not a story about forgiveness.
My prevailing question, for a magazine profile, is: “Why does everyone love this person so much?” Julianne Moore made the question easy to answer.
Whoopi Goldberg invited me to stay with her at her her vacation home in Italy and it was the honor of my life. Winning an award for this story was pretty tight, too.
In 2022, Miss Viola — I couldn’t call her anything else — published a stunning memoir, a hero’s tale of hardship and struggle on the way to success. Amazing read. A liiiiiittle long. If you’re short on time, read this story instead.
During our interview Lil Nas X told me I was aging gracefully. I was 29.
I didn’t know how to swim for a long time. I didn’t realize I was gay either. This is a story about standing on the shoreline of what you want but convincing yourself you don’t need to get into the water.
(Pretty much everything I’ve written in my adult career can be found here.)
