Meet Jae XO

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jae XO. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jae below.

Hi Jae, so excited to talk about all sorts of important topics with you today. The first one we want to jump into is about being the only one in the room – for some that’s being the only person of color or the only non-native English speaker or the only non-MBA, etc Can you talk to us about how you have managed to be successful even when you were the only one in the room that looked like you?

There was a time in my life that being different scared me. We are conditioned from a young age to fit a mold and find our place in the lineup. But I was never made for that lifestyle, and eventually found my way out of the crowd and into the spotlight. It took some time and patience, some learning and unlearning, and some loving and growing.

In 2017 I began to explore my identity as a queer and trans individual. I came out as nonbinary, started using they/them pronouns, and began socially transitioning. At that time, I was the only person in my college theatre department to be openly trans and use nonbinary pronouns and non-gendered language. I worked relentlessly for years to educate my peers and educators by advocating for myself, and even though at times it was exhausting I was happy to make a difference for the other students and faculty members who came out as trans and nonbinary in the following years.

My commitment to myself and confidence in my identity also evolved with my art. I began to play roles that were explicitly queer and take up space on stages across Salt Lake City as a proud queer individual. This eventually earned me several professional contracts and opportunities to perform for thousands of people while educating the masses about the trans and queer experience. My community grew with confidence and pride as we worked collectively to inspire people through honesty and vulnerability.

During the pandemic I began to medically transition, and again I found myself in a bubble of my own. Not only was the world in a state of isolation, but I also found myself without knowing anyone else who was on HRT and could relate to my experiences. But again, through commitment to myself my community grew. And when the world began to creak back open I was able to share these new experiences through my art and advocate for my community. It was also during this time that I began to write and record my own music, I found a new type of freedom being able to share my experiences and tell my stories through music while building sonic worlds that were entirely my own creation.

At the end of 2021 I moved to San Francisco to begin working on the management team for a sit down production of an acclaimed Broadway show. While I was happy to not be the only trans person in the company, I did find myself to be the most vocal and continually advocating for my peers and the greater community in San Francisco. That persistence and dedication to my visibility actually caught the attention of some important people, and when I was transferred to the Broadway production at the beginning of 2022 everything changed.

I was truly living the dream. I had been moved to New York City to work on Broadway. I was owning my identity and finding ways to be an artist in the greatest city in the world. After a few months of intense work (I was a COVID safety manager), I was contracted by an HR company to provide DEIB consulting and LGBTQ advocacy for several of their Broadway shows. Turns out, there wasn’t anyone working on the administrative side of Broadway who was familiar with this type of advocacy work – and there I was ready to fill that void! Finally, after years of doing the work for free or minimum wage I found a way to work it into my lucrative administrative career. Since then I have gained more than 10 Broadway credits as a manager and consultant, and continue to work everyday to make the entertainment industry a better place for the trans and queer community.

I still work on Broadway as a manager and consultant. Some of my recent projects include Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Dead Outlaw, and the highly anticipated return of Mamma Mia. I’m also making strides as a recording artist. I released my debut single “Spinning” in 2023, and my newest release “FABULOUS” has already gained over 25,000 streams with features in more than 15 global publications. It took some trial and error, but I finally found a balance between my career as an artist and my work as an administrator. I spend my days at the office and my nights on the stage! I’m constantly performing around New York City in the cabaret and live music scenes, so find me online @jaexo.music and come out to one of my shows. I can’t wait to see what the next 5 or 10 years will shape up to be, and if you’re reading this I hope you’ll follow along and join the ride!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

… realizing just now that I may have over answered the first question haha. feel free to use any of the previous response for this section!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Accept failure as a new beginning, not an end. Every time you fail it’s an opportunity to learn and grow, so take that failure and turn it into the next goal!

You can’t always fake it til you make it. You can put on a brave face for the world to get through the day, or falsify some confidence to impress a crowd – but you can’t fake it to yourself. If you can’t be honest with yourself then you won’t ever be able to be honest with the world.

Trust your intuition, it will guide you. It takes some time to truly trust your gut, but when you do the world will open up for you.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

Last year I lost my mother, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through and there were days where I wasn’t sure I would ever know myself again. I’ve come to learn that grief isn’t something that ends, it is a part of the human experience that we must accept and even learn to love. You have to love every part of yourself, even the parts that are scary or that hurt or that the world tells us is wrong.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jaexo.music
• Youtube: @jaexomusic
• Other: Spotify/Apple Music – Jae XO

  Tiktok: @jaexo.music

Image Credits

For all of the photos:

Lone Ace Design, Langley Leilani