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Ellen DeGeneres

Transgender teen Jazz Jennings lands Clean & Clear campaign

Yamiche Alcindor
USA TODAY

Jazz Jennings, a 14-year-old transgender activist, just landed a big deal with Clean & Clear. The company added her face to its #SeeTheRealMe campaign, a move that asks people around the world to share their personal coming-of-age stories through social media.

Jazz Jennings, a 14-year-old transgender activist, just landed a big deal with Johnson and Johnson's Clean & Clear skin care.

The company added her face to its #SeeTheRealMe campaign, a move that asks people around the world to share their personal coming-of-age stories through social media. In a powerful video for the brand, Jazz tells her story about growing up and learning about her identity. Clean & Clear's decision is being lauded by many as a breakthrough role for the teen that echoes the moment CoverGirl made Ellen DeGeneres an ambassador for their products.

"I've always known who I am," Jazz says in the Clean & Clear video. "I was a girl trapped in a boy's body. Growing up has been quite a struggle being transgender — especially in middle school ... sometimes, I've even been called an 'it.'"

Jazz goes on to explain that she kept to herself as she aged. The video then includes images of Jazz hanging out with a group of girls and saying that she recently decided to make new friends and begin inviting girls to her home.

"The real me is happy and proud to be who I am," Jazz says in the video. "And I'm just having fun being one of the girls."

Jazz told The Huffington Post she is proud to be part of the national campaign. "It's really amazing, as it helps many teen girls who are struggling," she told the website. "It helps them to find themselves and be true to who they are. I hope they can learn to be brave and not care what other people think about them, because if they just stay positive and spread love, then others will be true friends who will accept them no matter what."

Diagnosed with gender dysphoria at age 5, Jazz landed on Time's 2014 Most Influential Teens List, and TLC announced recently that it has ordered an 11-episode reality series about the teen's life, with the working title of All That Jazz, according to US Magazine.

The show will feature Jazz's parents, Greg and Jeanette, her older sister, Ari, her twin brothers, Griffen and Sander, and her grandparents Jack and Jacky, who've accepted her transition from male to female, the magazine reports.

Meanwhile, Jazz's story has been published in a book titled I Am Jazz.

"Transgender teens just have to come out of the shadows and be themselves," Jazz recently told POPSUGAR. "If they hide who they are, then they'll never get anywhere. They have to express themselves the way they are on the inside — that's finding their inner beauty — and then bring that outward so that everyone (else) can see."

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