Written by: Kimberly Henry Staff Writer UNSUGARCOATED Media

June 13, 2021

The conversation about women’s representation in media is hardly new, and recently the fight to simply see women on screen has evolved into a debate about the best type of women’s representation. Most can agree, though, that there is a need to represent more women with nuance, depth, and agency that extends beyond their sexuality. Women pushing back against their gender’s constant hyper-sexualization in the media may have a new, unlikely ally in the form of YouTuber and motivational speaker, Kyle Jacko.

Jacko’s YouTube channel has been gaining attention for his ongoing project, “The Queen Series,” that makes space on the internet to showcase Black women making an impact and “elevating minds” without focusing on their bodies.

Less than a decade ago, Jacko himself may not have believed he’d be a motivational speaker highlighting powerful Black women on his YouTube channel—or even that he’d have a YouTube channel. Before he began his life as a speaker, Jacko made a living as what he calls a “street pharmacist.” But even while Jacko was selling drugs, he envisioned a better life for himself—and for his children.

When Jacko shares how his five children inspired him to pursue a different life, his face absolutely lights up. “When I say I love being a dad? I mean I LOVE being a dad,” he says through a smile. He shares how he always made time to spend with his children, and with them in mind, Jacko made a major life change. He started going to church.

During Jacko’s first visit to the Berean Christian Church, Pastor Kewin B Lee gave a sermon that spoke to something Jacko had been considering for a long time. “He said, ‘You cannot serve two masters,’ and I was crying,” Jacko recalls. 

That sermon and the friendship it sparked with Pastor Lee, eventually gave Jacko the strength to leave the life of drug dealing and get a job as a truck driver, and beyond that, it sparked an idea in him. “I see what pastor do. I said, ‘I wanna do something like that.’” But not as a pastor, Jacko clarifies quickly. He wanted to inspire people, to motivate people toward a better life with his words just as the pastor did for him.

Jacko began shooting motivational talks from his living room and posting them to his YouTube channel, but that doesn’t mean he left his community—he built his viewership up one by one, through word of mouth talking to folks on the street. Which makes sense, because unlike many motivational speakers who target the middle class and melancholic, Jacko speaks to motivate those around him.

“I’m geared toward people that’s still out here selling drugs… that want to change but think they cant,” Jacko says. “I’m not geared toward the people that have two million dollars in their account, I’m geared toward the people that’s out here doing what they doing, the people working at Popeye’s, working at McDonalds, that think that, ‘I can’t never be anything in life.’”

Still, Jacko came a long way from his original motivational videos to “The Queen Series.” But just as Jacko makes his motivational videos for the people around him, he was motivated to create “The Queen Series” by the women around him.

“What sparked “The Queen Series” for me was, first of all, was my grandmother, “Kitty” Katherine Elizabeth Jacko. And my Auntie Terry Jacko. My Auntie Carol Jacko. My mama, Debra Kay Jacko. … If you look at a pyramid, they’re the bottom, they built the foundation.” Jacko lists them all, and more throughout the interview, never wanting to leave out someone who inspired him.

But while his maternal figures got him to where he is today, much of his inspiration for “The Queen Series” came again from his children, four of whom are his young daughters. Although he says their mom is a lawyer, he wants to provide his daughters with role models outside the home, especially when they pick up their phones and go on social media.

“So many videos you see that depict women, like you always gotta be in a bikini, you always gotta be dressed like this, so that’s what I don’t like about social media,” Jacko explains.

Jacko decided to use his platform to counterbalance these depictions, and just as he targeted his videos toward his community, he found the queens for the queen series in his community, in real life and online.

“A lot of people say, ‘why don’t you go get celebrities?’ None of that matters to me. Like the queens I have on the show? They all celebrities to me. I have one queen on there, her name is Dee Ross, she’s 100% blind, she’s a cosmetologist. But she’s blind. I got another one that’s a trucker, but she’s a real estate agent,” Jacko says.

But of all the inspirational women Jacko has had on his show, his very favorite guest has no competition, it has to be his Auntie Terry Jacko.

“Having your auntie be on your YouTube channel, it’s just like… like I done met Hulk Hogan, like I done met Stone Cold [Steve Austin], like, Notorious BIG,” Jacko laughs, throwing his hands in the air. And Jacko wasn’t the only one struck by Auntie Terry’s presence.

Jacko recalls one day after Auntie Terry’s episode while sitting at a restaurant his waitress recognized him from the show and shared the impact it had on her.

Jacko reenacts the conversation as the woman said, “‘I saw your Auntie Terry [on the show]. Your Auntie Terry? That’s my Auntie Terry,’” he chuckles, adding, “ Everybody trying to claim my auntie.”  But it wasn’t just that Auntie Terry inspired the woman.

Jacko continues,  “She said, ‘Watching those videos got me through a trying time.’… Her seeing my auntie, what she was saying in that video made her feel so good, she had to come up to me.”

At its core, this is Jacko’s goal with both “The Queen Series” and his other motivational videos, getting folks through trying times and “giving people a voice.” And he can, he says, because he’s been through trying times.

“I talk like this, I talk with pain in my voice cause I done been through it,” Jacko somberly nods.

And he intends to keep motivating people inside and outside his community with his daily videos, “The Queen Series,” and its soon to come companion, “The King Series.”

“My goals are still the same until God tells me something different,” Jacko says pointing to the sky. After all, God is what inspired him to start this journey in the first place. But beyond making the series to serve God and his community, Jacko does have one other goal.

Jacko shares that he is still trying to gain custody of one of his four daughters, and he keeps “The Queen Series” going to build a legacy for them. 

“I haven’t seen my daughter in a year and a half. By the time I see my daughter this year, my daughter’s going to be able to see “Queen Series” chapter one, two, and three. And she gonna be around to see the next year.”

If you would like to see the inspirational Queens Kyle Jacko is gathering on his show, check out his YouTube channel.