Congratulations to Walt Whitman High School alumna Jazzy Collins on winning her first Emmy!  Jazzy graduated Whitman in 2010.  And her classmates and teachers may remember her by her maiden name Jasmine Norman.  

The 31-year old casting director has been nominated twice for a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy in the category of Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program, and this time she walked away with the coveted gold statuette for her work on The Traitors, a murder mystery game on Peacock that took place at an ancient castle in the Scottish Highlands.  She also made history by becoming the first Black person to win this Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program Casting.  Her previous nomination in this category was for her work on Lizzo's Watch Out For The Big Grrrls on Amazon Prime Video.  The awards were given out in January at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles. 

After graduating from Whitman, Jazzy attended Quinnipiac University where she studied Film, Television and Media Arts.  She packed up her car and headed for the West Coast immediately after she completed her degree in May of 2014.  Even though she didn’t know anybody in L.A. Jazzy knew she wanted to work in the television industry and have an impact.  She found work as a production assistant for commercials but quickly realized it wasn’t the job for her and started looking for other work and fate took her in her current direction.  “So I applied to do office production assistant work,” explained Jazzy,  “and I went in for a job and was going to interview for it. And they said, ‘We just filled this position, but are you interested in casting?’ And I said, ‘Sure. You know, I'll try anything.’  So from there I fell in love with it. My first job was working as a casting assistant for Let's Ask America, which was like a game show.”

Her resume now includes popular shows like America's Got Talent, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. As a casting director, she wants to be responsible for viewers seeing more diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry.  “Ever since 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement, a lot more networks and production companies are understanding the impact of having diverse candidates on a show and how we can move forward doing that with casting. So we make sure that we're casting sensibly, and not just expecting [cast members] to be like the stereotype of a person,” said Jazzy. 

The Emmy isn’t Jazzy’s only recent “first.”  She is also a new mom, taking care of her 18-month old daughter Carter while trying to keep up with a career that got even busier after her Emmy win.  In addition to doing casting, she and her husband have started their own production company hoping to tell more stories from underrepresented groups.  Jazzy was kind enough to answer some questions for us about her big Emmy win and her memories of Whitman in an interview from Los Angeles.

Congratulations, Jazzy!  What was that winning night like for you?

It was a whirlwind to me. I still feel like I have to pinch myself.  I even look at my Emmy every day.  But I think eventually it will start to settle in. I'm just proud of myself.  I'm proud of the fact that I had this accomplishment at such a young age. And being able to stand amongst your peers who you also look up to, and have them congratulating you based on what you've done in your career, is something that I can never take for granted. 

You were a South Huntington kid from Oakwood to Whitman.  What do you remember most about Whitman?

I absolutely loved the theater program. I know Mrs. Sperrazza just recently passed but she really inspired me while I was there. She was someone who got me outside of my comfort zone when I didn't really know who I was in high school. And I was like, well, let me try something new. So I tried theater and that's when I fell in love with it. And between theater and then I did Video Yearbook.  And VY was the first time I really held a camera and then I knew I needed to do something with this in my future. Whatever it is. I didn’t know. But I definitely wanted to be someone that's helping behind the scenes. So between theater and getting myself out there and having VY be like the foray into the entertainment industry, those were definitely the things that helped me decide that I'm gonna go to college for film and hopefully have a career in it.

Did you love being at Whitman? 

I loved being at Whitman. The people, the teachers that are there, the students that were there are really, really fantastic. And to this day, I definitely believe that my education, especially even moving on to college, the foundation was from Whitman. That's what made me into the person that I am today. 

Do you feel that Whitman prepped you well for college? 

Oh yeah. It definitely did. I took quite a few AP classes and I felt like that really gave me a voice in a setting where you're being challenged. And also just the arts there were absolutely phenomenal. It made me really be proud of who I became. 

Did Whitman help prepare you for your career?

Yes. I was exposed to a lot more culture at Whitman than I expected to, especially at such a young age. And I think that definitely translates into how I work and how I operate and want to make sure that people get seen on television. A lot of times when I was growing up watching reality tv, I would see one black person on the show and they always kind of fit the stereotype. So for me, when it comes to casting, I make sure that I get all of these people from different diversities, orientations, and make sure that these people get seen and their stories get told. 

What advice do you have for the students graduating from Whitman this year?

I would say take chances and try something new. And don't be afraid to fail at the same time. I would've never thought I would end up in theater or doing VY in high school, but I realized I had to try something new. And that really sparked my love and interest of film, and now I'm doing that as my career.

From Quinnipiac Today: Alumna earns Creative Arts Emmy for outstanding casting for a reality TV show