When a young man has a positive influence, combined with a precious talent, Saving Our Daughters will not pass on the opportunity to amplify his message.
On Monday November 18th, Saving Our Daughters’ Cinderella Program, co-founded by Keke Palmer, welcomed actor Ja’Siah Young, of the Netflix original series, Raising Dion. Ja’Siah stopped by that day and made a special “Celebrity Godparent” mentoring visit at the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem.
Over 25 Cinderellas had an opportunity to have an up close and personal discussion session with Ja’Siah, learning about his lead role as Dion, and to share how he used acting as a means to develop mentally and socially, while navigating life as a student at such a young age.
The class started off with the girls watching a few of the clips from the Netflix series; then the girls weighed in on many questions they had, such as: how to handle bullying; to the importance of reading and education. The girls also had so much fun in reenacting a few scenes of the show, which was led by Ja’Siah. Class ended with photos, sharing a pizza with Ja’Siah and being interviewed with by Emmy nominated reporter, Darla Miles of abc7ny.
Ja’Siah’s mother, Lawaine Young stated “We had an amazing experience with the Cinderellas. I know Ja’ Siah came to inspire these young girls but he also left inspired. He says those girls were very smart and fun and they could be whatever they want to be. I think this program helps rid our schools in our streets of bullying because it inspires girls to be smarter, optimistic and open minded.
Also, I feel the program really allows the girls to believe in themselves and strive for whatever they believe in and be comfortable and happy with themselves. Seeing other people that have come through the same situations that they have acquiring their dreams is motivational and they are getting a chance to realize power.”
Ja’Siah joins an amazing list of other credited Celebrity Godparents from popular shows such as, Eris Baker and Lyric Ross from NBC’s This is Us; Jayden Rey of ABC’s The Conners; Disney’s Sydney to Max, Ruth Righi; and Netflix Original, Stranger Things’, Priah Ferguson.
About Ja’Siah Young
A native of the East Coast, Ja’Siah Young always aspired for greatness. At 2 years old, he expressed an interest in becoming a prince when in the mall he saw a promotional poster for a pageant. He asked his mother if that was the way to become a prince. His mother began to enter him in pageants and his stage presence and singing and dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” spawned a winning streak. Within a year, he landed his agent after initiating an impromptu conversation with a representative from the agency.
A natural on camera, Ja’Siah booked a series of great acting jobs, a Probiotics commercial, appearance on Billy on the Street, a commercial for Nickelodeon’s Nick Chefs 2 as well as a scene-stealing role with Katie Couric for the opening video for Bloomberg Hopkins 100 Awards event. Ja’Siah made his theatrical film debut playing Zoe Kravitz’s son in “Rough Night” also starring Scarlett Johansson. More recently he has booked a role on Nicole and O.J, an appearance in Law & Order SVU and is the title star in the Netflix original Raising Dion.