Ashley Burns (née Jenkins; born May 3, 1982)[1][2] is an American voice actress and internet personality. She is a founding member of Ubisoft's all-female professional gaming group, the Frag Dolls.[3][4] She founded Rooster Teeth's news division, The Know.[5][6] She was a contestant on the 28th season of The Amazing Race.[7] Outside of the gaming industry, she voices Coco Adel in RWBY.

Ashley Jenkins
Jenkins at PAX Prime 2014
Born (1982-05-03) May 3, 1982 (age 42)
OccupationHost
Years active2004–present
Spouse
(m. 2019)
Children2

Career

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Ashley Jenkins began her career in 2004, writing for an MMORPG called Shadowbane.[3] A developer on the game suggested she apply for a position with the Frag Dolls, an all-female, professional gaming team their publisher, Ubisoft, was starting.

She represented the Frag Dolls at many events including Women in Games International and CES.[8][9] As a professional gamer, Jenkins competed in and promoted games for Ubisoft such as Rainbow Six Vegas, Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, in addition to public speaking and representing the team's point of view on women and video games.[10][11] In 2007, she appeared on the front cover of PC Accelerator magazine.[12]

In 2008, she was hired as Community Manager for Xbox, running social media and Xbox Live interface for Australia and New Zealand.[13]

In 2012, she was hired by IGN as Head of Community and Social Media in San Francisco.[14]

On March 17, 2014, she founded Rooster Teeth's news division, The Know, hosting alongside Meg Turney.[15] In its first two months, the channel amassed over 280,000 subscribers and 9 million video views on YouTube.[5]

In November 2015, it was announced that Jenkins, alongside her boyfriend Burnie Burns, would be competing in the 28th season of The Amazing Race.[16] They finished in 4th place.[17]

In September 2017, alongside Burns, she co-hosted the inaugural Purpose Awards, an expansion from the Streamy Awards.[18]

Jenkins announced on her Twitter on August 30, 2019, that it was her last day at Rooster Teeth.[19]

Personal life

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Ashley Jenkins grew up in Ogden, Utah. At 8-years-old, Jenkins was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,[20] but has since stated that it was not for her and she is not practicing. She does not consider herself to be a member.

Ashley Jenkins started playing video games when she was seven and received a Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Mario Bros. for Christmas.[3] She considered herself a tomboy.[21]

Jenkins also goes by her gamertag, Jinx.[22] Her favorite game is Psychonauts.[21]

Jenkins became engaged to Rooster Teeth co-founder Burnie Burns in May 2016;[23][17] they married in June 2019.[24] The couple announced her pregnancy in March 2019;[25] Jenkins gave birth to a boy on August 25, 2019.[26] She announced the birth of their daughter in January 2023.[27]

References

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  1. ^ It’s been a good birthday.
  2. ^ Burnie Burns & Ashley Jenkins, The Amazing Race
  3. ^ a b c Campbell, Gerard (September 24, 2009). "Girls play games, too, explains pro gamer 'Jinx'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  4. ^ Wright, Steve. "Ubisoft's Frag Dolls go AFK after nearly 11 years". Stevivor. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  5. ^ a b Jarvey, Natalie (May 30, 2014). "YouTube Personality Meg Turney Joins Rooster Teeth News Channel The Know (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  6. ^ Jenkins, Ashley. "Welcome To The Know". The Know. YouTube. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  7. ^ Wigler, Josh. "Rooster Teeth's Burnie Burns And Ashley Jenkins Reflect on The Amazing Race". Parade. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  8. ^ "Women in Games International Includes Ubisoft's Frag Dolls in San Francisco". GamesIndustry International. February 10, 2006. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  9. ^ Welkner, Robert. "Frag Dolls interview Jinx & Calyber". COIN-OP TV. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  10. ^ "From handbags to hand grenades: The story of gamer girl Ashley Jenkins". Meld Magazine. September 7, 2012.
  11. ^ Lake, Chloe. "Interview with pro girl gamer Ashley Jenkins". News Corp Australia Network. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  12. ^ Gifford, Kevin. "COLUMN: 'Game Mag Weaseling': Mag Roundup 9/8/07". Game Set Watch. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  13. ^ Nash, Belinda. "I Get Paid to: Play Xbox all day!". nzgirl. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  14. ^ Harris, Leigh. "Ashley Jenkins joins IGN". MCV Pacific. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2016. After only a brief stint at Meteor Entertainment as PR and Marketing Manager, Ashley Jenkins has moved to IGN and taken on a new role. Jenkins will be leaving Australia behind and moving to San Francisco to take on the responsibility of Head of Community and Social Media for IGN.
  15. ^ Lewis, Maria. "'There's still a lot of work to do': Three OG women of the internet and gaming industries dish the dirt". SBS. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  16. ^ Kickham, Dylan. "The Amazing Race casts Tyler Oakley and more social media stars for next season". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  17. ^ a b Kwiatkowski, Elizabeth. "Exclusive: 'The Amazing Race' eliminees Burnie Burns and Ashley Jenkins talk (Part 1)". Reality TV World.
  18. ^ Weiss, Geoff. "Inaugural Purpose Awards Recognize Lizzie Velasquez, Ford, Meals On Wheels, More". TubeFilter. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  19. ^ Ashley Burns (née Jenkins) [@ashleyburns] (August 30, 2019). "It's already been a big week for me, but I have one last bit of news to share. Today is my last day with Rooster Teeth" (Tweet). Retrieved December 29, 2020 – via Twitter.
  20. ^ "Do We Believe in Aliens? - Always Open #25" on YouTube
  21. ^ a b Hunter, Brooke. "Girl Gamers". Girl.com.au. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  22. ^ Karena, Cynthia. "Game maker marks silicon sisterhood". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  23. ^ Rody-Mantha, Bree. "Burnie Burns on gaming, geeking out and growing up". streamdaily.tv. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  24. ^ Ashley Burns (née Jenkins) [@ashleyburns] (June 11, 2019). "We did a forever thing. https://t.co/clQw8ygbmW" (Tweet). Retrieved December 31, 2020 – via Twitter.
  25. ^ Ashley Burns (née Jenkins) [@ashleyburns] (March 11, 2019). "𝙰 𝙽𝙴𝚆 𝙿𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴 https://t.co/FmvesXkAqb" (Tweet). Retrieved December 29, 2020 – via Twitter.
  26. ^ Jenkins, Ashley [@AshleyJ] (August 28, 2019). "We did it! He's here. Home safe with our beautiful baby boy, born August 25, 2019" (Tweet). Retrieved August 29, 2019 – via Twitter.
  27. ^ Ashley Burns [@ashleyburns] (January 2, 2023). "New Year New (mini) me" (Tweet). Retrieved January 4, 2023 – via Twitter.
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