ABOUT
JAMES
AND
JAZZ
ellis
James's Biography & Transformation Story
James Ellis's transformation story is an impressive one! In high school he was a skinny 135 pound nerd and was bullied consistently. He then went through a huge mental and physical shift. Just a few years later in college, he was 195 pounds of rippling muscle and had a body of steel. He captured one of the most esteemed awards at Indiana State University, "Mr. ISU" bodybuilding champion, and then he moved on to capture the "Mr. Wabash" bodybuilding champion title. Several years down the road he became known as one of the top male fitness cover models, the 2011 WBFF Fitness Model World Champion, and a sponsored athlete of Magnum Nutraceuticals, Schiek fitness gear, and ONFood. Despite his vast physical transformation and impressive resume`, James has never forgotten where he came from, his childhood roots, and Who has faithfully brought him through each season of life.
James came from a small, country town in Indiana where many of his classmates' after-school activities consisted of feeding cows and plowing cornfields. His after-school activities consisted of running up to 80 miles a week for cross-country and visiting the dance clubs on the weekends with his break-dancing crew. James was a high school slacker - barely holding a 2.0 GPA, and he was often the target of much ridicule from his peers. James was raised in a two-parent home with strong Christian beliefs, which instilled many of these same conservative values in him. James is the youngest of four siblings, and he is the youngest child with three older sisters. High school dances and "Drive your tractor to school" days taught James all about “country charm."
Upon graduating from high school, James made a decision that shocked all who knew him by enrolling in college. While many did not expect James to succeed in college, James took some motherly advice and used their doubt as fuel to succeed. It was while in college that James discovered his new-found obsession of weightlifting. He developed a workout regimen and self-discipline to go along with it, and to this day, James is as consistent in the gym as ever. One of James's favorite quotes is: "Success is my only option; failure is not."
While in college James became a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, which helped him hatch out of his ‘nerd’ shell. He was also one of the leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ during his first couple years of college, which kept him grounded and focused. He wrapped up his last two years of college as a collegiate athlete on the Indiana State University cheer squad, and the icing on top of the cake was competing in the National Championship both of those years as well. His several hours of training in the gym per day allowed him the opportunity of participating in a few bodybuilding shows, Mr. Indiana State University and Mr. Wabash, both of which he took first place. James applied himself and ultimately graduated with a 3.5 GPA with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor/endorsement in Physical Education. However, upon graduating from college, James instead felt compelled to pursue a dream of modeling as opposed to becoming a full-time teacher. He decided to kiss the country life goodbye and moved to California in pursuit of his dream of becoming a successful model and actor. Little did he know the great plans God had in store for him in California.
While in California, James’s fitness modeling career exploded. He became one of the top fitness models in the world! To date James has landed well over 50 fitness magazine covers nationally and internationally, and he is featured on the inside spreads of several different fitness magazines every month. Additionally, you may even see him on your TV in countless infomercials for fitness products.
James’s success as a fitness model blessed him with several opportunities to work with 4-Time Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler, on various fitness projects. Working with Jay encouraged James to take his career from fitness model to fitness competitor.
As a result, James took home the title of WBFF (World Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation) Fitness Model World Champion in 2011. James is currently a sponsored athlete of Shields of Strength, Schiek Fitness gear, and Versa Gripps.
James managed to have success with acting too. He has been featured in roles on the following shows: Gene Simmons Family Jewels, Bones, Scrubs, Party Down, Mayne Street, Rizzoli & Isles, All My Children, Young & the Restless, Days of Our Lives, Bold & Beautiful, General Hospital, Happy Endings, Breaking-In and many more.
James has also appeared on several talk shows: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brian, The Queen Latifah Show, The Marie Osmond Show, The Real, and Chelsey Lately. He has had more than five appearances on both Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel and The Talk. Furthermore, James has had over 30 appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
James also landed several commercials and is most recognized for his two AARP commercials with Betty White.
Perhaps one of James's favorite projects was filming as a "Spartan soldier" on the movie 300 Rise of an Empire. However, working as a referee on the CW’s game show Oh Sit certainly gave the 300 film a run for its money.
James's passion for fitness continued to expand into different avenues. In 2011, James started his own online diet and training company called 'Scientific Body Sculpting' with his genius coach Michael Orr. Through that company, this dynamic duo helped countless people attain the body of their dreams. James later took that a step further by creating his muscle-specific workout videos which show the secrets of his ‘Scientific Training Methods.' You can purchase those workouts for yourself by clicking HERE. If you would like to hire James as your personal trainer and get the body you have always dreamed of having, click HERE.
James's most recent passion has been traveling and speaking/preaching at churches, schools, conferences, retreats, and more. He not only shares the importance of staying Spiritually healthy as Christians, but also "treating our bodies as temples of Christ" and staying Physically & Mentally healthy.
James is passionate about sharing the depth and fullness of his testimony, and he loves talking about the importance of seeking out the Lord's healing through James 5:16. He was also blessed with an opportunity to share his testimony on TBN's Praise the Lord television show.
James's love for the Lord and the next generation made for a great match as he was a youth pastor for Redeemed Life Church in Azusa, California, before getting married and moving to Atlanta. He also enjoyed speaking at after-school youth programs and working with youth on his mission trip to Uganda, Africa.
Prior to meeting his wife and moving across the country, James served as a leader/mentor of LA Men's Group (an adult Christian men's group of 150+ men from the greater Los Angeles area). James helped arrange and organize monthly meetings, retreats, and ultimately poured encouragement into men to help them grow in their walks with Christ.
In June of 2020, James married the love of his life, Jasmine, who was Miss Nebraska USA 2017 and is a former model. Their love for Jesus and for helping people brought them together, which would ultimately lead to the creation of their James and Jazz website in upcoming months. Two months after getting married, they made the cross-country move from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
In September 2020, James and Jazz launched their website www.JamesAndJazz.com and YouTube channel where they produce videos discussing Jesus, Bible studies, fitness, life, and relationships. Their passion is helping people become the best version of themselves possible by helping them thrive spiritually, physically, mentally, and relationally. James and Jazz's mission statement in life is to save souls, grow souls, and thrive souls.
James's Family
James and Jazz currently reside in the suburbs of Atlanta with their fluffy white cat, Viva.
James looks forward to connecting with you whether it is spiritually through mentorship or physically through personal training (in-person sessions or virtual training).
"This is the year for you to be at your best mentally, spiritually, and physically! Let me know what I can do to help you get there and reach your goals, my friends!"
- James Ellis
Jasmine's Biography
Daughter of the One True King. Loving Wife. Miss Nebraska USA 2017.
These are a few of the titles Jasmine (Fuelberth) Ellis holds. She is also a heartfelt speaker, passionate teacher of the Word of God, podcaster, entrepreneur, and encourager.
As a little girl, Jasmine grew up in small-town Nebraska with her loving parents and two siblings. She grew up in church and had a love for the Lord from an early age. Jasmine also had an innate love for princesses, playing dress up, all things girly, and happily ever afters. Looking back, this proves to be a sign of Jasmine’s future calling – teaching young women about singleness and dating, purity, praying for their future spouse, preparing for marriage, Biblical womanhood, identity in Jesus, and ultimately having a joy-filled, loving marriage and happily ever after... in addition to having a deep, thriving personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
God continued to place more dreams in her heart including winning a pageant after being an audience member at the Miss Nebraska Teen USA and Miss Nebraska USA pageant from ages 6 through 15, which she attended annually with her mom and sister. Little did she know that she would hold both titles later on in her life. At age 9, she began modeling and traveled to Los Angeles with her mom periodically to participate in photo shoots for companies such as GUESS Kids and H&M Kids while working alongside kids who later went on to become teen celebrities. Photo shoot experiences and traveling to Los Angeles several times from ages 9 through 11 sparked her love for Los Angeles, and she repeatedly reminded her parents that once she graduated high school, she would move to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of full-time modeling and acting.
At 14 years old, Jasmine and her mom Nancy temporarily lived in Miami Beach, Florida, for modeling season as Jasmine pursued a career in modeling with her agency Elite Model Management Miami. During her time in Miami, she continued to build her modeling portfolio and signed with Elite Model Management New York as well.
At age 16, she competed in her first pageant and won the title of Miss Nebraska Teen USA 2013. This afforded her the opportunity to travel around the state and speak at schools to students preschool through high school. During this time of her life, God unlocked a passion for public speaking and encouraging others. She took her duty as Miss Nebraska Teen USA 2013 so seriously that she enrolled in online schooling for the year so that she could travel and impact as many students as possible that year. Her heart for people grew exponentially, and the dream to travel and speak was officially birthed. She competed at the Miss Teen USA 2013 Pageant in the Bahamas and was awarded the title of Miss Congeniality.
Jasmine found her First Love – Jesus Christ - at age 8 at vacation Bible school. She continued to pursue Him, and her heart was truly set on fire for Him at age 16 through a challenge from her youth pastor to read her Bible for five minutes a day. At 17 her heart was lit ablaze for the Lord, and her hunger to understand the Word of God grew as she sought the Lord daily. She returned to public school for her senior year where she was a straight A student with a 4.0+ GPA, was involved on her high school's dance team, choir, musical, youth group, and she was voted Prom Queen.
On her 19th birthday, straight out of high school, she fulfilled her lifelong dream of moving to Los Angeles where she met some of her best friends. She moved out to Los Angeles with the full intention of pursuing modeling and acting full time, but God had different plans for her. He re-wired her heart to the point that she no longer wanted to pursue modeling and acting and instead had a desire to pursue ministry! She didn't know what that would look like, but all she knew was that she was in love with Jesus and wanted to tell the world about Him. In the meantime, she started her own Youtube channel, which she used as an outlet to teach about God. Although her time in Los Angeles was short-lived, she would find herself moving back to LA in a few short years.
At age 20 after moving back to Nebraska, Jasmine found herself being led by the Lord to compete for the title of Miss Nebraska USA 2017, which she ended up winning. This year of her life confirmed what she already knew - that she loved to travel and speak and had a burning desire to inspire and encourage young women. Throughout her time in pageantry, she learned the power of dreaming big, confidence, self-discipline, time management, interview skills, the service of others, and so much more. Jasmine competed for the title of Miss USA 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After passing on her title, she found herself lost and without vision for the first time in her life. She felt that she had accomplished all of her childhood dreams and now felt directionless. She "tried out" many potential paths in life including real estate, a new relationship, moving to a new city, new jobs, and opening her own online boutique. All proved to not be in God's ultimate plan for her life, and she learned many lessons along the way... the hard way. As she matured, she began to realize the true influence and impact of relationships (good and bad) in people’s lives and continued to pray for her future husband after experiencing a broken engagement. She believed that God would truly give her the desires of her heart in her future husband and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Psalm 37:4 and Hebrews 11:6).
Her late teens through early twenties was a season of testing and filled with life lessons. During this time she learned firsthand the pain of rejection, sting of loneliness, temptation of impurity, cunning lies of the enemy, the repercussions of compromise, and the consequences of accepting anything other than God’s plan for her life. However, throughout that season she also experienced emotional healing, learned to love the Lord with her entire heart, experienced the fruit of patience, the awe of answered prayer, the joy of falling in love with the one God had for her, and the reward of waiting for the right one.
She met her (future) husband on social media through mutual Los Angeles friends as she had lived in Los Angeles at 19 years old, and her future husband James had lived in Los Angeles for fifteen years. They had a long distance relationship for a few months while James was living in Los Angeles and Jasmine was living in Nebraska. They both knew that they had met "the one," and after meeting each other's family, pastors, mentors, and best friends, they were engaged within a few months of meeting online!
The Cinderella/princess theme showed up yet again in Jasmine's life as James proposed to her in a fairytale Cinderella carriage flash mob to the song "Marry You" with the dancers featuring James's family and Jasmine's parents who made a 12 hour drive from Nebraska to Indiana to be a part of the special night.
After getting engaged, Jasmine moved to Los Angeles the second time around and lived with a friend and wonderful pastoral mentors until she and James were married. In June of 2020, Jasmine married the love of her life, James, who was a World Champion, top fitness cover model, host, actor, youth pastor, and men's group leader. Their love for Jesus and for helping people brought them together, which would ultimately lead to the creation of their James and Jazz website in upcoming months. Two months after getting married, they made the cross-country move from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
In September 2020, James and Jazz launched their website www.JamesAndJazz.com and YouTube channel where they produce videos discussing Jesus, Bible studies, fitness, life, and relationships. Their passion is helping people become the best possible version of themselves by helping them thrive spiritually, physically, mentally, and relationally. James and Jazz's mission statement in life is to save souls, grow souls, and thrive souls.
Jasmine is passionate about pouring into the lives of young ladies and empowering them to be women of purity, patience, purpose, confidence, and ultimately the Proverbs 31 women that God has called them to be.
Jasmine's Family
Flash forward to today - she is happily married and head over heels in love with her husband, James! She and her husband James currently reside in the suburbs of Atlanta with their fluffy fur-baby, Viva.
Throughout the years, she has continued to see the crown/princess theme pop up in her life, and the overarching reminder is that we are all daughters of the One True King, which makes us princesses. As born again Christians, we will someday have the crown of life in heaven, which is really the only crown that will last and matter in the light of eternity.
Jasmine is so excited to share the wisdom and lessons with you that have impacted and changed her life, and she is ready to cheer you on as your life story and love story unfold! Be sure to tune in to her podcasts - launching soon!
