Jeannie Mai Jenkins was born on January 4, 1979, in San Jose, California, to a Chinese-Vietnamese father and a Vietnamese mother. She attended Milpitas High School and later De Anza College in Cupertino, though she did not complete her degree. At 18, she began her career as a makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics. She advanced to become a global trainer, collaborating with celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, and Rosario Dawson.

Her television career began in 2005 when she hosted her first primetime show, Character Fantasy, on the USA Network. She went on to host the Style Network’s popular fashion makeover show, How Do I Look? starting in 2009. In 2013, she became a co-host of the Fox/syndicated daytime talk show The Real, alongside Adrienne Bailon, Loni Love, and Tamera Mowry. 

In 2023, Jeannie Mai Jenkins joined CBS’s Raid the Cage as co-host alongside Damon Wayans Jr. She has also co-hosted the Miss Universe pageant (2022–2023) and hosted America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation on Amazon Freevee. On top of that, she appeared as a sideline reporter on ABC’s Holey Moley.