[3] Her father, Cedric Jacobs, was a Uniting Church minister[4] and Indigenous rights campaigner,[5] who was a member of the Stolen Generations, and her mother, Margaret, was also involved in the ministry.

Her mother was born in Belfast and of Irish and English descent, while her father was a Whadjuk Noongar man and a member of the Stolen Generation.

[9] After finishing high school, Jacobs applied to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) but was not accepted.

[3] She got her first job working at the front desk of the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) and soon moved to their media department.

She got married due to "family pressure and her religious upbringing" but six months after the birth of her daughter, the marriage ended.

She joined Ten News in Perth in 2000, eventually becoming their court reporter, and also filling in as weather presenter over summer.

[15] In March 2019, Jacobs co-hosted SBS's broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

[6][17] On 13 January 2020 Jacobs relocated to Sydney, after 20 years at 10 News First Perth, to join the Studio 10 morning talk show as a panellist.

[18] However, later in 2020, Jacobs returned to read the Perth edition of 10 News First while juggling with working on Studio 10, following the network-wide cost cutting that saw the bulletin move back to Sydney.

[2] In February 2024, Jacobs appeared with Pasifika New Zealander drag artist Kween Kong on Fran Kelly's podcast Yours Queerly.

She appeared in the TV documentary The Dark Emu Story, and has also had roles in Australian drama series, including Safe Home and Total Control.

In the 2023 King's Birthday Honours, Jacobs was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to the media, and to the community".