Raise Your Hand - A Leadership Talk with Rene Jones

Most people are not brave enough to march up to a California senator, shake hands, and say, “I’d love to come work for you.” But Rene Jones is not most people.

In a recent Leadership Talk with FUTURE NOW Founder and CEO, Peggy Kim, Jones detailed her career, which took her from her childhood home in California to Washington, D.C., New York City, and finally Los Angeles, where she serves as Chief of Social Impact at United Talent Agency (UTA) and is the first non-agent to reach partner status.  

From a young age, Jones found herself drawn to leadership roles. “For me, [it was] always about being involved in a community and giving back,” she explained. While growing up in San Jose, she was accepted into AmeriCorps’ Summer of Service, where she spent a summer working on everything from trail maintenance to volunteering at food banks. “That was kind of my starting point of realizing that service could be… part of my career path.”

It was through that program that Jones was introduced to the California senator, who connected her to someone else, which eventually led to an internship at the Senate in D.C. After working on several Senate campaigns, she moved to New York City, where she worked at nonprofits “encouraging young people to get involved with their communities.” 

After a few years on the East Coast, however, Jones was missing home. On her way back to San Jose, she stayed with a friend in LA. “It was January, it was less gloomy, it was gorgeous, and I said, ‘You know, it's not so bad here in Los Angeles,’” Jones joked. She decided to stay and utilized her network to secure a job at the Paley Center for Media.

It was a shift for Jones, who didn't know much about the entertainment industry. She developed strong relationships with her coworkers and the board members, including Peter Benedek, one of the founders of UTA. 

Eventually, “through just building relationships with all the agencies, all the network studios,” Jones was introduced to the head of corporate communications at UTA.

As she learned more about UTA, she saw an opportunity to bring value to the agency with her service-oriented experience and proposed establishing the UTA Foundation. The leadership liked the idea, and Jones became the Chief of Social Impact.

“There was absolutely no job description or blueprint,” she said. “I just kind of came in, and I think they were intrigued by my backstory of having kind of worked in a few sectors and… having both the nonprofit and service backgrounds.” 

Today, 22 years later, Jones runs a team of fifteen and leads UTA’sphilanthropy, corporate culture initiatives, and client social impact strategies. 

 “The first thing we did was a Habitat for Humanity build, and there were people who loved building houses, and there [were] other people who were like, ‘Do not send me to a Habitat build,’” Jones said. So, her team works to offer a wide array of opportunities to give back, from mentoring to volunteering at food banks. 

The other part of Jones’ work is engaging UTA’s clients and connecting them with social impact opportunities that align with their interests in service and their own charities. “That was definitely a new concept internally,” she shared.

“They all have different platforms, right?” Jones explained. “If you're a comedian, or if you are a musician and you're going on tour, that's a really interesting platform, because you can do things like add a dollar to a ticket to raise money for your cause. You can, in [a] venue, show a PSA about something you care about…  Whereas, you know, if you're an actor, you're not going to… add a dollar to that Netflix streaming service, you know? It's a different model.” 

Some clients can do more on social media with their base of followers, while others may have less of a presence. Some want to give back to their hometown, and some want to help after a natural disaster, such as Hurricane Melissa, which ravaged parts of Jamaica last year. Jones and her team are there to “figure out the best way for them to engage.”

Jones explained, “I would see a need, and I would just kind of grab it and run with it in a way that it was… [not] about trying to get credit for it.” That approach and attitude took her out of her comfort zone, and she learned how to create training programs, internship opportunities, and build company culture. 

“It really allowed me to be seen as a real executive across the company, and not just in my pillar, which I think ultimately is how I became one of the first, non-agent partners for the company,” Jones told listeners. 

With such a meteoric rise, it would have been easy for Jones to feel burned out. She credits her community and family with keeping her grounded. “I think being present wherever you are is what matters. So if I'm home, I'm with my family, I'm present there. If I'm at work, I'm present here,” she said. Yoga also helps, according to Jones.

For Jones, that presentness “has always been [her] secret to success,” because “if you're doing it kind of half-half everywhere, it's not very fulfilling.” Especially in a post-Covid world, ‘being present’ and the connection that comes with it are vital, and as AI tools rise, the “human ability to connect dots and process in a way is going to be even more valuable.”

It’s not always easy to forge that connection, Jones admitted, but she advised attendees to “be fearless in raising your hand....Just be hungry, just be fearless, get out there… don't be afraid. I just think that is gonna be so valuable in these coming years.”