The Jacqueline Jones

For anyone to choses to place the definitive, The, in front of their name must possess a certain level of confidence in herself, her ability, her performance, and her genius. The Jacqui Jones is Mom, Marketer, Mogul. And after this weekend, Motivating TEDx Speaker!

The theme of TEDx is Ideas Worth Spreading. To see her on the Tedx stage is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I asked Jacqui, What is your desire for your next life? What is the next thing you want to accomplish or begin? Her response: “I feel a pull to speak more to the mindset of entrepreneurs and creatives…I want to begin to improve my efforts around the mindset it takes to achieve what I have achieved and hope for the future.” Jacqui skillfully compared postpartum depression to an idea she conceived as post-passion depression. My brother asked me to assist his wife and their new baby because he saw her becoming overwhelmed with her most recent responsibility and her desire to want to keep working through it all. She may not have known it, but I felt that Jacqui handled her PPD brilliantly. As she explained during her talk, no one can honestly tell you how motherhood or parenthood will be. All most can do is share their experience. I do my best, being a professional child development educator, to assist parents and families as much as I can, but I lack empathy because I am not a parent. I do my best to find the need and fill it.

Comparing those same overwhelming new mother woes with embarking upon a business venture was genius! I was completed enamored yet not surprised by her poise and her suave as she made that infamous red dot her pedestal for all moms and all small business owners. She combined her years of blood, sweat, and tears and poured them on every ear of that auditorium. There is much talk today about mental health and checking on your strong friends. She invited us to purchase your business owner friend’s merchandise, throw them showers just as you would a new mom, at the very least, check on them to see how everything in their enterprise is going, or just send them a random note to rally and reassure them. Post-passion depression is just as real as postpartum. It is definitely an idea worth spreading and catching fire. Let’s meet the mastermind, the fire starter.

Jacqui says that she is influenced by people and things: her son, my brilliant nephew, Israel Clayton, her husband, Isaac aka GI the Artist, and her 30-year-old self. Then she credits passion, giving to others, and Starbucks (I think she’s addicted, but that’s another story for another day) as the fuel that drives her. If you have seen her work, you can see her passion through every client she books. You can sense her desire for their success. You can tell that she wants to make The Jones Legacy eternal.

One Degree MMM is her empire. In short, it is a marketing firm. Jacqui describes it as “evolving.” She explains that One Degree now provides “services to creatives, brand managers, entrepreneurs, and business owners that lets them tell them their story on their own terms.” Oddly enough, the terms of her birth story of One Degree is that is was an escape from her former life as a songwriter. She was ready to take a chance, and it has paid off. I have watched her grow from a one-woman show to her now managing a team of 5.

Jacqui is also an essential member of team Jones aka Jones Legacy.

She is an artist-entrepreneur married to an artist-entrepreneur. She says their life is sometimes a “juggling act on logistics.” I know that she and her husband do their best to support each other endeavors. She has sang background on his songs; he has been her plus one at client events. They have meetings, rehearsals, and events that undoubtedly overlap. They have learned the object of sacrifice because someone has to stay home with the kid. However, they have seemed to rely on their village when their schedules clash at the most inconvenient of times. She believes that marriage is a formal partnership and states “she is blessed to have a partner in life that does so much in making sure that [she] has time for work and entrepreneur life.” Now after four years of marriage, she can offer this advice to her single friends: keep loving and choosing yourself. It’s kind of a reverse marketing tactic actually. Ha! If you love and choose yourself regularly and openly, it attracts people who want to know what that love is all about and how they can have some for themself. In relationships in general, you have to be the example of how you want to be shown love. No one wants to guess. A person who knows well what they like, what they want from life, how they want to live attract people who want the same things and are excited about making it happen for both.

What makes the Legacy significant is her almost three-year-old son, Israel. She works to create a balance between marketing mogul and meaningful mom. She describes motherhood as, “biggest emotional balancing act” ever attempted and has found a “healthy place between compassion and discipline, support and hands-off, and giver of life and lover of self.” I think this healthy place allowed her to reveal so much truth in her Ted talk. Israel is a unique thinker. But so are his parents. He earned that level of rationalization honestly.

The mother. The marketer. The mogul. She is a woman who finds humor in most situations. She never meets a stranger and is not afraid to admit that she takes solace in Target. I appreciate how brightly her Black Girl Magic that she illustrates “as powerful as the universe and as soft as sunrays” shines. She has proven that she deserves THE in front of her name. I pray that God will continue to fill her heart with songs as she works towards keeping the balance in her healthy place. A place of peace, a place of love, a place of prosperity, and a place of hope.

To learn more about her various titles or One Degree, visit her website onedegreemmm.com where she offers a wealth of information for small business owners. Check out her blog, download her book, or just say hi. A little goes a long way.

Give love. Get love.