Today we’d like to introduce you to Jax Hillard.
Hi Jax, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story isn’t normal, and most of my peers find it pretty shocking. For the past ten years, I’ve lived in New York City. During that time, I worked for one of the top promoters of New York. I learned pretty quickly how to manage calendars, clients and ultimately to navigate conversations. I ended up running my own Cabaret business where I would host cabarets at places like The Duplex in the West Village.
I absolutely adored the theater world. I would attend different underground theater hangouts where the casts of the various shows on Broadway would gather. I would hardcore network to find actors to be in my Cabarets. During that time, I also would work for various companies like Meetup.com, NARS beauty, and other start-ups. I quickly developed my skills in business and operations. That landed me to run Events and Operations for a major fortune 100 company. There I really learned what I wanted and what I definitely didn’t want. The company was great, but it didn’t feed my soul into what I wanted to do in my career. I parted ways with that company, left my Lower East Side apartment, and move to Los Angeles. I ended up meeting Brent Paxton, the CEO of Kreativ Artists, and he offered me a job as a Talent Manager. I’ve never been more grateful. He’s a true mentor and a friend.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road was not easy and very much so like the Wizard of Oz. I landed in a new place, where people weren’t like New Yorkers who wear all black. It was all colorful and beautiful. Luckily, I have already had friends that lived here, so they really were like my very own lion, scarecrow, and tinman. Helping me navigate this town, finding an apartment, and helping me step by step to make sure I would get to the emerald city. I’ve had to learn a lot from being a Talent Manager. I have to click with the person truly, and I need to make sure they are up for the hard work. When actors email me about possibly representing them, I need to understand all of them. If they can’t tell their own story, then they aren’t ready for me. Those conversations are the hardest but very necessary. I work in a very New York way. Direct. I warn potential clients that I am this way because I expect hard work out of them as they should for me. My current clients all know this and love that about me. We can move past any type of uncomfortableness and have real conversations about how we can strategize their career.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My story is not normal, but that makes me a game-changer as a Talent Manager. I build a strategy to help people plan, prepare, and project the next level of their careers in Entertainment. It’s not all the same. Everyone can offer something different. I go to the current way of new Hollywood which is beautifully diverse. I don’t look at what may have been done in the past, I look at the way of how we can move to the current decade. I let artists see past their own fog of what they believe they are right for and open the gate to a place where they never imagined they would be. That’s extraordinary.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Brent Paxton, CEO of Kreativ Artists, has been my rock. He’s shown me the business and really been my mentor. I’m always so appreciative of him.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://kreativartists.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelagay/
