Rising Stars: Meet Cnl Jones of Lakewood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cnl Jones.

Hi Cnl, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story started back in elementary school with poetry, writing simple rhymes to make my teachers laugh and impress my childhood crushes. That playground passion naturally evolved into songwriting as my friends and I fell in love with hip-hop and spent our free time doing rap battles. Growing up split between California and Washington, my dad being from Pomona and my mom living in Spokane, gave me a dynamic, West Coast perspective. As I got older, I dove headfirst into drama classes, doing every play I could and picking up film extra work between both states.
In 2021, I officially launched my music career with my debut album, JetSoul. That project caught the attention of an independent label in Kansas City affiliated with Tech N9ne. I moved out there, recorded my second project, underwent rigorous artist development, and sharpened my live performance craft. But after some disagreements on creative direction, I chose independence, packed up, left to Las Vegas.
In Vegas, I began stepping into high fashion alongside making music. My very first runway experience was an unforgettable event hosted by Drake’s dad, Dennis Graham, for Latin Heritage Month at his LA mansion. It had everything: Luchador wrestlers on a staged ring, singers from Mexico, catered dinners, and a runway show to end the night.
That experience lit a fire. I spent the next 2 seasons driving back and forth along the I-15 between Vegas and LA, living mostly in LA at this point, taking every opportunity to build rapport with showrunners and designers. That grind carried me from Indie Fashion Week to LA Fashion Week, and ultimately to Milan Fashion Week in 2023.
By then, my momentum was hitting a new gear. I released my second album, From “The Prince With Love”, was working on my third album Still.Her, and was drafting my first book, Pieces of Us. While modeling in Milan, I shot a music video and built a community of local friends who invited me back to stay. That led to me living in Italy for most of 2024, where I officially published Pieces of Us. Today, I promote i am working on the sequel to my first book, combining music, and runway work as one interconnected, global journey.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I’ve had to call a lot of audibles along the way because not every path leads straight to success, but with the right mindset, every detour becomes a lesson you can build on.
Living between places has always been a constant for me, taking leaps and making quick pivots at the drop of a dime. The reality of being an independent artist is very real: taking big risks, hustling to make ends meet, and putting in the work behind the scenes. For me, that meant long, late-night drives between LA, Vegas, and even Florida, sleeping in my car when hotels weren’t in the budget, just to make sure I got to where I needed to be.
Traveling and navigating that path alone, both across the country and abroad, came with real risks and uncertainties that I just had to push through. But I embraced every bit of the struggle because the vision I have for my life is too clear to ignore. I have a reality I’m determined to bring to life, and every sacrifice along the way has just been part of building that foundation.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At my core, I’m a multi-hyphenate creator, operating at the intersection of music, literature, fashion, and business execution in joining the three. As a recording artist performing as Cnl. Jones, an author, and an international runway model, I specialize in high-concept storytelling across multiple mediums. My art is deeply rooted in love, and at its center is a bridge I’m building between Western culture specifically American hip-hop and R&B and heavy cultural influences from the Middle East, most notably the Arabian Peninsula and Saudi Arabia. I’m a hopeless romantic at heart, and I view my purpose in this realm as cultivating love, emotional resonance, and authentic connection. In today’s current climate, both in global affairs and internal, fostering that level of cross cultural dialogue and genuine empathy is needed more than ever.. and somewhere in this pocket I feel is what sets me part. My art and vison. The progress and connections ive made along the way is whst id say im most proud of. Just looking at where i was in even just 2019. Although i have so much more work today, even what ive been able to experience now was once a dream to me

What were you like growing up?
Funny enough, i still have most of my yearbooks from as far back as elementary school and theres a constant theme throughout from my class mates, it was either how much fun we had in class making them laugh, (class clown 😅🥴) or and this one surprised me, from my teachers to my classmates they all left little notes expressing how they wanted me to chase my dream and talents. My interests as a kid was always in some form of entertainment, I liked the spot light tbh haha making ppl laugh ect.. I really just like connecting with people and experimenting in that way. I found/find it so Intresting how we can connect with people from such different backgrounds and languages, the things you can learn, experience ect.. i was just looking through these yearbooks as i was looking for something recently is why I brought them up, but it seems I haven’t much changed since then. Maybe just s bit more cleaned up around the edges..

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bio.site/Cnl_Jones
• Instagram: Cnl_jones
• Youtube: Cnl_jones
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1304608808?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback