Tiauna Jackson

Tiauna Jackson is a Talent and Literary Agent for The Jackson Agency. Headquartered in Century City, California, Ms. Jackson built her agency from the ground up within the entertainment industry’s most competitive market, Los Angeles. Anchored on Avenue of the Stars in Century City, Tiauna decided to start her own agency after finding barriers to entry not only for herself, but for artists and writers of color, LGBTQ+ identifying, and Senior Citizens. Ms. Jackson made history by becoming the first Writers Guild of America franchise in Atlanta, Georgia; and is believed to be the first known Black woman with 100 percent ownership of her agency to become a WGA franchise in Los Angeles. With her agency dedicated to the underestimated, underrepresented, and the underserved, Jackson applies a “root for the underdog” mentality to fostering the careers of emerging artists. She looks forward to providing representation that matters to the exceptionally talented artists of the world. Additionally, she was featured in the New York Times, Medium, Oz Magazine, and Arizona Informant for her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion while facing adversity through resilience.

Vocal readers please enjoy our interview!

Tammy Reese:

What has the journey been like so far being a talent agent?

Tiauna Jackson:

Wild! [laughs] It has been the most interesting experience of my life. You have good days, you have bad days, you have days you want to quit, you have days where you want to pull your hair out, you have days where you are on cloud nine. No two days are the same, and even after 6 years, there are still things that come up that still blow my mind.

I started my agency because no other agency would hire me and it’s important to convey that even after being in business for myself for six years, with clients on television and national commercials, there are no agencies that have reached out and asked me to join them.

So I had to make my own way and I can no longer operate from a space of letting this industry determine my value.

Tammy Reese:

What type of clients do you represent?

Tiauna Jackson:

When I started the agency we just represented Actors and Models. Now we represent Actors, Models, Directors, Writers, Producers, Makeup/Hair Artists, Costume Designers, Authors, Musicians, Public Speakers, etc. Just all things content creation and artist related. If you’re talented, award-winning, and hard-working, we can work with you.

Tammy Reese:

What are some obstacles that come with being a Talent Agent?

Tiauna Jackson:

In the beginning, there were so many obstacles and barriers to entry that I consider to have been specifically designed to prevent people like me from starting my own agency. The biggest obstacle for me was finding the right talent to elevate the agency’s visibility, the industry has a bad habit of wanting to assign you value based on what big clients you have. When I started the agency, I just didn’t receive a warm welcome, I technically still haven’t. I experience a ton of disrespect.

Generally, it’s very hard starting a business by yourself, and to do it in the industry of entertainment where it is super competitive, cliquish, and incestuous is insane.

Tammy Reese:

What are some memorable moments in your career so far?

Tiauna Jackson:

Every time we book a project it’s my favorite memory. You see we exist without their permission and without their support. Anytime I see my client on television in spite of all of the adversity we have faced, is a great day at The Jackson Agency.

Tammy Reese:

How has the pandemic shaped your day to day life?

Tiauna Jackson:

When it hit, we were right in the middle of Pilot Season. Pilot season is when the potential new television shows start casting, it’s an insanely busy time of year for us. I was already burnt out because I spent all of the winter break working 10 hour days and catching up on administrative things.

We were already operating digitally since 2015, so there was no adjustment the way there was for other people. What it did do though was make a lot of people take pause. For the first time in 6 years, I was actually able to have a productive meet and greets with casting and development executives who normally would ignore my emails. So it was nice to be able to put some faces to the names I’ve been working with.

Tammy Reese:

What is your stance on the BLM Movement?

Tiauna Jackson:

I have no issue with the non-profit organization. Unlike most, I actually read the mission statement years ago. I didn’t just run around using the phrase, that’s why non-Black people are upset about it, they never read what the words mean, they just took them at face value and then responded ‘All Lives Matter,’ or ‘Blue Lives Matter.’

What I don’t like are companies using it for publicity purposes.

That’s not cool.

Tammy Reese:

What do you want your legacy to be?

Tiauna Jackson:

I want people to hear the name Tiana Jackson and say she accepted nothing less than Black Excellence. I want people to read my story, see my successes, and be like “damn, she did all that by herself?!” I want to be the one everyone thinks of when my clients win Emmys and Oscars and go platinum in music and be like I want to work with her. My legacy will be that I was the best whoever did it.

Tammy Reese:

What is some advice you would have for anyone wanting to become a talent agent and start their own business?

Tiauna Jackson:

The most important thing to know is that this business is ruthless, there are a lot of bad people with power in it, and it will be the greatest hustle of your life.

If you are interested in learning to be an agent and you’re Black, come with me. I started our own internal Black Talent Agent Training Program as a direct result of Hollywood’s racial bias. No matter how many Black faces these mega-agencies promote to their boardrooms, remember they don’t care about you and they will do everything they can to limit your power and dim your light; while checking off boxes. Take Charles King for example, after working his tail off for years to make partner at one of the corporate agencies, he still ended up leaving and starting his own company because they held him back. Let that sink in. After earning them millions they thwarted his efforts to make them more millions so he finally left and built his own empire.

There isn’t a shortage of Black Agents, I know tons of people who wanted to be agents and went inside the corporate agencies training programs. There was only so much harassment those trainees could take in the workplace. So they left and pursued other careers in Entertainment.

Tammy Reese:

What does the future hold for The Jackson Agency?

Tiauna Jackson:

We are so excited to be growing and thriving during this time. We are laying the framework now to be able to serve authors and musicians in 2021. So it’s a very exciting and hectic time for us.

Connect with Tiauna at https://tja.agency/

Instagram: jacksonagency

Twitter: tjagency

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