About — you know denise

Ah, welcome deep-end swimmers. You guys are a special breed. The ones that learned how to swim early on by someone throwing them in. Listen, we’re the same. There are many ways to learn how to swim, that’s how we learned and look where we are now, swimming on the regular (well some of us, the rest now have Aquaphobia and haven’t stepped foot in a pool or ocean since). Any who, what’s up! I’m Denise. Since we’ve been introduced, we now know each other, therefore, you-know-denise. That’s kinda how my name came about. I jumped right on Twitter as soon as it came out and for the first year, I changed my name an obnoxious amount of times. When I landed my internship at Power 106 in 2011-12, some of the guys were clowning on my name and recommended I change it to something more memorable. That’s also around the same time I started taking my brand a little more seriously. I was mad @denisejones was taken and had no tweets, DM’d the girl too and nothing. I was thinking about it way too much and had no ideas, that I liked at least, to show for it. Finally, on a day when I wasn’t even thinking about it (interesting how that’s usually the case, right?), I was working the street team for Power 106, interning the overnights show and every time I would be introduced by someone they’d say, “you know Denise, right?” 8/10 times we had probably already met, but they forgot. I was an intern, I mean what could I say, I couldn’t tell them anything but in my head I’d be like “bro, we’ve met like 4x before this.” Haha, a total fool. That would evoke so much emotion out of me man, I’d be so mad and constantly tell myself “we’ve met! You know me!” And that gave me, youknowdenise.

So now that you know that story, here’s how I got my way into the industry. To get there, you should know somethings about me from before then. I’m home bred, born and raised in Hub City aka Compton, CA. I’m half black, half Mexican. I was student body president in high school (shoutout to Huntington Park HS!), captain of the basketball and swim team then too, and president of the psych club in college (my 2nd semester as a freshman too lol bold ass young D), I say this all to say, I’ve been a go-getter from jump. For a long time, I thought I was going to be a PoliSci major. I was so set with changing the community and leveling up as I went. My first year of college, changed everything of what I thought my future was going to be. I took a bunch of PoliSci courses and learned, this wasn’t for me. I was lost (to all you college students reading this, it’s okay, we’ve all been there). Got into the basketball team at my school but after doing that, plus school, I learned I needed money and needed more time in my schedule for it. So I let go of basketball after a year (which hurt like a mofo!) and started applying to different jobs. I had a job at a women’s shoe store. Felt like a real-life Al Bundy and dominated in sales. Left after a year felt in the time I was there, I graduated and was ready to move on. Got a job at the bank and that was exciting (you can tell I wasn’t there for long either because who do you hear say a job at the bank is exciting, ha!). It was honestly an awesome experience where I learned teamwork being a teller, then the rewards of leveling up and training to be a personal banker.

Working at the bank and going to school reminded me how much I love radio. I remember morning commutes listening to Big Boy and thinking man, what an awesome job. I loved what I was doing then, and was making good money too, but still wanted more. I reached out to Power 106 to volunteer but they only did internships and unfortunately I had just missed the deadline. After that, I called every radio station in Los Angeles and nearby counties to see if I could find radio experience else where. Found something in Inglewood with KJLH, “1023 K-J-L-H.” Spent some time there and learned a lot. KJLH is owned by Stevie Wonder as opposed to an iHeartRadio or Emmis, so the station was more… intimate. I took advantage of everything I could, street team, programing, marketing, and learned so much during my time there. After about a year and change there, I finally got my shot with Power 106 for their overnights show. I stayed there for almost 5 years and went from an intern, to street team to programing/on-air to online content producer — it was surreal! At Power I met so many incredible creatives, and connected with other people in the industry. Music, fashion and pop culture, were my passion and still are! That got me inside Revolt TV, All Def Digital and most importantly, it introduced me to the sneaker community here in LA. And though, I wasn’t playing sports professionally, I was still involved, playing the game with my community, watching the game and then talking and writing about it. I made it a point to pursue this as well and that got me to the Fumble, then The Young Turks, and now at Lakers Nation.

Whew! I just dropped a lot on you guys, still with me? We good?! Take a deep breath, we got a little more to go. Alright, as I was sayin…

Since then, I’ve immersed myself into the entertainment industry do radio, television, and online. In doing so, I’ve also been exposed to marketing, advertising, graphic design, video editing and social media. A true Jane-of-all-Trades and proud! I’ve been so blessed to work with some of my favorite brands on some really cool projects, like the Just Do It HQ podcast, The Side-Piece with Mostly Football, and as of late, becoming a global ambassador for Pernod-Ricard and Jameson. It’s been a hell of a ride but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Focusing on building my community online has been the best thing I could’ve done. Think about how many people you’ve met on the internet, that just get you?! It’s insane! Building my own brand and creating with some of my favorite brands like Nike, Adidas, Jameson, Tecate, Foot Locker, Shoe Palace, AT&T, HBO, Fox, Bumble and many more, has been pure joy; lots of hard work for sure but also, so much fun.

And yet, ladies and gents, there’s more…

All this in my journey so far, has inspired me to be more intentional with the women around me. To put my girls in positions to win and the best way to start is getting them connected with each other. Being a former female athlete, I know first hand the character one carries and embodies. Listen, sports has played a huge part in my life. It’s taught me some valuable life lessons and has connected me with my tribe across life. Last year, I ended 2018 with a soft launch for W.I.T.S. — #WomenInspiredThroughSports. Today, I’m continuing that and pushing even harder. I know my group. I’m constantly being surrounded by women who have overcome adversity. Women who are resilient and disciplined; women who are leaders. They know the power that sports brings in their character and whether they still pursue sports as adults or not, the lessons they learned competing are ones they carry with them always. Allllll that has led me to gather my girl-gang on Instagram and do some cool sh*t together where we’re connecting, creating and playing together.

So you see, my goal to get in the industry has evolved in a large way over time. My goal has now expanded to create a space where women (and men, I got love for y’all too but my sisters need to eat too) can come together to talk about topics that are important to them. Through my content, I aim to empower women to get out of their comfort zones, feel comfortable in the their own skin, and boss up.

I’m super excited to expand what I currently do into something bigger; be it through events, workouts, podcasts, guides, a workshop, shoot let’s even get dinner and drinks together… there is so much opportunity that I cannot wait to dive into. It feels like it’s been the best first quarter up until now, and to know there’s still so much more in store gets me even more energized for this game.