Meet Rodney Jones
The seed was planted in Los Angeles, California when two California State University students fell in love and moved to Houston, Texas. The mother, Angie, was a registered nurse who loved fashion and entrepreneurship. Her hustler mentally is what led her to go to law school at 40 years old and spend the rest of her life advocating for the most vulnerable of our community. The father, Rodney, was a high school teacher whose mother was a beauty salon owner and father was a railroad worker who owned a washateria in Sunnyside. These deep roots in the Sunnyside community drove Rodney’s activism for over 50 years. The seed they planted together, Attorney Rodney Jones Jr.
Attorney Rodney Jones Jr. attended Barry University in Miami, Florida before fulfilling his childhood dream of attending a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) when he enrolled at Clark Atlanta University. Rodney started a magazine for black college students, LOOK Magazine (Love of our Kind). The magazine was geared towards helping college students matriculate through college to their professional industries and also featured interviews of heavy hitters of the entertainment industry such as Kanye West, Denzel Washington, and Michael Jordan.
LOOK was distributed to the colleges in the Atlanta University Center (Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, the Morehouse School of Medicine, and at the time, Morris Brown College). Soon, LOOK was distributed on the campuses of all 107 HBCUs. Within three years, LOOK Magazine was on 550 campuses across the country. The seed was watered.
Naturally, upon graduation, Rodney began working in marketing in the music industry. He was often asked, “are you a lawyer?” He was on tour with Kirk Franklin doing four or five shows a week, when he decided to begin studying for the LSAT. Rodney was very successful in his work so he figured if law school was him, he would apply at one school and get in. He applied and was accepted to the law school his mother attended, Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. The seed’s growth was activated.
While attending law school, Rodney was married and had his first child. A daughter they named Miracle because her mother was told due to extensive endometriosis she would not be able to bear children. In order to provide for his family, Rodney worked for Universal Music throughout law school. Initially, he planned to practice entertainment law in California but he decided to sit for the Texas bar first. He began practicing Personal Injury law and built his practice to include Business, Entertainment, and Real Estate. His last addition, the same law his mother practiced, Adoption and guardian ad litem, the ministry of his practice. The seed grew roots.
Inspired by his foster and adoption law work, Rodney decided to develop a docuseries called Foster Dreams, which is currently in production. Rodney’s goal with Foster Dreams is to raise awareness to help minimize the pipeline from the foster system to drug use, sex trafficking, jail, and homelessness. This isn’t Rodney’s first rodeo in film production, in 2018 he produced the film River Runs Red which had an all-star cast. Foster Dreams brings together his practice of law, his heritage of community impact, and his passion for the entertainment industry. The seed grew towards the sun.
Legacy became a heavy subject when Rodney Sr. passed from Pancreatic Cancer in 2016. At 69, Big Rod, as he was affectionately called, remained very active in his community and was leading the effort to establish a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) in the Sunnyside community. Unfortunately, Big Rod passed before he was able to act as Chair of the TIRZ but his son, Rodney Jr. was nominated as Chair of the Sunnyside TIRZ and holds the position to date. Rodney is driven by a desire to continue his late parent’s legacy. He wants his daughter and son, Richmond, to know who they come from. He wants them to be genuinely good people, well-rounded, and to know the value of giving to the community. He wants them to “never underestimate the power of the seed.”
