Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessie Nagel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jessie, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My career has largely been focused on advocacy and making connections, applying a passion for art and storytelling craft with the desire to contribute to positive change in the entertainment industry (and beyond). In nearly everything I have pursued there’s a consistent through line: to apply whatever I have learned and the network I’ve developed in ways that are fulfilling and meaningful. I think that’s probably at the heart of most careers – although how people define what constitutes meaningful is open to vast interpretation. I never tire of exploring and understanding and amplifying other people’s journeys and experiences.

Jessie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a Co-Founder of communications agency Hype, I am part of a team harnessing PR, social media, and other forms of digital marketing, to deliver messages for creative clients and help nurture their careers and businesses. Our clients have included large advertising agencies, boutique animation studios, well-known production companies, independent filmmakers, non-profit organizations, and more. We are tailored with our collaborative approach, and understand that we are entrusted with so much in the process. We’ve always said, we take the work seriously and have fun along the way.

With Green The Bid, a non-profit founded to shift the advertising and production industry to sustainable and regenerative practices, my role is centered on community building and communicating the messages associated with supporting an industry in transition. A big part of what we do is provide educational resources and a framework while fostering a no-shame environment on the path to making this big shift.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I met my business partner at Hype, Colleen O’Mara, when she was an editor at a magazine. Our first introduction was awkward due to circumstances neither of us could control and we decided to begin again over lunch. I arrived punctually at her office, to which she somewhat jokingly remarked I must not be from Los Angeles, and that led to a series of conversations and a plan hatched to start our own agency focused, primarily, on craftspeople behind the scenes in entertainment. We were both at a crossroads in our career and this fateful meeting led to Hype – sassy and a decidedly non-corporate, women-run agency. Some people balked at the name and our vibe – and that was just fine with us. We were determined to live and work in a business of our own making and style. 25 imperfect but wildly enjoyable years later we still love what we do.

With Green The Bid, which launched just over two years ago, the founders came together from different roles within advertising having witnessed the waste and understood, with concern, the environmental footprint of our industry. I’m on the West Board of the AICP and collaborated on the organization’s production sustainability guidelines, and through that experience and many related conversations, I connected with what would become the GTB founding team: Michael Kaliski, Gabi Kay, Kat Friis and Julian Katz. Our different vantage points on the same industry have been instrumental in the formation of this growing community – we sit at the center of many stakeholder groups and advocate for everyone in the process. It’s an all-volunteer effort and it has been eye opening to see how dedicated people are to contributing to this effort. It’s meaningful in a way that can be difficult to describe – the terrifying reality of the climate crisis at the center of conversations and actions fueled by what could be described as a determination to thrive or love – depending on how you look at it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One of the most difficult experiences I had was relatively early in my career when I was working at a company founded by two friends. After many years of success they had, for various reasons, grown apart and had divergent perspectives on the business. I was a witness to and directly impacted by the disintegration of this partnership and friendship; We had all felt like a family and then it fell apart painfully. No one was left unscathed. It was a pivotal moment that accelerated the drive to become my own boss. It also taught me important lessons about how to structure agreements that consider the end of a business from the beginning. That’s not fatalistic, it’s key planning.

I am happy to say that the relationships that splintered apart have largely been mended. The company that was a house divided eventually closed, but the incredible fanning out of talented people has contributed to the success of so many projects and companies that it is a marvel to consider.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hypeworld.com & www.greenthebid.earth
• Instagram: @hypeworld and @greenthebid
• Facebook: hypeworld & GreenTheBid
• Linkedin: hypeworld & greenthebid

Image Credits
Headshot/Portrait by Tara McVicar Photography