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Laurie Jacoby

Agent

Nellie Bly, investigative reporter in the 1880’s and Mary Tyler Moore of station WJM in Minneapolis were my heroes. They both had courage, grit and spunk. I like spunk.

When you love what you do and you find meaning in it, sprinkle in life balance, joy, respect, and those moments of humility. Add a dash of flare, lots of laughs, determination and I think you can build a pretty good career and life.

I started in this business in college while I was a starving NYU student. A well-known agent at the time, hired me to answer his phone. Those were the days with a hold button. I used pencils with erasers because I made lots of mistakes. I went to work with a regular coffee, a buttered roll and the New York Times. It was then I helped to move forward the careers of Max Robinson, Connie Chung, Maury Povich and a young guy named Al Roker. By moving forward, I mean I took their calls and transferred them to the boss.

While all of that was going on, I was studying acting with the legendary Lee Strasberg and taking lots of abuse at auditions. I ended up doing comedy improvisation for the most part and was the first group to open the cabaret Westbank, which still exists. We were called Legal Action and for a time we were pretty damn good.

In the years to follow I acted, auditioned, worked temporary jobs, started a successful executive search company and then transferred those skills into representing talent. I came to love journalists.

Life takes interesting twists. I was a VP with Geller Media Management for nearly 10 years and moved to LA to open an office for them. Then came Mendes Napoli. I like to think the deal I did for a client of mine when he was a News Director, was so impressive, he thought, I need to hire that woman. In any case he did, and more than two decades later, I’m still sharing an office wall with him, and representing some of the best and the brightest in the news business. My clients are my calling card, and I couldn’t be more proud of them and the work we do together to further their careers. Storytelling is an art form, and I’m so glad to have a part in helping journalists hone their skills. It’s so exciting. We have more bells and whistles now than we did then, but communication remains paramount. Helping my clients navigate through the waters of this crazy wonderful business, brings me great joy, and I’m glad to bring my many years of experience in to play. I’ve been told when it comes to negotiation and advocating for my clients, I’m ‘tough but fair.’ I think that’s accurate and a huge compliment.

I live in Venice, CA with a wonderful man and our 90-pound dog Bear. My grown kids and their significant others live in LA so I’m super lucky. When I’m not at the office I’ve been seen around town on my bike, swing dancing or hiking. I do not however, take long walks on the beach in the rain.