MONDELLA JONES
Founder of MJLA Media
For more than a decade Mondella Jones has been an advocate for creativity. As an
editor, publicist, event producer, literary agent, and consultant for various creative
projects, Ms. Jones has dedicated herself to helping creative people reach their full
potential.
She began her media career in 1999 at the Howard University Bookstore in Washington,
DC where her responsibilities included planning, marketing, and executing all bookstore
programs and events. During her first year at Howard, Ms. Jones produced more than 70
successful events for authors and dignitaries including for Tananarive Due, the late E.
Lynn Harris, Hans Massaquoi, Terry Mc Millan, Nathan Mc Call, Colin Powell, Tavis
Smiley, Sister Souljah, Omar Tyree and many others.
Ms. Jones later served as senior editor of the renowned magazine Black Issues Book
Review, which covered books by black authors, industry trends, book clubs, selfpublishing, and other related topics. As senior editor she developed content for BIBR’s
website, including reviews, features, and special reports. She also supervised BIBR’s
department editors and freelance reviewers, and wrote the popular “Between The Lines”
column covering industry news, events, and publishing deals.
In 2003, Ms. Jones established the Mondella Jones Literary Agency, which expanded to
become MJLA Media in 2007. She has worked with many authors including Keith Boykin
(Beyond the Down Low), Clay Cane (Ball-Shaped World), Donna Deloney (Journey to
Jordan), Lisa Druxman (Stroller Strides), Faith Evans (Keep the Faith), and Sibylla Nash
(DreamCity and Baby Modeling and Beyond), and Imani Powell (The Young and the
Stressless).
Ms. Jones has appeared as a panelist/presenter for the Baltimore Book Festival, Black
Writer’s Reunion & Conference, Capitol BookFest, Frederick Douglass Creative Arts
Center, Harlem Book Fair, Nassau Community College, Queens Public Library, and the
University of Maryland, College Park.
She provided marketing, public relations, and consultant services to the City University of
New York, DC Public Library, The New York Historical Society, Pentouch, Smithsonian
Institute, Cline, Davis & Mann, and The Village Nation to name a few.
Her writing has appeared in ESSENCE, Written, and Mosaic magazines. In 2004, she was
profiled in USA Today Weekend Magazine (along with her mentor, pioneering literary
agent Marie Dutton Brown). Also, she is featured on page 46 of the book Seven Soulful
Secrets: For Finding Your Purpose and Minding Your Mission by Stephanie Stokes Oliver
(Doubleday)/
Ms. Jones is a Los Angeles native and alumnus of the University of Southern California.
She also received a publishing certificate from the Stanford University Publishing
Program.