Joey Paul Jensen is an award-winning casting director, producer, acting coach and show business finance mentor with more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry.

AN ENTIRE LIFE IN SHOW BUSINESS

Being very shy as a young child, Joey Paul Jensen was encouraged by her parents to take dance and singing classes when she was six to bring out her personality. Later, Joey started working in the entertainment industry growing up in Chicago, and as she now says: “My shyness has never come back.”

It is the combination of creativity and innovation, which the entertainment industry brings together, that fascinates Joey, and which has kept her in the industry for so many years. The media business is changing so much with new technology and distribution strategies making it more exciting than ever to be a part of. “The business attracts individuals who are artistic and independent thinkers. It’s very exciting to be around that energy regularly. Whether it’s a new concept to tell a story in a movie or it’s a new type of financing to fund media projects, its invigorating to be a part of that process,” Joey says.

COMBINING FINANCE AND ENTERTAINMENT

With Joey’s experience, network and people skills, she is absolutely vital to OMNIA. Working for OMNIA, Joey brings the entertainment and finance worlds together, but according to her they actually have lot in common; they are both filled with creative and inventive people, who are willing to take chances in life and who want to make a difference within their fields.

Joey’s role at OMNIA is to make its presence more known and help find companies that are a good fit for what OMNIA offers. She is the driving force to expand our network and to maintain our current working relationships – as she says: “I take the bull by the horns every day”.

“To make a living out of something I love, is one of the greatest joys of life. It makes me feel purposeful, which gives me tremendous joy because I believe we are all here to do something special with our lives. It’s our personal journey to find out what that is.”
Joey Paul Jensen, President, OMNIA Entertainment

Perhaps it is a lifetime of experience as a “doer” – because Joey can take all that she has learned as a performer, producer, speaker, and finance professional to participate in creating a great company. She brings her years of knowledge from two very exciting worlds and get to interlace them every day.

JOEY’S TOP 3 PROJECTS

• “The movie SOUL SURFER about Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm to a shark changed my life. It was an amazing project that told an incredible story. It was made for USD 18 million and made over USD 100 million globally.”
• “THE RACE TO SPACE was a super exciting feature film because it was filmed at the Kennedy Space Center, and I got to be right next to the launch of the space shuttle taking off.”
• “On a project for the FOOD NETWORK about the chefs on Naval Ships, I got to fly out on a military helicopter and land on an aircraft carrier as the ship was returning from 18 months in Iraq. It was amazing.”

WHEN WORK IS YOUR HOBBY

For most people, balancing work and time off can be a huge challenge. We are all in constant contact with our personal devices and things we are doing, and it is difficult to turn it off. It is a conscious decision to switch gears and do something else. So how does Joey disconnect: “It’s necessary to stay fresh, so I create special time to do other things with my husband, family, friends, and my dog! Working out at the gym is great and I like to swim. Since talking is a big part of my job, I love swimming because it’s something I can do without talking.” 

“My job is my hobby and it’s my life. With this mindset, I don’t feel like what I do is really work. I really love what I do - it’s a lifestyle.”
Joey Paul Jensen

By the end of the day, Joey Paul Jensen’s main motivation to work smart and hard all day is to want to look back at her day and feel like she did her personal best – “I guess it’s mostly about feeling like trying to live each day to the fullest”, she says.

A UNIQUE ACTOR IN THE INDUSTRY

The idea started with Daniel and Mette wanting to expand into the entertainment business to add something extra to the private equity business: When OMNIA invests in companies, we have the opportunity to attach celebrities to those companies to help them grow through celebrity endorsements.

“I don’t think there are many, if any, companies that combine the introduction to private equity as well as the potential benefit of Hollywood endorsements. It creates a very unique opportunity.”
Joey Paul Jensen

Furthermore, OMNIA looks for new opportunities in entertainment for investment. It can also explore companies connected to entertainment or even outside of entertainment. It explores companies trying to grow and potentially bring OMNIA in as a partner.

At the moment, OMNIA is looking at companies that are more involved in the post-production process of the entertainment industry, including companies that specialise in visual effects and some that are exploring virtual reality and augmented reality. There are a lot of synergies between the companies we are potentially investing in where they can benefit from each other.

“I hope that OMNIA can achieve great recognition as a global leader helping entrepreneurs in entertainment and other businesses realise awesome success.”
Joey Paul Jensen