Meet Jeff Hare

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeff Hare a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeff, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

When I was the head of PR for DreamWorks, I worked with Jeffrey Katzenberg so closely and I heard him speak so often and one story stuck with me.

Jeffrey was an executive at Paramount Studios and was working on a film with Kirk Douglas. Kirk was leaving set one day at lunch and Jeffrey asked why. Kirk said he was doing a charity event that was renovating playgrounds for kids in the area. Jeffrey needed to keep him on set and begged him to stay. Kirk said in return, “Jeffrey, you don’t know how to live until you know how to give.” That changed Jeffrey’s course and he became one of Hollywood’s biggest philanthropists. I heard that story so often and it changed the course of MY life as well.

Now, I volunteer with a ton of charities (I haven’t met one I don’t like) and sit on the board of a number of them. Giving back fuels me and gives me the purpose I need to make the world a little better each day. I don’t take on new clients without a charitable element to their missions and I encourage every friend (new and old) to find a cause that means something to them and do something. We all have something we’re passionate about.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I moved to Los Angeles to be an actor. When I got to town and stepped out of my car, I realized that I wanted to be an actor, but not a STARVING actor. The next morning, I drove to Apple One, a temp agency to find a job. In Cleveland, I worked in the marketing department at the repertory theater there and the agency saw that and put me in a one-week gig in Feature Film Publicity at The Walt Disney Studios. I found my calling in that one week and never looked back.

I worked at Disney for seven years and worked my way up the ladder a bit. I was courted by Warner Bros Studios and started work there as Sr Publicist. While there, I was nominated for Publicist of the Year three times (I never won, but they always say it’s just a pleasure to be nominated) and worked on a number of films that were massive hits. I jumped a couple levels and went over to DreamWorks as Vice President. As Head of PR, I worked on all things for the studio, the movies, tv shows, Broadway musical, the technology and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s personal publicity.

The studio was sold to Universal and they already had a Head of PR, so I went out on my own and created JH/PR working with a number of entertainment, tech and philanthropy clients.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

My advice to those who are early on the journey is this: You have to take the chance.

Growing up poor in Cleveland was rough. It was pre-determined that we’d all just find a low level job, start a family and live a life there in that small circle. Even as a kid, I was desperate to get out, but with no guidance, no support and no direction, I just let my life lead me. I didn’t go to college, because no one in my family did…and it was far too expensive to consider. So I just started adulthood the same way I ended adolescence…just going through the paces.

When I was in my very early 20’s I said enough is enough, and I started living my life instead of it living me. So I took the chance and I never looked back. You have to be afraid enough of failing and hungry enough to want it, but with hard work and direction, you can achieve it all.

The three things I think I think are most important are:

Guts
Heart
Tenacity

You need the guts to take the leap to begin with, the heart to follow through and the tenacity to pick yourself up every time there is a snag in your life plan.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

This might sound a bit harsh, but the most important thing my parents did for me was nothing. This was not done in a neglectful way, especially with my mother, but it taught me that the most important person on this path is me. If I don’t do it for myself, I might not get it done.

My mother was very young with 4 kids and my father abandoned us. She worked more hours a week than any person should and that was barely enough to keep the lights on, so she did her very best. And she is a hero to me. But with the necessity to work that much, we kids were on our own.

I learned to be resourceful, optimistic and pragmatic. But I also had an incredible fantasy world that pushed me to reach for every star I saw. With that hope and the hard work, I’ve reached a level of success that my teenage self would never be able to imagine.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffharela/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeff.hare.9
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-hare-5a11666/
• Twitter: @jeffharela

Image Credits

Photos courtesy of Jeff Hare