Join Katie as she sits down with Joanna Jordan — Founder & CEO of Central Talent Booking, one of the world’s premier celebrity booking firms — to discuss her remarkable career journey, the art of booking top-tier talent, her collaborations with today’s most popular podcasters, and her insights on building and sustaining a powerful personal brand.
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Hi, I’m Katie Kempner and welcome to Perspectives, which is a series of inspiring conversations with remarkable working women. And I am really excited for today’s conversation with Joanna Jordan, who is the founder and CEO of Central Talent Booking. Joanna, welcome.
Thank you, Katie. It’s a pleasure to be here. I can’t wait to talk with you. And you have had such a phenomenal career. I think maybe just briefly, although I don’t know if it can be brief, but if you could just sort of fill us in a little bit on your career path up until what you’re doing right now.
Well, I’m British, if you haven’t noticed, and I hope that you can’t hear all these beeps, but I’m a talent booker. So there’s always constant texting and emailing going on sort of wherever I go. But my story is that I came to live in New York City in my early 20s and I was here working for British television. But when we got to sort of the mid 90s, David Letterman was doing a week of shows in London and actually was having trouble booking the show. They didn’t really know which talent was in London and the whole kind of international promotional plan. And a well-known publicist at the time said to Morty, who was the executive producer of Letterman, oh, you should call Joe. Joe knows what’s going on with British television. And because of that chance meeting, which was super exciting. Obviously, I knew who David Letterman was. I was 27, 28 years old. And from meeting Morty that way, he actually asked me if I would come and work for the show. It was a big decision because I had just had my first child. I had a pretty nice thing going with British television. I was working for more than one show, but I knew that working for David Letterman was such a big opportunity that I should take it. And I did.
And what was interesting about that moment was about six months after working at Letterman, there was a change internally. There was the executive producer was somebody called Robert Morton. Morty, everyone knew him. He was on the show a lot. And then he left and Rob Burnett came in, who was the head writer. And Rob and Dave had a great relationship where they really lived and breathed comedy. And in that moment, they basically just wanted me to get on with booking the show. And they asked me to run the talent department after being there for six months sort of officially. And that was the beginning of running the Letterman talent department. And when you work at a talent department for any late night show, you have this group of bookers from music to sports to human interests to television, movie stars. And your job is basically to curate and matchmake who makes sense for Dave every day. And it was a great lesson in really learning the art of talent booking.
You must have so many stories. Do you have just one little one that you could share with us?
Well, one of my favorite stories is it’s funny, you know, when everything goes well, it sort of just goes well and everything’s fine. But I had one moment that was quite I love this story. I don’t know if everyone at the show loves the story, but I as a talent book, I love this story. I saw this. It was a small HBO show. I’m sorry, a small HBO movie called Gia. And there was this actress called Angelina Jolie who played Gia. And people didn’t know her. And I said, you know, I think this woman’s going to become a big star. I think we should book her. And we did book her. But she was very green. You know, when you go on a show as big as Late Show with David Letterman, you have to be ready for that. And, you know, she was a little nervous. And it didn’t go as well as, you know, perhaps she would have liked, he would have liked. And because of that,everyone was like, oh, why are we having her on? And I said, well, I do think she’s going to be a big star. And that was that. And then she became the big star she was. But it’s funny, you know, those moments when sometimes you have to, the timing of when to have a guest is important. If you’re booking someone, you’ve got to know that they are ready and capable for the level of the interview. You know, you don’t just put someone in front of Oprah. You’ve got to be seasoned enough, capable enough, not green enough.
So even though the moment between Angelina and Dave, they just were not, Angelina was not quite there. I was too soon. So as a booker, I saw her talent. I knew she was worthy of a booking, but maybe I should have waited a little bit beforehand. And actually, I’ve had conversations with very seasoned publicists that will say to me, you know, I’m waiting until they’re ready. But then there are other type of publicists that will say, we want to get them on. We want to get them on. And I’ll say, they’re not ready yet. You’ve got to, we’ve got to get them more polished. We’ve got to have them more comfortable.
You know, when a guest walks out, I mean, I’ve done meet and greets with every potential big star like that moment Angelina had with Gia. I met Channing Tatum when he was in Step Up. I met Chadwick Boseman when he was in Jackie Robinson’s movie 42. I met Eddie Redman like at the beginning of his career. I mean, Chris Pine when he was in Princess Diary 2, like all these different talent that you meet them when you know they’re on the cusp of stardom. And the cusp of stardom is when you have to see, do they have what it takes? And my job is to know if they do.
And the Angelina Jolie story is an interesting one because was I doing a good job or was I doing a bad job booking Angelina too soon for Letterman? You know, maybe a little bit of a bad job because I should have just waited a little longer and then it would have been amazing. Did she ever come back? Did she ever do a review? I don’t believe so. That’s a great story. But I could see why I remember seeing that movie and she was such a brash character.
So you’ve worked with all these amazing people. You had these great jobs. What made you decide to start your own company and take on this challenge? Well, I worked, you know, looking back as well, I worked for David Letterman from 1995 to 2000. And that, I mean, looking back now, I feel like I really should have only have stayed there for three years instead of five years. I loved the job in three years. I ran the talent department. I had a lot of opportunity for great experience. But, you know, you only have one life. And I knew that there were lifers. You know, there’s a lot of people that work in late night. It’s a great gig. It’s a great job. You know, there’s a lot of people that we would call internally lifers, people that will be there for the whole time. But that wasn’t really what I wanted for myself.
It’s not, you know, I was, you know, I’m not American. I didn’t grow up watching David Letterman. I just went to work for him and worked for him and did a good job for five years. So I was pregnant with my second child and I knew staying, you know, I wouldn’t be able to put my daughter to bed at night. I had an, I just knew that I wanted to take the chance to do this idea I had. And the idea was simply that if I could run a company that was like the talent department of Late Show with David Letterman, but media outlets would outsource to my company to book for them. That would make for a good business.
You know, talent booking is sort of something, a lot of people don’t know what talent booking is. People, you know, no good host, no good producer succeeds without good talent booking. If you have guests, you need, talent booking is the art and strategy of connecting the right talent with the person who’s interviewing them.And it goes beyond just filling a guest spot. It’s, you know, you have to have, great talent booking requires cultural awareness, editorial instinct, strong relationships, you know, a deep understanding of both the client’s vision and the media landscape. So to me, that was a real opportunity and no one was doing it. And I thought, I can do this.
And so when I told our executive producer and David Letterman that I wanted to go and start my own company, I told them when I was five months pregnant, so I had a little bit of a bump. And they said, well, we’ll be your first client. So that was a surprise and obviously an amazing gift. I don’t know if I realized in that moment what a gift it was, but looking back, it most definitely was a gift. And I don’t know if they thought I was going to be, my company was going to be as successful as it’s become. But anyway, we all recognized that we needed each other. And I continued to work for David Letterman for another six years under my company and continued to book his show. So I booked David Letterman’s show for nearly 11 years.
And then a gentleman called Jimmy Kimmel came knocking on my door. And after I ended my final contract with Letterman, I made the switch to Jimmy Kimmel Live when Jimmy had only been on the air for two years.
So a lot of women on my show talk about taking a leap, being trusting in themselves and taking a leap. And the caveat here is not everybody has the opportunity to do that. But you, as you say, you were pregnant, but you knew you wanted to do something different. Did it feel scary to take a leap and just say, I’m going to do this better? Or did you have trepidation? Are you not that kind of person and you just jumped right in? Because I think whatever, perhaps not in such a glamorous field where you’re dealing with celebrities, but a lot of women, a lot of people are in a job and think to themselves, I could do this better my own way for myself.
Well, I don’t know if I thought of it quite that way. I think there’s a lot of things I was naive about, naive about how to really run a business properly. I think I just was a very hard worker. And I’ve always believed that if you work really hard, things do pay off. And that I knew. And I knew that I would work hard and I had the vision. I could see that there was an opportunity within the media landscape. And I knew that I believed that my work, I knew that I was good at what I did. But I also knew, this sounds kind of crazy, that if it didn’t go well, well, what would happen? I would spend more time in the park with my kids. And really, that was it. I was like, well, if I fail, I’ll just spend a lot of time with my kids. But if I don’t try now, I was 32 years old when this happened. And I was like, this is the moment. I have to try.
Well, it really worked out for you. So that’s amazing.
So I love to talk a little bit in terms of the media landscape. Last week, I was at the Cannes Lions Festival, and I attended an interview that Janice Mann, the Editor-in-Chief of The Anchlor, did with the CEO of YouTube, Neil Mohan. And a large portion of it was focused on the power of podcasts. You mentioned Alex Cooper, and I want to talk about that too. But what’s your take on the growing power of podcasts in this creator economy?
Well, I mean, YouTube is where it’s at. Google owns YouTube. Let’s make that very clear. People forget that sometimes. Google owns YouTube. Google have worked hard over 20 years of YouTube to turn it into what it is today. YouTube have a very clear plan. Their plan is to make sure that every television in the living room has YouTube as them. It used to be ABC, CBS, NBC. It used to be the three networks back in the day. They want YouTube in the living room. All my kids, when they were young, used to go to their bedroom with theirlaptop, and what were they watching? They were watching YouTube. My television was getting dusty. No one was watching my television. Now YouTube are trying to get it into the living room.
When I first went to an upfront for YouTube, and it happened within the same week that all the linear television upfronts were happening, it was so exciting to me. I mean, I love everything that they’re doing because they are centered on allowing everyone who has their own YouTube channel to have their own unique voice, to have their own relationship with their viewers, and to subscribe and build. I mean, look at Mr. Beast, obviously is the top of the top. My company just started working with Dhar Mann, who is the number two creator on the Forbes list. You’ve got everyone like Alex, you’ve got Stephen, who we work with from Diary of a CEO. Obviously, there’s Mel Robbins and the success of her book, all these different people, but big or small on YouTube, there’s a place for everyone. And it gives every viewer the opportunity to really find the different things that they love, right? Their hobbies, their interests. So YouTube to me is amazing and is very current.
When you book guests every day, something that I always say to my staff is you want to book something that is current, that says 2025. You don’t want to, or if you’re booking someone who was around in the 90s, like Sarah Jessica Parker, you want to talk to them about what’s happening now. That’s what’s interesting. Does that, I think? So asking for a friend on this one, but we talked about all these amazing people like Mel Robbins, who I think is just fantastic. But why do you think certain podcasts and podcasters rise to the top? What separates them and makes their show ahead?
I think it’s because they know who they are. I mean, Alex Cooper knows who she is. She knows who her audience is. And whether she’s interviewing Jane Goodall, Chapel Roan, Sarah Jessica Parker, she’s speaking on behalf. I mean, to me, the Call Her Daddy interview is kind of what Vogue magazine was for us when we were in our 20s, right? Like, oh my God, I’ve got to buy Vogue and I’ve got to see who they’re interviewing and who’s on the cover, which celebrities on the cover. That was, now the women in their 20s, they’re like, who’s on Call Her Daddy? And again, it’s very current.
Chapel Roan, you’re booking Chapel. She is the woman of the moment. You know, when you’re working with Mel Robbins, Mel is about purpose. Mel is about education. She wants to interview people that are going to teach us something. What are you going to tell us that can improve our life? And she’s very clear on, you know, you come and listen to my interviews. You’re going to learn something. We’re going to be educated together. She’s very, both of them are extremely honest about their lives. They’re authentic. They are truthful. You know, you need that authentic, true voice.
To me, the success of a strong host is always being authentic to who they really are with all the baggage. That’s important. The baggage is relatable. Baggage is your secret weapon. Because even a guest, when someone talks about, you know, like, oh my God, the other day, Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Seth Rogen about a time when he was a struggling actor and this disastrous effort in trying to get a role. And it was so relatable, so entertaining. And they were in fits of laughter about it because it was just like the ultimate bad job interview that anyone who’s gone for a bad job interview will understand. It was very funny.
So I would be remiss having you here if I didn’t just ask, you know, do you have any advice to stand out? I mean, you’re talking about super A-list people or, you know, very well known, butthere are so many opportunities now for people to be booked and to be guests on other shows. Do you have any advice for other people who are looking to build their own image? Well, this is what I would say and I’ll do my best to say it well. Let’s start with how celebrities do it. When celebrities want to use media as a way to enhance their image, there’s really three ways that they do it:
They do it promotionally. So what does that mean? They’re looking to be seen. If somebody wants to be famous, you have your Instagram page, you have your LinkedIn page, you have your Facebook page, you have an opportunity right there to start developing your image, developing the way in which you want the world to see you. And that’s very noticeable. If you’re someone that’s doing something a little different or doing something incredibly smart, if you’re showing people what you have to offer the world, that’s something that can be noticed.
The other thing, but when you start getting to a certain stage, you can also have people help you. Choosing your right PR team, choosing your right manager, choosing your right agent. In the new creator economy, you find yourself a strong agent, you find yourself a strong PR, and guess what else you find? You find yourself a strong talent booker. Because I want to be in business with everybody that wants to develop their image in a way that has them being…
When I worked with Oprah, my company booked Oprah Magazine for about 10 years. We did an O interview every magazine issue. I used to speak to Gayle King every day. I love Gayle so much, and she’s truly an incredible human being. And when we would choose who Gayle and I would talk about who Oprah could interview for the O interview, then Gayle would go off and talk to Oprah. I would get the go-ahead to put out the O. But what I learned from that is that Oprah really developed these great friendships and relationships with all the different people that she interviewed. And over many years, right? So in your current day, in your current landscape, you’re meeting all types of different people in all types of different ways. And if you can have someone like a talent booker, start opening up your opportunity to meet more interesting people and different types of people and have amazing conversations with them, it makes the world a better place. I hope that was kind of an answer to what you were asking.
No, it was a great answer. So everyone needs to know you. I think that’s where we… But finally, just to close, and this has been such a lovely conversation, but is there one piece of advice that has really helped you through your life and your career that you could please share with us? Well, definitely be kind to everyone you know. Treat everybody the same, whether you’re meeting Barack Obama or someone at the supermarket. Treat everyone and respect them and respect their story. Everyone has a story.
I also would say I am a natural workaholic and it’s important to not, in this current landscape, when you want to be a success, don’t work 24-7. Work where you have balance in your life. If you only work hard, you’ll make mistakes. Live your life, enjoy your life, stop and smell the roses. Balance your life. I’m a big meditator, so I will say meditate too. But enjoy your life. You have one life. Work hard, but balance it with a good life too.
Perfect. Couldn’t endon a better note. Jo, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Katie. And thank you for listening. Thank you.
