Van Jones (20 September 1968), is an American social entrepreneur, author, CNN news commentator, actor, a former lawyer and a non-practicing attorney. His books, Rebuild the dream, The Green Collar Economy and Beyond the messy truth, ranked as New York Times best sellers. The World Economic Forum awarded him the title of “Young Global Leader” in the year 2004. Not only this, In 2009, he was among the Times 100 most influential people in the world
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Early Life
On September 20, 1968, Willie Anthony Jones and Loretta Jean welcomed Van into their lives. He was born in Jackson, Tennessee. He was born in a middle-class family and grew up with his twin sister, Angela Jones. Van’s father was a school principal and mother was a high-school teacher. Van, who was born as, Anthony Kapel Jones, was a geek according to his sister, Angela. He was a big admirer of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy and considers them as his role models.
In terms of education, he graduated from the Jackson Central-Merry high school in the year 1986 and joined the University of Tennessee, Martin and obtained his B.S in communication and political science. He wanted to pursue a career in journalism and went on to intern at The Jackson Sun, Shreveport Times and The Associated press. It was during his internship at the Jackson sun when he adopted the name “Van”. Later, Van moved to Connecticut to attend the Yale Law School.
Career
Van Jones has been part of various social and environmental activism programs including The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of change, Rebuild the dream, The Dream Corps and Magic Labs Media. His books, Rebuild the dream, The Green Collar Economy and Beyond the messy truth, ranked as New York Times best sellers. He was appointed as the green jobs advisor in 2009, by the former president of USA, Barack Obama. However, he resigned soon as a result of his controversial statements. He also appear on CNN as a news commentator and hosts the Van Jones show on the same channel.
His work bought him a lot of goodwill and recognition. He was honored with many awards including the prestigious Webby special achievement award, Andrew J young leadership award, Bill Webber Community service award, David E. Glover Vanguard award and Rainbow Push Coalition’s 2015 Vanguard award.
Net Worth
The estimated net worth of Van Jones is $1.5 million.
Personal Life
Van Jones is married to Jana Carter. Jana is the director of the Search for Common Ground’s USA racial healing program and participates in social activism just like her husband. The beautiful couple is blessed with two children, Cabrel Jones and Mattai Jones. There are not much details available about their personal life as they are quite secretive about it and wants people to know them for their work and not personal controversies. Presently, the family lives in Los Angeles and there are no reports that could indicate any signs of trouble in the paradise.
Last Modified: Mar 6, 2020
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