In 2015, King left William Morris and started MACRO, which received financial backing from a number of industry leaders, as well as from Emerson Collective, the socially focused investment group run by Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. FAST TRACKĮxactly as he’d hoped, King’s agency experience helped him achieve his larger goal: to lead a media company focused on developing content for multicultural audiences. He went on to work with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Janelle Monáe and Lin-Manuel Miranda. By 2010, King had become the first African American partner (and before that, the first African American to be promoted from the mailroom to a film/television agent) in the firm’s 119-year history. “The mailroom is where you really cut your teeth, and it’s a gold mine of information, relationships and exposure, which laid the foundation for so many things I’ve been able to do up to this point.”
“I knew it was where I was supposed to be,” King says. So King willingly accepted the post and everything that came with it: 90- to 100-hour work weeks, low pay and no guarantees. Even King admits he was initially skeptical at the prospect.īut the strange path to becoming a high-powered talent agent at the famed William Morris Agency (now called William Morris Endeavor) typically starts in the mailroom. “I remember him moving out there, and I was like, ‘Mailroom? You’ve got a law degree! What are you doing working in a mailroom?’” recalls Michael Lee, BE’92, one of King’s closest friends from Vanderbilt. Plus, he’d turned down several other offers just to take this job. His résumé was bursting with experience at marquee companies, including AOL and MTV, and he’d built an enviable list of contacts going back to his days growing up in Atlanta. King, BA’91, first arrived in Los Angeles in 1997, his friends were shocked to hear that he had taken a job in a mailroom.Īfter all, King held degrees from Vanderbilt and Howard University Law School. King (PHOTO BY ROBERT ECTOR FOR ROBERT ECTOR PHOTOGRAPHY / GROOMING BY DEBRA DENSON / STYLING BY ANDREW WEITZ FOR THE WEITZ EFFECT) By Elizabeth Cook Jenkins, BS’99 Charles D.
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