The Founders

Joshua Hendried Brown Dennard

At age 3, Joshua started watching Disney’s Fantasia, 24/7. His mother, Tena, quickly notice Joshua loved the imagery captured on the screen. By age 8, Joshua stated he wanted to own his own network or be a “doctor of animals”. His love of storytelling on screen, combined with his genuine affection towards animals, began a life long journey for the young visionary. At 9, Tena began her quest to get Joshua hired on a farm although he was too young to get paid. So every other week, Tena purchased a $20 money order and mailed it to him with the farms name on it to teach him about work ethics and rewards. Joshua, now exposed to a world he had never seen, quickly developed an increased curiosity for networks such as National Geographic, and Animal Planet with hosts Jeff Corwin and Steve Irwin. In addition, he gained an appreciation for Physics, Astrology, Psychology, and Geology. Tena didn’t stop at the farm. She created an opportunity for her son

to shadow veterinarians at a local hospital. She introduced Joshua to an internship before he could comprehend what it was. This mixed with Joshua’s natural gift for entertainment and storytelling pushed the young man toward his original goal (own his own network). And thus, the movie maker was born. The company may be named after it’s CEO but for Joshua, J= Journey.

The Dynamic Duo

When Joshua was 14 years old, he and his mother Tena Brown started their first film production company together in California, called The J Pak Productions. Joshua and Tena started the beginning of Joshua’s film career with their television series “But What About School”, as producer, director, host, casting agent, location scout, cinematographer, gaffer, grip and director. “The J Pak” name was derived from “The ultimate entertainers of their time “The Rat Pak”. An exclusive man only entertainment club founded by Frank Sinatra in the 1960s. With one extraordinary black man embraced by the club, Sammy Davis Jr…. Next was “The Brat Pak”, another exclusive entertainment club in the 1980s. Including original young Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, with all white teenagers only, but

this time with a few girls; Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald after while a young Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise and others quickly joined the selective pack.

Tena Louise Brown

Tena, like Joshua started out as a trail blazer, breaking barrier in her own right. She said, growing up in on Florida having curly hair, green eyes and being very curvy although she had friends was difficult to say the least. Starting from elementary school, the little white girls despised her the little black girls hated her and all the boys wanted to either play with her or date her. She even had to leave school early in the fifth-grade school because of it. She began her life with a tear in one eye and a smile in then other. In that time period Tena integrated programs and extracurricular activities like gymnastics throughout the state of Florida and ranked number one in the vault. In her early career Tena got a real view of the entertainment industry making a name for herself as a renowned dance choreographer and part time actress. In the 90’s Tena was nominated best selling children books author. Books she began to write with the birth of her son Joshua. As mother and son they toured countless schools reading her books and putting on shows. Early on,

Tena understood the importance of excellence and perseverance from generations of family ownership. Growing up Tena had a father on her shoulder saying Tena thank God you have those kind of problems, keep working because one day you will find greatness and her mother saying sometimes you have to go through the side door to come out of the front, as long as you don’t have to use the back, but no matter what you do, do it with grace and elegance. There’s a fact that Tena lives by and instilled in Joshua “working 220 times as hard is not only okay but expected”. Once you understand that welcome to the entertainment industry.