"When I was young my family moved to rural Alabama, which is where I went to high school. Afterwards I went to Louisiana State University, which is where I met Kevyn Aucoin, a relationship that would change my life. He wanted to be a make-up artist so we decided to make the move to New York together in the early 1980s.
I didn't really have any interest in fashion - I just fell into it. Kevyn needed an agent so I pretended to be his for a while, before trying a number of jobs, including styling. Eventually, I worked as a booker at a modelling agency for three years, but decided it was not for me. At that point Kevyn was no longer happy with his agent, and I wasn't crazy about the agency, so I established Jed Root Inc in 1989, with Kevyn as my first client.
There was no master plan for the business, everything happened organically as I took advantage of what opportunities arose at the time. After Kevyn, I secured my next clients, including manicurist Sheryl Bailey and assistant photographer to Irving Penn, Michael Thompson, who at the time only had three pictures in his portfolio. In a way, agencies like mine started the movement for artists to become celebrities in their own right.
There are no set criteria when it comes to choosing who to represent, but it's important that their work is commercial and saleable. I make sure that everyone in the agency has their own unique point of view and talent. Scott Schuman [of The Sartorialist], for example, did more than just pioneer street style - he created his own view of the world. [ Purple magazine editor] Olivier Zahm does the same thing - he works within a context, which makes him interesting.
We launched our first Asian outpost in Tokyo in 1998, at a time when Asia was looking for Western artists. Today it's different - Asia is looking more inward, especially with its own pop culture which is translating more into fashion. This is why we chose to set up in Manila, which will be our hub for Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong, Thailand and Jakarta. We are also looking at Mexico City as a hub for all of Latin America.