Brooklyn native James Cruz got his start as an intern at Mercury Records over a decade ago and has since become one of the most influential executives in entertainment and marketing today. Cruz served as National Promotions Director at Bad Boy Entertainment before spending a 7 year tenure at Violator Management, where he was instrumental in the careers of 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Missy Elliott. Cruz was also responsible for the launch of Violator Marketing Group, where he helped secure endorsement deals for 50 Cent with Pontiac, Vitamin Water and Reebok; Missy Elliot with Adidas; and Busta Rhymes with Mountain Dew and Courvoisier. He currently oversees brand management, marketing execution and content creation for SRC's corporate clients and SRC/Universal Records artists including Akon and Tami Chynn. In addition to serving as head of marketing at SRC, Cruz is CEO of his own Cruz Control Entertainment (CCE) which has an exclusive consulting deal with Monami Entertainment (Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Brit & Alex) and Unique Auto Sports.

Follow Up on Every Call
You never know what might come of it. Communication is everything and when you are communicating with people, exchanging energy and exchanging ideas you get rolling momentum. Once you achieve rolling momentum, things come about and you never know where it might lead you. Case in point, I was in Europe on tour and I kept getting random emails and phone calls from someone. I didn’t know who they were but I followed up and we ended up at the Prince of Jordan’s house. He took us on a tour of Petra and we went to the Dead Sea. We were able to experience things. If I hadn’t followed up on that, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve that spiritual connection. I wouldn’t have been able to go to Petra or see the Dead Sea. You gotta follow up on every call, you never know what might become of it, and not with a sense of urgency but a sense of sincerity.

Greatest Moments in Cruz History:
MTV Awards, LA at the Hollywood Bowl. I’m on the West Coast for my first ever LA trip for a retail convention. I decided to drive up from Santa Barbara and a friend of mine Sincere Thompson who ran promotions for Polygram was also in town. The radio station was holding a contest to go to the MTV Awards and I wound up getting a ticket. I walk into the MTV awards with Sincere Thompson and two radio winners and I bump into the President of Mercury Records Ed Eckstine. I was an intern at the time, so he turns and looks at me and says ‘How the hell did you pull this off?’ I had a job a month later.