Coco Jones on Partnership With Pure Leaf Iced Tea, Embodying the New Hilary Banks on 'Bel-Air,' and Shining as an R&B Songstress

Coco Jones is doing a lot these days. The Disney alum is a fan-favorite on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot, Bel-Air, on Peacock, where she stars as Hilary Banks. Jones is also releasing music and killing live performances, and stars alongside her best friend Terrell Grice in a YouTube show, and is making red carpets best-dressed lists. It's about time that people are taking note of her immense talent. She was seeming MIA for a few years after her departure from Disney after starring in films like Let it Shine. But a 2020 YouTube video of her detailing what went wrong put her back in the spotlight. And now, she's expanding her brand with an empowerment partnership via Pure Leaf Iced Tea.

Last year's "Subtly Sweet Hotline" featured Jones on-call to help fans build boundaries by saying "no" to things that don't deserve their time, so they can prioritize the things that do. This year, she stars in "As Seen on Pure Leaf" – an in-faux-mercial promoting the power of a subtly sweet "no" inspired by Pure Leaf Lower Sugar Iced Tea.  The drink is made with only 5g of sugar, 85% less sugar than Pure Leaf's Sweet Tea offerings, and no artificial flavors, tea powders, or concentrate, Pure Leaf Lower Sugar Iced Teas strike the perfect balance of real brewed tea with just the right amount of sweetness. The spot it on Youtube and on  Jones' TikTok, as well as on Peacock's Streaming Service. 

PopCulture.com spoke with Jones on her triumphant return and her varying projects. She also discussed what makes her partnership with Pure Leaf Iced Tea special, and how she plans to do similar projects in the future. Check out the full video interview on our YouTube channel and above.

PC: So fans know that you love salt, but tell us about the partnership that you've built with Pure Leaf Iced Tea. How did this come about?

CJ: Yes, the Pure Leaf Lower Sugar Iced Tea campaign – Honestly, I don't know how it came about. I think maybe they were looking into me and it's all kind of what I stand for or maybe it was just perfect timing, but I think it's been such a wonderful experience getting to align with a brand that has a very, very similar message to me and what I stand for and the crucial things that I feel like I want to teach young women in life that I've learned through being in this industry.

PC: Now I read a little bit about the difference in the campaigns between last year and this year. So last year, the campaign was about boundaries, and this year the campaign is all about balancing the right amount of sweetness, which I feel like can be a metaphor for balancing life. So how are you learning to do so with you being so booked and busy nowadays?

CJ: Honestly, it's an ever-changing process. I think for me, I have to really stand firm on my intention and I'm never trying to do anything with the wrong intentions. I'm really just trying to bring my best to the table at every opportunity. So if that means that some things I have to say no to, so that I can be more prepared and more present for other things, then my intention was to just make sure that I'm not doing anything half…

PC: Yes. So you mentioned that you feel as if the brand really aligns with what you're trying to represent for young girls, young women. In what ways do you feel as if you guys connect in that way?

CJ: I think especially with the messaging and specifically this year's campaign, I get to do this as seen on Pure Leaf infomercial type of thing where I help fans figure out how to be more subtly sweet and to have more, I guess, of a guideline on how to be that in every circumstance. And I think that's really important to have that inner guideline. I think it's also really fun and interactive this time as well, because there's this subtly sweet suggester that I get to use in the campaign and it's literally my little buddy to help me with the right responses to certain circumstances, and actually, the fans can possibly win one so they can have the same suggestion that I use during the campaign, which is so fun.

PC: Now, as I mentioned, you're booked and busy, but I feel like your resurgence really popped off courtesy of the YouTube video that you posted two years ago titled What Really Happened when you explained your hiatus. So what gave you the courage to tell that story and do you credit it for some of your success today?

CJ: I definitely think being transparent and honest with my audience helped them to see me through a different lens that gave me a whole different trajectory versus if I would've just kept my truth to myself. I think it also helped show how normal I am, my personality, and how relatable my life is. Even though I had a different experience, the feelings and the growth I feel like is very relatable.

For me, how I got the confidence to speak on my journey, I think I had a "What else can I do
" type of situation. It's not like there was a job or an opportunity that would keep me from being authentic and honest. It was like, "Who's going to take something from me?" I'm just trying to figure it out myself. There's no reason to fear, there's no pushback from anyone, it's just me against me. And that's when I had to, I guess tell my story more for the people who were interested, if they wanted to pursue any dream and they maybe have felt like, "Man, I'm really close to giving up." I wanted that video, I wanted that commonality. I wanted somebody to tell me this has been really hard, so that I didn't feel like my journey was weirdly difficult. And so I did it for them.

PC: Well, you've done a great job and then you built a really good rapport with Terrell Grice, and I feel like you received a whole new onset of fans who really got to see your talent as far as your vocals and the different accents that you can do and your comedy. And now you guys have your own show. So how did your partnership with him and the fans' reaction inspire you to continue to produce music and continue to go at this whole Hollywood game?

CJ: I think it just motivated me. There were times where I was really highly motivated and then there were times where there was no motivation in sight. And working with Terrell, I learned a lot about being a CEO. Terrell created his own platform and I came from auditions and getting jobs, so his mindset was so much different than mine. His outlook on life was so much bigger and it taught me a lot about creating more platforms for myself and being more intentional. And then I think also I got more comfortable showing my personality when I saw fans laughing with me and thinking that I'm funny. I'm like, "Okay, this is how I feel. So cool." When I got that warm response from my personality, it helped me to be myself even more.

PC: Now, obviously you and the whole cast, actually, you guys are killing it in Bel-Air and you are starring as the re-imagined Hilary Banks. So we're in season two now, and you guys have already been renewed for season three. So were you nervous about putting your own spin on such an iconic character as Hilary?

CJ: I was more honored that I get to portray Hilary through this new lens. I think originally, Hilary had a storyline that is completely different than mine. So this version of Hillary is a lot more similar to me, and I think it's fun and refreshing and important to be that dark-skinned representation, especially on such a show like this, that it comes from culture and it is continuing to impact culture.

PC: Now you said that you guys are your character and that you are very similar. How much of you is in this version of Hilary? Because we know the first one, as much as we loved her, was a little on the ditsy side, and this Hilary is just glowing up.

CJ: Hilary and me are very similar. We're both very goal-oriented, very confident, outspoken, and it was so interesting how art imitates life because Hilary also was very vocal on her social media platforms about her dissatisfaction with the industry, and I literally did the same thing. So it was just so weird to get to play that on screen when I did that in real life and it changed my life, but we're very similar. I would hang out with her.

PC: What's been your favorite part of her character growth from season one to season two?

CJ: I think one of my favorite parts is her getting to be in love and booted up with Jazz. Everyone's rooting for that really bad. So I like that the fans got to see that pay off. But I think it's also interesting to show Hilary's vulnerable side. She's not always the head honcho in charge. She sometimes is happy to just be loved on and be open, be emotional, and it shows her vulnerability as well with her not being sure if she wants to pop out with a relationship or how to balance her social media presence and her personal life. That's a real thing. Choosing what you're going to share with social media and how to find those boundaries within yourself to show who you're going to be to your fans, that's a really tough place to be in. So I liked that we got to see Hillary not on point and making mistakes and correcting them and going through harder inner dialogues.

PC: Now, outside of Hilary, who is your favorite character on the show?

CJ: Now I'm going to say that, and then everybody in the group chat's going to be mad at me.

PC: Well, you can like me tell them Brenda from PopCulture asked.

CJ: Okay. I will say not my, I'm not going to say your favorite, but the other personality that is very similar to me is, of course, Will. He's super goofy, and lighthearted, he always is lighting up the room. He's a very go-getter, and I think that's the next personality that it's closest to me besides Hillary.

PC: Now you're doing a lot as far as filming the show and then ducking into the studios afterward and you released your EP. So I'm really excited about your new music. You can sing down and you are really representing the R&B girls. So when can we expect the tour?

CJ: I will definitely be having a lot of spot dates this summer, a lot of festivals, and I want to be on an artist tour with a more established artist. I think it'd be great for me learning as a breaking artist, how the ropes go. And I haven't been on a tour-tour since I was with Mindless Behavior, so it would be great to do that again as an adult. And that's still in the work. 

PC: Are you excited to potentially collaborate with some people in music, and if so, who?

CJ: Absolutely. I think it's so fun to work with other artists. I'm very collaborative, so even with writing, I like to have other people's ideas and their experiences to help make the song spread to a wider audience storyline-wise. So I'm really excited to do that with my fellow artists as well.

PC: Now outside of this partnership with Pure Leaf, you mentioned that your mission is to really inspire girls within a certain demographic or young women. What other types of partnerships and brand deals are you hoping to establish along the way?

CJ: I would really love to one day have my own event, I guess type of a yearly thing that I do. Maybe it's like a festival, maybe it's like a, I don't know, speaking engagement where all these young black women come and learn from therapists, learn from different career fields, learn from me, and they just come out with a lot more knowledge to help them succeed in the world.

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