Young Entrepeneurial Council

Jason Smikle is a business leader and a creative entrepreneur at heart.  While he was a teenager, he started In-Sites Websites, an interactive web design business that served small businesses and non-profits in Chicago.  Through the Emma Bowen Foundation, he worked over four summers at CBS2Chicago for the production, marketing, web and executive offices.

Aspiring to be a media producer, he decided to attend Temple University's Annenberg School of Communications, majoring in Broadcast Television & Mass Media.  Seeking to understand the entertainment side of media, Jason worked as a production assistant at MTV News and Docs, working with the producers of the first hit season of My Super Sweet 16.

Jason's journey in the media took an unexpected turn, when he met his current business partners and developed the concept for TUVonline.com, an interactive web channel that showcases originally produced web series inspired by real college life.

Over the past five years, the business, TUV Mediaworks has evolved into a media entity that has helped the corporate world reconnect with the next generation, through media development with ESPN, NBC, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and marketing development for brands such as Toyota, McDonalds, AT&T and Foot Locker to name a few.

In addition, Smikle has also been recognized in many publications, including BusinessWeek's "Top 25 Entrepreneurs under 25" in 2009, Ebony Magazine's "20 Entrepreneurs to Watch" and Black Enterprise's "40 Business Leaders for the Future" in 2010.