Jim Jonsin is a Grammy Award winning record producer, songwriter, record executive and entrepreneur. He’s collaborated with such artists as Eminem, Kanye West and Lil Wayne. He started his own record label called Rebel Rock Entertainment, signing B.o.B. He recently produced Usher’s new single “Let Me See.” He is also the only person in the pop music industry that turned anextreme sports hobby into a second career as a pro-race car driver. He is racing in the GRANDAM /NASCAR series and owns a race team called Rebel Rock. In this interview, I ask him about how he got involved with racing, how he’s managed his personal and professional life, the type of philanthropy work he’s done, and more.

How did you get involved with the Toyota Pr/Celebrity Race? Were you always passionate about racing?

I always loved racing and fast cars. I asked my managers and publicist to work on getting me in the celebrity race at long beach and it took 2 years. It’s such a historic event and Racing for Kids is a big deal for me. I have 3 beautiful children of my own and will always help kids when I can in any way possible. :)

How do you go about managing your time between producing, family, racing, etc?

I have an amazing supportive wife and management team so it makes it easy to balance my roles. I also have the best production team and engineers in the business.

What type of philanthropic work do you do currently? Why is it so important to you?

We’re building our own Foundation – Rock the Foundation, and I’m working closely with Rally for Kids with Cancer as well as Think Pink. I believe we all need a hand here and there and when you have the opportunity to help people in need, there’s no better feeling.

You’ve produced for some major artists. Who was the most fun to work with and why?

Most fun artist has to be Pitbull. He’s funny and always cool and loves to have a good time in and out of the studio.

Talk to me about your Rebel brands (Rebel Rock Productions, etc). What are your aspirations for them?

I hope to build a strong brand from Rebel Rock, from music artists, song writers, and producers to racing, drivers, apparel and most of all a new social media brand that all Rebel Rock artists and players can be future partners in.