Hanging out, driving around, listening to music, you could be preparing yourself for a job in the music business and not even know it. Sounds like a cheesy afternoon commercial hawking a quick education, but according to Jennifer Jesperson, it could be the key to “the coolest job in the world.”

Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie near the Bay Mills Reservation in upper Michigan, Jesperson grew up not knowing she was Chippewa, or even Native American, for that matter. Living in Hollywood, Jesperson is a long way from the reservation, but closer than she has ever been.

“When I was growing up, being Indian wasn’t cool and not talked about. I didn’t learn much about my Native American heritage until I got older, now I thrive on it. I’ve tried to learn as much as I can. I’ve become proud of what I am, who I am; and to think it was hidden from me. My parents and grandparents didn’t talk about it. I looked the way I did and all the Menards (her father’s side of the family) looked really Indian. I wondered, why do they look different, but they weren’t different,” said Jesperson, who has a cabin on the reservation. “My Grandmother Menard, who didn’t talk about it, was the one who drew me in with books. She ended up really wanting me to learn that when she was alive. Now if you were to walk into our house, it’s evident.”

Jesperson’s one-year-old son was another inspiration to search for answers about her heritage. “It’s really important to me that Autry learn about it,” said Jesperson. “My grandfather got sent to a Nebraska boarding school as a teenager; I didn’t know about that when he was alive.”

After high school Jesperson worked in Washington, D.C., as a nanny and then in video production. A trip to California impressed her enough to make the move and began working in film colorizing in Los Angeles. Afriend held a version of the job she has now and she dogged him until she finally had the job she lusted after.

For more than 12 years, Jesperson, 40, has worked for Warner Elektra Atlantic Records (WEA) as manager of A&R TV and Film for Warner Special Products, a division of the Warner Music Group. She and her staff choose, negotiate and secure the music for television and film projects ranging from a theme song to background music.

“When I started I couldn’t believe this was a job. I grew up listening to music. My older sister taught me a lot about music at an early age,” she said. “It was not a very known profession. There were just a couple people doing this, maybe four to eight. Now I have 11 people under me; that’s how much it’s grown.”

Her day-to-day is mostly taking requests from artists hoping to get their music used or talking to directors looking for music from the stable of WEA artists for a project.

The directors who know what they want come to Jesperson to negotiate the legalities of using an artist’s music.

For the movie Almost Famous, director Cameron Crowe knew exactly what he wanted. Jesperson worked on getting the rights to five Led Zepplin songs used on the film, which had a multi-million dollar music budget.

Securing the rights to a song can be tricky. “I first go to the artist and tell them this is the movie and the scene. Then I decide how much to pay the artist. It depends whether (the chosen song) is already a hit or not and whether it’s background music or if someone’s dancing to it or singing to a girl. Every request is different,” said Jesperson.

Then there’s the legalities of licensing the song, either for the original version or if someone else in the production plans on singing the song.

Other projects have a music supervisor who come to her for ideas.

“There are times when the music supervisor says this is what’s going on (in the scene). I go through the jukebox in my head to see what works.”

In addition to immediate exposure, having a song in a movie or on a TV show can be financially lucrative for artists.

“Artists can make thousands and thousands of dollars. They can make up to $100,000 depending on how the song is used. The bigger artists get paid more,” she said.

Getting a song played on the screen, whether big or small, is the way to get exposure. Commercials with rock songs are the vehicle to move songs these days, with radio payola still around, said Jesperson.

Commercials use mostly recognizable songs. Images of cars gliding through lush mountains to an old song is common, but Jesperson got the car song coup of the century. Jesperson worked on securing the rights to Led Zepplin’s “Rock and Roll” for a Cadillac commercial.

“We worked on the Cadillac commercial. We were shocked, but it turned out cool. It was a long shot, but we took it to them. It was the first commercial (allowed by the estate). You never know what people are going to do,” she said. “Originally, the song was going to be ‘Break on Through’ (by the Doors).”

While the inclusion of a Native American category in the Grammy Awards is raising awareness of the diversity amongst Native artists, they are still underutilized in the commercial world.

“My favorite Native artist is Bill Miller. I found him purely by accident. He was signed to one of the Warner labels. I got a plain label cassette of an advance and I was just working my way through a stack of tapes and nearly made me fall off my chair,” said Jesperson. “I did end up getting him used in a small film. I do pitch him to this day. We don’t really have any other Native artists signed to the label. It’s a shame that it hasn’t crossed over into the ‘mainstream’ yet. I hope we see many more Native artists sign to the major labels in the future. It’s bound to happen. There’s so much talent out there.”