Biography
Josh Reid Jones In a word... Driven. Pioneering a new path for social enterprise in Australia, developing entrepreneurial businesses with a social conscious. From a childhood surrounded by domestic violence, physical and emotional abuse, drug and alcohol addiction and poverty, to successfully building businesses across a wide range of industries over the last 12 years, Josh has built his entire life around a goal to ‘Create extraordinary positive change in the world, by helping people make ordinary change.’
Josh's passion is to help people, help people. With a belief that making it easy for people to do the right thing builds long lasting and sustainable positive change. Josh is working to change the paradigm of success from simply one of accumulation to one of equality of opportunity.
As the Founder of the Just Be Nice Project, Josh has overseen thousands of impacts for clients, from clothing homeless and at-risk Australians and transitioning unemployed and underemployed Australians into work, to improving mental health outcomes in schools, businesses and disadvantaged communities. Internationally Josh has been engaged on community development projects in Africa and provided support for tenement projects in the Philippines.
An expert on resilience, character building, happiness and how to ‘just be nice’ while also having social impact, Josh’s presentations on improving company cultures and processes are unique and engaging. Bringing over a decade of entrepreneurial, business development and charity experience to the table in an open and enjoyable way.
Remarkably relatable from the building site to the board room, Josh is not only a qualified carpenter but also holds a degree in Philosophy, English Literature and Media & Communications from Monash University. Combining a unique range of experiences that range from playing music professionally both here and abroad to ultramarathon running and tap dancing, Josh is able to relate to a wide-ranging audience from diverse backgrounds.
An ambassador for RUOK Day, Josh’s presentations and workshops on strategies for improving mental health and community support for those with mental health issues have been seen and implemented across dozens of schools and organisations Australia-wide.
With a breadth of experience in building cultures of positive support, integrated social impact and general excellence, Josh is able to lift the lid on what positive impacts really look like and what strategies make a difference in the real world, with a few laughs and maybe a few tears along the way.
Testimonials
Josh was absolutely FANTASTIC!! The crowd loved him, he was well prepared, took initiative and was lovely to deal with. It was a real pleasure working with him on all levels, and we would 100% use his services again and recommend him to others.
Dental Health Services Victoria
Josh - you are a credit to the JBN Project - you made it look so easy. So impressive. Your nature and your speaking style is - to name a few things - inspiring, engaging, emotional, relatable and down to earth. And funny too! You've got a great sense of humour while dealing with such complex material. We are just so happy with the whole event, and you and Lindy were central to it all.
Auspost
Josh provided an engaging and valuable presentation for the projects team at Metro Trains on the topic of mental wellness. Communication was wonderful and there was nothing but positive feedback from everyone in attendance. The enthusiasm and passion shown really resonated with everyone and they have taken away a lot from the presentation. We would love to work with Josh again in the future.
Metro Trains
Josh Jones has been an R U OK? Community Ambassador since February 2017. An organisation most well-known for R U OK?Day, a national day of action committed to encouraging and equipping everyone to regularly and meaningfully ask “are you ok?”, of anyone who might be struggling with life. Josh is passionate about improving the lives of others with a strong dedication to supporting the less advantaged in the community. Through personal experience he has been inspired to give back and to bring positive change to those he meets. He has given up his time to help deliver the R U OK? message on countless occasions throughout Melbourne; schools, workplaces and community events. His high energy, motivation and commitment shines through on anything he does and is a huge asset to our organisation.
RUOK Day
Just wanted to say thank you again for presenting last Thursday. It was so well received and I myself definitely learned and have taken on board the things that you spoke about.
Telstra
The boys are rarely so engaged by speakers and have thoroughly enjoyed your work. They have taken away a lot and the way you handled their questions was fantastic.
Melbourne Grammar School
Thank you Josh!!! You were so excellent. I’ve had really positive feedback and I loved the way you talked about a topic that is often confronting to broach.
Nova 100
Josh has such fantastic engagement with the kids and delivers such practical and important information in such a digestible manner. With at-risk youth it’s important to be able to keep them interested, field difficult questions and deal with tough topics, no easy task, yet handled so well by Josh. He is a credit to the Just Be Nice Project and the fantastic work they do in community development and tackling real issues faced by at-risk youth.
Stonnington Council
One of the most inspirational speakers and people that I have ever met, Josh presented so wonderfully, opening my eyes to the possibility of impact and using my skills in a way that I had not thought possible. I have never had disadvantage and opportunity spoken about in a way that really challenged what I thought I knew and left me wanting to learn so much more. I wish everyone could have the chance to listen to him.
Count Financial / The Next Step Financial
We had Josh Jones present at one of our Professional Development Days in Melbourne. Josh is a very inspirational and engaging speaker which made our audience not only think about their clients but also their family and friends wellbeing. This topic is always relevant and his guidance, ideas and subtle conversation techniques were key takeout’s for our audience on the day.
BT Financial Group
