Meet Shelley Mellon | RL Jones Insurance & MVS Services, President/CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shelley Mellon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

What should our readers know about your business?
In 1938, my great grandfather, Earl Roberts, founded RL Jones Customhouse Brokerage 1938 in Calexico, Calif., opening an office in San Luis, Ariz. In 1956. My grandfather, Richard Jones, joined the business in 1961. My father, Russell Jones, was asked to relocate to San Luis to work in that office temporarily. That ‘temporary move’ turned into a lifetime, and in 1974, my father moved our family to the area to manage the location when I was just a child.”

Starting at 8, I worked for my father at the Customhouse Brokerage warehouse, taking pride in getting all dressed up for work to join him, even if the jobs I would be doing would be cleaning bathrooms and filing papers and watching him professionally interact with his team and clients. The conversations we had together riding to work are among my life’s most precious and impactful memories. When I was in 6th grade, I distinctly remember Grandpa Richard telling me I would own my own business one day. When I look back to those comments, encouraging words were little seeds intended to build confidence towards what they knew would be a challenging journey in a predominantly man-dominated world in business, especially in the executive, entrepreneurial roles. During my senior year of college at the University of Arizona, my father asked me to consider joining the family business upon graduation from the Keller School of Business. Having no idea how to build an insurance brokerage, I took one step at a time. I developed a business plan to expand the business’ sales of Mexico trip insurance and custom trade bonds. The expansion required me to attain multiple insurance licensees and an insurance company appointment, which was initially daunting to make presentations as a 22-year-old rookie female with no experience. I remember making cold phone calls to major insurance carriers in Phoenix, pitching my business plan in large conference rooms, and hearing, “Thank you for your presentation, miss, but you don’t have enough experience and enough of a book of established sales for us to give you an appointment”, and “nice presentation, come back in a few years when you have more experience and at least $50,000 in insurance sales”. My favorite comments were, “I’m going to save you a lot of heartache and let you know that you are too young and blond to make it in the insurance industry”, and “So, are you presenting for your boss? If so, why is he not here.” I believe those comments added to my stubborn determination to make every attempt to succeed. I knew the journey would be challenging, but I was determined not to not fail without a valiant effort and to push through the fear of taking risks and determine the right time to expand our team and diversify investments. I also made sure I discussed everything with my father to glean from his insight and experiences. I could go on and on about my many failures and many great ideas that ended up being quite the setback, but my father always encouraged me to use them as opportunities to adjust my rudder. Today, I’m proud to say that our team has grown the business to the largest producing agent for the company that took a chance on a young woman with aspirations to grow a business and a young family.

Our business growth has been greatly complemented by our involvement with the community through local and national philanthropic and faith-based organizations as were modeled by my great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents; they are and were extremely involved in our community. They had a tremendous social impact in the local, state, national, and global arenas. My father is still actively involved in the Arizona/Mexico Commission, serves on the Arizona Power Authority Board and US/Mex Border Trade Alliance, begins the US/Mex Border Philanthropy Foundation, and served in the Arizona State Legislature in the House of Representatives. I was equally blessed with my mother’s passion for music education, who founded and conducted the Yuma Civic Orchestra for over 40 years.

Following my family’s path, I’ve been fortunate to work with, lead, and establish many extraordinary local non-profits and organizations. Even though they all are near and dear to my heart, if I had to reflect on the top community influencers for positive social impact would be Southwest Arizona Town Hall, Yuma Union High School District, Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, Yuma County Anti-Drug Coalition, The Foundation of YRMC, and at the state level, Education Forward Arizona, Arizona Town Hall, and the Arizona Community Foundation, nationally, the National Association of Heritage Areas, and the Evangelical Free Church of America.

My parents always advised us to serve with passion and kindness, every day shouldn’t be a burden but rather an opportunity to make a difference in another person’s life. I’ll wrap up this lengthy life summary with this, one of my favorite childhood stories has always been, “Stone Soup”. It teaches us that everyone has a unique gift to share. By sharing our gifts, perspectives, and insight, we all contribute to this large pot of soup that is our community. Together, we create a vibrant, thriving future for our community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Wow, that’s a challenging question. Sally Jacobs arrives at the Yuma International Airport, and we begin with dinner at home on our farm. It could be a taco margarita/Paloma dinner, barbecue, carne asada, maxi-dogs, trip-tip and chile beans, and my everything chopped salad; spend the evening listening to music and catching up.
Day 2: Go downtown to Cafecito for coffee and avocado toast, visit the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Park, the Yuma Territorial Prison, and The Sanguinetti House and Gardens, and have lunch at Gwynn’s Garden Cafe, spend hours at Timeless Elegance Antique store. Take a ride around the valley to admire all the beautiful colors of the crops that are growing and harvest in Yuma County, and dinner at River City Grill
Day 3: Walk the Yuma East and West Wetlands, enjoy the foliage, butterflies, birds, and fish at the pond, have breakfast at downtown’s Mi Rancho, and after breakfast, shop at the Redondo Room and Arizona Lighting gift shops—lunch at the Garden Cafe. stroll around the Palms Mall, especially Dillards. Dinner at Chretins.
Day 4: Breakfast at Brownies; grab your bathing suit and sunscreen. We are headed to Fishers Land and Martinez Lake to water ski or wakeboard down the Colorado River. Lunch at Fisher’s Landing. Come home and freshen up for the evening. Tradition after a day on the river is El Charro Restaurant.
Day 5: Grab coffee and something light at the Sunshine Cafe, visit Made in Yuma, and design and create your own cowboy hat, next stop is Mexico for tacos and more shopping, Tonight is entertainment downtown, and our Friday night Art walk on Main Street, enjoy the Yuma Center for the Arts, Gallery, dinner at Daboyz Italian Restaurant
Day 6: Early morning hiking Telegraph Pass, breakfast at Bobby’s, next stop the Sand Dunes, or go off-roading on our beautiful blooming desert trails. Freshen up, dinner at the famous Lute’s Casino, “Where the Elite Meet, we are off to experience the Yuma Civic Orchestra at Snider Hall, located on the famous Yuma High Criminal Campus.
Day 7: On our final day, we will go to Journey Church, brunch at the Garden Cafe, and spend the afternoon in the pool, reminiscing about our fun week in Yuma County. We will have a few other friends over for dinner, Manny’s tacos, and more margaritas. The next day is their flight out of our awesome Yuma Airport. Breakfast at Brewers at the airport. Many hugs and a goodbye for now. PS For her next visit, I would love for her to visit our amazing educational institutions. Beginning with a few of our preschools, Southwest Arizona Education Center, our incredible elementary school districts throughout Yuma County, and the phenomenal Yuma Union High School Districts 7 high school, they partner with our technical education district, STEDY, our extraordinary Arizona Western College, which has all state universities on campus.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ve combined this answer with the following reflection. But I would say reading authors like John Maxwell, Tim Elmer, Brene Brown, Simon Sinek, Dale Carnegie, and James Collins, leaders of the Bible,

Mentorship: I have always sought to listen, learn, and absorb the wisdom of others, especially the older generations, who have incredible wisdom gleaned from their life experiences.
My new favorite reads are: Daniel Meyers’s, Setting the Table, Will Guidara’s, Unreasonable Hospitality, and Rachael Redeemed, Extraordinary Hospitality.

Website: rljonesins.com, southwestarizonaeducationcenter.com

Instagram: shelley_jones_mellon

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-mellon-01394789 (LinkedIn)

Twitter: @mellonshelley

Facebook: Shelley Jones Mellon

Youtube: Shelley Jones Mellon @francisleemellon

Image Credits
Christine Johnson