2024 Honorary
HSPVA Jazz Hall of Fame Inductee
“Jinx” Mabry Hayden was born on Friday the 13th, (6/13) on the 13th hour weighing 6 lbs 13 oz so her dad nicknamed her Jinx. She is a 1976 graduate of The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), where she majored in drama while also taking art and dance classes during her two years there. From a young age, she loved exploring the arts, participating in theater, dance, and art classes throughout the Houston area. In the 7th grade, Jinx alternated between first and second chair clarinet, but her musical journey ended the following year when her new school didn’t have a band. Modeling and pageants also became a significant part of her life; she won several crowns and talent titles in the early 70s and landed a few small modeling jobs.
After graduating from HSPVA, Jinx attended Sam Houston State University but left after her sophomore year to marry her husband, Ron. The couple, married now for 48 years, started their life together following Ron’s career. During this time, Jinx took real estate classes and by 21, earned her Texas Real Estate license and later, while living in Louisiana, earned her Louisiana broker’s license. Jinx quickly proved her talent in real estate, becoming the top producer in her office during her first year while simultaneously attending college full-time. For fun, she taught a continuing education modeling class organizing a fashion show as its finale. She recruited local leaders and store owners to participate-marking the beginning of many events she would go on to organize.
Jinx and her husband returned to Houston in 2001. During this time, she worked as an assistant to a sales associate for a Houston homebuilder which eventually led her to a dream job in marketing, working as an information center coordinator for a large real estate developer. Her favorite part of the role was planning and coordinating events for the communities and realtors. Later in life, after her two children had started college, Jinx launched her own decorating business, Dramatic Touches by Jinx, helping clients with their home design needs. Her tagline, inspired by her theatrical roots, was, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…”
Among HSPVA alumni, Jinx is best known as the director of HSPVA’s Original Campus Reunion. She assembled a team of alumni to plan and execute a four-day, seven-event reunion in October 2015, which drew over 700 attendees from all around the world. The event, which took four years to organize, remains a fond memory for those who participated. It was through this reunion that Jinx met Bob “Doc” Morgan, who she invited to join the OCR gala committee. Around the same time, Ashley Tamar Davis and Chris Walker were launching a nonprofit in honor of Doc called DocFest! Doc introduced Jinx to Chris and the board members during what turned out to be an informal interview, leading to a nine-year role helping plan and coordinate DocFest events and serving as a board member.
DocFest Houston 