Brenda L. Jones was born in St. Louis on August 25, 1948, to Anderson Jones (1921-1991) and Samella Taylor-Jones (1918-1999). She graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and attended Temple University in Philadelphia. Shortly after college, Jones worked as the assistant managing editor with Freedomways: A Quarterly Review of the Freedom Movement and contributed book reviews to the journal. By 1988, Jones was the information officer for the American Friends Service Committee. She later worked for the Institute for Peace and Justice and served as its executive director for a time in 1991.

Jones continued her career at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) in 1992. She soon became the community relations manager and proposed a successful outreach program, IN UNISON, that resulted in increasing the diversity of the orchestra’s audience by partnering with African American churches. IN UNISON was held up as a national model to reach new audiences in the arts. In 1994, the SLSO nominated Jones for the “Yes I Can Award.” In 2017, the SLSO celebrated the 25th anniversary of IN UNISON by recognizing Jones. She continued her work in diversity and inclusion in the newly-created position as executive director of the Missouri African American Cultural Initiative, operated by the Missouri Arts Foundation. The Initiative provided financial and technical assistance to arts programming throughout Missouri. In May 1998, Jones joined the Missouri Botanical Garden as the director of communications.

In 2004, Brenda Jones became the first African American to head the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Eastern Missouri. She retired at the end of 2012. During her eight-year tenure, Jones transformed the organization by increasing staff, the number of cases handled, its operating budget, and by laying the groundwork for a merger with the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri to create the ACLU of Missouri, a national strategic affiliate.