Jennifer Warren began acting in high school and appeared in commercials for a variety of brands. But she quickly realized she was more interested in what was happening on the other side of the camera.

"I liked how they were telling stories and bringing people in, so I thought I'd get into marketing," said Ms. Warren, who is in the process of relocating her family to Fort Worth, Texas, from Austin to join the electronics retailer. It's a pivotal moment for RadioShack, which, among other things, has been struggling with declining sales and profits, as well as an indistinct position in the $200 billion consumer-electronics marketplace.

It will be the task of Ms. Warren, a longtime agency exec who most recently worked at Razorfish, to attract younger customers and position the company as the "neighborhood technology playground." She said her biggest challenge will be "moving at such a quick speed while trying to make really smart decisions."

That said, she's taken to heart a piece of advice she got from the founders at GSD&;M, specifically Roy Spence: "Jump off the building, and grow your wings on the way down."

Twitter:
@jenniferwarrens

First job:
Midlevel account manager at American Television Time, a direct-response agency that has gone out of business

Pets:
Two Springer spaniels