My friend Jennifer Sherlock is a real-life Sex in the City character extraordinaire. Jen grew up in Medford, New Jersey, studied at Villanova, was an on-air television newscaster in Atlantic City and Philly, and is now a power businesswoman. She’s the founder and owner of Jenna Communications, a public relations firm, where she has dipped its toes in every type of waters, from professional sports to big-time banking.
First, Jen wanted to be in broadcast news. “In my college essay, I was being the next Barbara Walters,” she says, referring to the iconic television journalist. After college TV internships, she worked as a reporter, then anchor, at NBC 40 in Linwood, NJ, then in Harrisburg, before landing a job at a major network in Philly.
But there was a problem. “When you come to a big market, they tend to start you in traffic,” she says, “I didn’t want to do traffic.” Jen had too much personality for that, so, she branched out and started hosting for a YouTube news channel, back in the beginning of people doing YouTube shows.
From there, it was meeting people and making things happen. An encounter in New York led to a marketing job at Advanta Bank, traveling around the country, putting on events. She had found her niche.
“I got a high from it. It was my first and only corporate job,” she says, “I was really good at getting my boss on national news. That really gave me the confidence” to be part of the startup culture in Philly. I’d see her at Rouge or Del Frisco’s, chatting up entrepreneurs and always displaying impeccable style.
From there, she started repping musical artists and the Franklin Mortgage & Investment Company, a popular craft cocktail speakeasy-style spot on the Square. And she loved it. During the recession, she founded a charity meetup event called “Laid Off and Looking For Love.” People noticed, and pretty soon she’d founded her own communications company with clients like the Philadelphia Marathon, Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week, crypto and finance. Right now, she’s helping companies get ready for the country’s 250th anniversary celebration here next year.
The events change, the clients change, but by now, she says, “It’s all the same game, just different media lists and different targets.”
I admire how far she’s come. Jen shows me the thousands of unread messages on her phone. She’s in demand. It’s a beautiful thing. Jen Sherlock is living in her greatest and wildest dreams.
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