Meet Entourage
Friends don’t let friends build empires alone. ENTOURAGE was named, partly because we adore that HBO series and mostly because we believe anyone taking on the work of an author and entrepreneur deserves to have a Vincent Chase-caliber entourage following them around, helping them go about changing the world with words. Books are a business. They take production, distribution, strategy, marketing, launch parties, and of course, a brilliant idea.
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JENNIFER GOULDEN | FOUNDER & EDITOR
Jenn is the go-to girl for authors and entrepreneurs. Her daily life at Entourage consists of working with inspiring authors and entrepreneurs who have stories and/or lessons the world deserves to read. Jenn approaches each book not just as a creative project but as a business to be launched. She is usually the first editor to work on any book that comes to ENTOURAGE. Or, as Crystal Adair-Bening says, “She is the editor everyone loves to hate…” thanks to her ruthless, flawless editing! 😉
Her passion is in making sure every story has a heart, reads well (fluff-free, tight writing), and is marketed and launched in a way that readers are proud to buy, read, and share each title. She is the one riding shotgun on your ride-or-die team, your entourage.
BACKSTORY:
Jenn’s background is in events, publishing, media, marketing, and business development. As a serial(ish) entrepreneur, Jenn has built businesses that generated millions in sales and some that simply generated a regular paycheque. And she’s equally proud of all of them. The underlying current of all of Jenn’s adventures is that every one of them involves nurturing entrepreneurs as they bring their magic, ideas, projects, ideas into the world. Helping expand franchise locations, coaching new location owners on launching and marketing, creating a network of niche trade shows that feature business owners, publishing magazines and websites filled with reviews that feature entrepreneurs, and marketing coaching for entrepreneurs.
After selling a 17-year publishing & event business, Jenn retired just in time for a global pandemic. That lasted nine seconds and involved a catastrophic leg injury (girl meets horse, girl falls off horse, you get the picture). She promptly got bored, and found her way back to publishing and media, this time for authors and entrepreneurs (books are a business, my friend). Like all things that are meant to be, coming back to writing + editing + publishing has been like coming home. Not a venture, not a challenge to be conquered. This one is for keeps.
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PEYTON McDAVITT | STORY CONSULTANT
Peyton is a former actress and entrepreneur who found her purpose when she went from reciting scripts for the camera to writing them instead. Peyton is a brilliant editor, scriptwriter, and producer. In January, Peyton joined ENTOURAGE as the in-house Story Consultant, adding her expertise to each project that comes through the doors. Peyton is also our go-to expert for getting scripts and stories into shape for sales, development deals, and publishing deals.
BACKSTORY:
Early on, Peyton gained entry into the New York Television Festival and subsequently won a development deal with Lifetime A&E. She has written for The Guys Choice Awards for Spike/Sony, YouTube Red, FaceBook TV, and Medinah, one of the first scripted shows to come out of the Arabic world, for which she relocated to the Middle East for a time.
She has written several features for The Hallmark Channel, recently completed features for Oscar-winning production company Branded Pictures, an animated project with Golden Valley Films, and a folk thriller for ARC Entertainment. She was awarded runner-up out of over 2,000 submissions for the Screencraft Horror/Thriller competition. She was also a finalist in the Screencraft pilot competition out of over 1,700 submissions. That same pilot garnered a nomination for the 2017 WriteHer List. She is a TV consultant and has worked as part of a think tank for E! Entertainment, as well as a TV and feature script editor and consultant.
Peyton is the founder and owner of thepeytonpress.com,
offering TV and feature script editing and consultations, guiding several clients to script sales, development deals, and publishing deals.
She is an avid athlete, former USA Jr. National Team field hockey player, Division I All-American, Radcliffe Prize recipient (awarded to the top female athlete at Harvard) and was recently inducted into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
CHRIS ARNOLD | PROOFREADING, LAYOUT, PARTNER
Chris Arnold, BEd, Hons. BMus, is Jenn’s partner in life as well as in business. His zone of genius is proofreading, mastering software – thanks to an additional diploma in Video Game Design & Development (Hons) – creating ridiculously analytical spreadsheets for our test & measure analyses, and carrying many heavy boxes of books. Plus, he’s everyone’s favorite beta reader!
BACKSTORY:
He brings a background in systems, technical writing, and coding to ENTOURAGE, as well as creative talent, specifically in music and design. When he isn’t working on a book layout or proofreading, he is likely directing a singing group or performing on stage.
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JASMINE HROMJAK | GRAPHIC DESIGN
Jasmine is a designer and illustrator who has worked in publishing since 2005. She loves the creative challenges and opportunities each project offers and puts great care into creating a unique design that will shine on a shelf, screen, or coffee table.
BACKSTORY:
Jasmine has been the Art Director for a high-volume social justice-oriented independent publisher (whose books are distributed through Penguin Random House) for twelve years. She comes to ENTOURAGE with a world of experience, having worked with both independent publishers and one of “The Big 5” publishing houses.
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CRYSTAL ADAIR-BENING | COPY QUEEN, WORD MAGICIAN
Crystal is best known for not being known at all. She is a sequinned secret weapon, a copywriter & ghostwriter. To be more specific, Crystal is a multiple New York Times bestselling ghostwriter. She has been a big part of Entourage in many different ways, including often being the ghostwriter for new editing, marketing, or publishing projects at Entourage. When a book comes from Crystal, we know this is going to be an exciting ride!
BACKSTORY:
With a background in Live Events, Marketing, PR, and Media, Crystal teaches strategy (wordmagiccopywriting.com) backed by real-world proof and practice rather than theory. When not writing (so, like 2.2 secs a day) I can be found chilling with my sweet pup, or dimples-for-days husband on some crazy awe-inspiring adventure OR jetsetting the globe writing and creating with you and for you.
