Ilana Jacqueline

You know that every other girl in the class hates this chick.

So two weeks ago as part of my let’s stop being a fat ass initiative, I joined a gym. It’s one of those new gyms that use resistance training and medicine balls instead of weights and treadmills. Because studies show that treadmills are intimidating. Studies also show that I have neither the strength nor knowledge needed to operate gym equipment.

So to join this gym I put $200 on my AMEX that I didn’t have, dug out my yoga pants and sports bras and made a valiant effort not to look like a complete ass.

The classes I’ve been taking are pretty mixed. You’ve got newbs like me who haven’t worked out since seventh grade. (What? Dodgeball counts!) And then you’ve got people who do this class every day, three times a day, for the past four years. They have abs. They have muscles in their arms. When they do their sit-ups—there isn’t an ounce of fat in their mid-section. I hate them for it, but at the same time, it’s damn inspiring.

But the most motivating factor at the gym I work out at is the rack.

See, the gym is run by these two women who are probably the fittest women I’ve ever seen. And not in a gross overly-muscled way—but in a size zero, sculpted buttocks kind of way. And to show of the fruits of their labors they created a clothing line of gorgeous, chic athletic wear. It’s the kind of clothing that if you threw it on to go to Publix, people would gather behind you in the candy isle and say, “She must be getting that for a friend.”

I want to live in these clothes. And there’s only one thing stopping me.

They’re all extra-smalls.

This, if you stop to think about it, is an excellent marketing strategy for several reasons. It ensures that anyone wearing the gym’s brand is representing the results of a hard workout. I mean, I really don’t think people want to join a gym when they see someone sitting in McDonald’s with love handles hanging out of their extra-large Fitness T-Shirt. Secondly, it provides motivation. That’s certainly the draw for me. I’m rowing and I’m staring and I’m thinking to myself when I wear those crop tees, no one is going to know that I can eat fourteen tacos in one sitting.

Which is actually kind of a shame, because it’s one of my greatest achievements.

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Since I graduated high school in 2008, I’ve been living in a pretty unusual cycle that goes a little something like this:

• Go to School.  Get a Job.  Love the job.  Put everything you HAVE into the job.
• Get a little sick of the job. Start to get sick physically. Start to hate the job.
• See a doctor who proclaims you have a rare disease which Treatment A will most certainly help with.
• Struggle through keeping the job while trying out crap treatments that do not most certainly do anything.
• Quit and or get fired from the job. Succumb to depression for about three days.
• Start new company and/or branch of company.
• Remember that you’re still taking online courses for school.
• Take seven tests in one day. Pass. (barely.) Can’t remember why you’re in school anyways.
• Remember that startups don’t’ make quick money. Get  a job.

Intersperse this with periods of hospitalization, attempting gluten-free dieting, and reading The Hunger Games trilogy and you’re basically caught up on my life in 2011.

I own a media company, which basically means I can do whatever the f*ck I want within the entire definition of business– so long as I put a URL behind it. I write teen magazines. I teach pregnant teens about birth control. I started designing websites when I was in high school and then made every mistake in the book while learning to promote them. Now I’m a full time publicist doing PR all the right ways. (Most of the time)

Things I’ve Done With My Media Company:

Started a teen website and trained a writing staff of 80 high school and college students.

Directed fashion photo shoots--with no knowledge of either fashion or photography.

Worked with Xavier Austrone building a series of websites that either flourished or were deserted.

Helped cool couples find pregnant teens looking to place their babies for adoption!

Worked from home so I could chill out with this little dude.

Launched a PR firm to promote it all (and some other cool people too!)

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August 2011, About Time Public Relations Launches

An offshoot of the successful media company is now accepting clients under their Public Relations branch run by Editor-in-Chief and CEO of About Time, Ilana Jacqueline.

We at AT PR remember what it’s like to be young adults, mostly because we still are!  21-year-old CEO of About Time Media, Ilana Jacqueline, has been working within the young adult market since she was fourteen. She started as a book reviewer (both loving and hating the Twilight series), then focused on the “real life” portion of many teen publications, gossiped a bit over at AOL’s Lemondrop, and finally launched her own online magazine, Today’s Teen Online. As teen pregnancy came into focus as one of the largest issues plaguing teens today, Ilana opened Materniteens.com. The site was an information source on adoption, abortion and teen pregnancy from a non-religious, non-judgmental standpoint. Today she’s helping the older and the wiser connecting with the younger and the savvier. Old marketing just can’t compete with the constant flow of information that is competing for the teen demographics’ attention. Her league of experts is also comprised of talented young adults with a connection to their peers.

Interested in representation under About Time? Visit www.abouttimepr.com to learn more.