Jennifer Furmaniak, C.E.O. and Founder
As C.E.O. of JB Talent, Jen oversees all accounts at the company and advises her carefully trained staff of 8 full time employees, along with various free-lancers and interns. Jen launched JB Talent in the Spring of 2005 and has stayed true to the company goal of booking superior and on-brand talent for television talk shows, award shows, magazine covers, celebrity castings, events, online and more. During this time, Jen has been personally responsible for booking film talent for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson for over 5 years, helped cast the hosts of CBS’s The Talk as well as book all aspects of guest talent for The Talk for 3 seasons, and secured covers for Health magazine for 4 years. In addition she has overseen the bookings for 2 seasons of Rove L.A., wrangled presenters for 5 years of The Much Music Video Awards, as well as done numerous primetime, daytime and reality castings. Booking highlights have included booking Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Robin Williams, Steve Carell, Jack Black, Jamie Foxx, Scarlett Johansson, David Beckham, Russell Crowe, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew McConaughey, Channing Tatum, Vince Vaughn and Samuel L Jackson.
Outside of JB Talent, Jen has sat on the board of Friends of Castle Heights for two years where she oversaw event fundraising for this Los Angeles public elementary school. She chaired the annual Spring Event Gala where she helped raise over 100K for the school. In addition, she is part of the Women’s President’s Organization (WPO).
Prior to launching JB Talent in March of 2005, Jen was a Supervising Producer of The Insider and Entertainment Tonight, where she helped launch The Insider in 2004. There, she produced A-list celebrity segments for Pat O’Brien, Mary Hart and Mark Steines on the two aforementioned shows, as well as ET on MTV, ET on VH-1, ET UK, and the CBS primetime special Road to the Red Carpet. She was also instrumental in the coverage of major award shows from The Golden Globes to The Grammy’s to The Oscars. Jen was the Entertainment Editor at Cosmopolitan magazine from 1998 through 2004, responsible for booking all celebrity covers of the magazine, as well as writing or editing all entertainment stories. Covers included Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Britney Spears, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Lopez, Reese Witherspoon, Gwen Stefani, Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Matt Damon, Kiefer Sutherland and Keanu Reeves, to name a few. Prior to Cosmo, Jen was the Entertainment Editor at Redbook Magazine, the Talent Executive at CBS’s daytime TV show, Day and Date and began her career for the entertainment producer and Talent Executive of The Today Show.
Jen lives in Los Angeles with her husband Ben and their two children, Sam and Sadie, and their dog, Finnegan, who can often be found at the JB Talent offices.
Sarah Geilfuss Goldsmith, Vice President of Talent
Sarah Goldsmith joined the JB Talent team as Senior Talent Executive in May 2009 from the syndicated, Emmy-winning show "Rachael Ray" in New York City. Hired to help launch the show, she served 3 years as Coordinating Producer, booking and producing A-list talent such as Jennifer Lopez, Denis Leary, Joy Behar, Ringo Starr, Jessica Simpson, Jimmy Fallon and Harry Connick Jr. Sarah originated and produced segments with celebrity contributors such as “The Dish” with Lara Spencer and was responsible for stage segments and field shoots with Rachael Ray as well as many of the content buddies associated with the show. In 2008 and 2009, Sarah won an Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Show / Entertainment. Sarah came to “Rachael Ray” with 10 years experience at “Entertainment Tonight” in Los Angeles. She was promoted to Segment Producer on the assignment desk and spent 6 years producing and booking breaking news stories on a daily basis for the show. Her responsibilities included all Los Angeles event coverage, producing field shoots as well as negotiating and booking satellite feeds from all over the world. Her career with E.T. included every aspect of the show. She worked numerous movie premieres and award show red carpets such as The Golden Globes, Emmy's, Oscars and the Grammy's that entailed live shots and behind the scenes specials. In 2004, Sarah was part of the team that launched “The Insider” for CBS syndication. She produced set visits to primetime shows and major regional field shoots which included the 2006 coverage of the Torino Olympics with Nancy Kerrigan. Sarah came to E.T. as an intern after her graduation from UC Santa Barbara.
Julie Rashid, Senior Talent Executive: Special Projects and Events
Julie Rashid joins the JB Talent team from the Emmy-winning "Oprah Winfrey Show" in Chicago. For five years she booked and produced shows on celebrities, political figures, real people, events, and one of a kind "ah-ha" moments. As a Senior Associate Producer she was not only booking segments, but in the field directing, writing, and editing for the show. Her experiences range from spending a day at home with Celine Dion and her family for their first interview after giving birth to her twins, to booking one of Ms. Winfrey's favorite guests, a woman who lost her arms and legs after giving birth and never gave up hope.
Julie came to "The Oprah Winfrey show" with 9 years experience at "Entertainment Tonight" in Los Angeles. She was promoted to Supervising Producer of "Entertainment Tonight," "The Insider" and "ET on MTV" where she produced and booked breaking news stories in addition to local and regional events on a daily basis for the show. Her responsibilities included booking guests, all Regional event coverage, managing field crews globally, producing field shoots as well as negotiating and booking satellite feeds from all over the world. She managed major projects on site and in studio events including: Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Golden Globes, American Music Awards, People's Choice Awards, SAG Awards, Democratic and Republican Conventions, Super Bowls and the NBA All-Star Games.
She was given the opportunity to produce her own show, "ET on MTV," on the MTV network, when she was 27 years old. In 2004, Julie was part of the team that launched "The Insider" for CBS syndication.
Julie came to E.T. as a News Desk Producer after her graduation from The University of Kansas.
Rachel Goldman, Talent Executive
A member of the JB Talent team for over five years, Rachel is a Talent Executive on the Emmy-nominated, CBS daytime talk show, The Talk. She also works on the groundbreaking new series, Larry King Now on Hulu, where television legend Larry King is redefining talk shows in the world of new media. Acting as the lead talent executive for College Humor, Rachel not only booked some of the most widely viewed videos in the site's history but also delivered the talent for "Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Star Wars" sketch which won two Webby Awards in 2012 as The People's Voice Winner's for Best Comedy Short and Best Individual Performance. In the 2012 award season she spearheaded The Australian Academy's first ever International Awards ceremony in Los Angeles hosted by Academy President, Geoffrey Rush. Rachel also managed the EA account by acting as the point talent executive on all of their celebrity endorsement negotiations as well as special events for the gaming brand. Further, she books and coordinates the annual Much Music Video Awards each June in Toronto.
While at JB Talent, Rachel has also booked celebrities for The USO, RoveLA, HGTV's Celebrities At Home, Same Name on CBS, Elizabeth Street, Nickelodeon's Brainsurge, The Next Food Network Star, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, the Autism Speaks Celebrity Golf Tournaments, The TV Guide Hot List Party, The Rolling Stone Oscar Party, and The Maxim Hot 100 Countdown special on the E! network, to name a few. Booking Highlights include: Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Garner, Seth MacFarlane, Viola Davis, Eva Mendes, Tyler Perry, Jessica Alba, Senator John McCain, Ray Romano, Martha Stewart, Wayne Gretzky, Don Cheadle, Regis Philbin, and Anderson Cooper.
Prior to joining JB Talent Rachel Goldman worked as a freelance writer and editor, contributing to The LA Times, New York Magazine, Elle Girl and Show Business Weekly, among others. She was also honored to work with The National Eating Disorder Association and The Center for Community Change in an editing capacity. Rachel started her career at Musiker Discovery Programs as a copywriter and accounts manager.
Ivy Alexenburg Lasky, Talent Executive
Ivy Alexenburg Lasky joined the JB Talent team as Talent Executive on the new CBS daytime talk show, "The Talk" in August 2010 with almost two decades of experience booking A-list celebrity talent from the world of film, television, music, comedy, and sports. Prior to joining JB Talent, Ivy was a Talent Producer for Fox's late-night show, "Talkshow With Spike Feresten," CBS's celeb-reality show, "Secret Talent's of the Stars," and Tom Green's online late-night talk show, "Tom Green Live." Ivy also helped cast celebrity hosts for several network projects including Rockstar: INXS for CBS. From 2004 - 2007 Ivy was the Senior Talent Executive on Fox's Saturday night sketch comedy show, "MADtv."
From 2002 - 2004 Ivy was appointed to the position of Senior Talent Executive/Head of the Los Angeles Office for Central Talent Booking. While at CTB, Ivy worked on shows and special projects for companies and TV networks such as; VH1, Comedy Central, CBS, Fox, Bravo, Oxygen, IFC, NBC, Lifetime, TLC, Animal Planet, Columbia/Tri-star Television, Telepictures and Stone Stanley Entertainment. From 2001 - 2002 Ivy was the Senior Talent Executive for the game show, "Hollywood Squares," booking celebrity talent for the daily shows and special theme shows. Prior to this, Ivy was Talent Executive on various daytime and late-night talks shows including; "Good Morning America," "Howie Mandel Show," "Vibe," "Queen Latifah," "The Nightly Show With Adam Carolla," and "Celebrity Circle" on AOL where she was one of the first Talent Executives in her field to secure A-list celebrity talent for an online talk show when AOL had only 4 million subscribers.
Ivy began her career in Los Angeles as a Talent Coordinator working for the Music Segment Producer on "The Tonight With Jay Leno Show" in 1992.
Marley Wittuck,Talent Booker
After over three years with JB Talent, Marley has recently been busy booking projects including, Kathy on Bravo, Nikki & Sara Live on MTV, HGTV's Celebrities at Home, and Australian Talk Show Rove LA. In past years, Marley has also worked on booking celebrity sketches for CollegeHumor.com as well as securing celebrities for Hollywood Girls Night on TV Guide Network, and BrainSurge on Nickelodeon. Along with booking talent, she has also coordinated many events at JB Talent including the Much Music Video Awards held in Toronto every June, the Entertainment Tonight Emmy Party, the TV Guide Magazine Hot List Party held yearly in November, the Rolling Stone Oscar Party and Rodeo Drive's Walk of Style.
Marley graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with her Masters Degree in television, film, and radio in 2009. Previously, Marley majored in theatre and minored in media studies at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. Before starting at JB Talent, Marley completed an internship at Fremantle Media North America in Los Angeles where she worked on America's Got Talent and assisted in developing new game shows.
Caitlin Raftery, Talent Assistant
Caitlin Raftery graduated from New York University in May 2012, where she studied Television Writing in the Department of Dramatic Writing within the Tisch School of the Arts. Previously, Caitlin worked at College Humor and Jest.com as an intern, production assistant, production coordinator, and freelance writer. Prior to her work at College Humor, she interned at Fox Broadcasting Company as well as Landline TV. She is a recipient of the NCTE Achievement award in writing and has had her work featured on College Humor, Jest.com, and Funny or Die.
Michelle Klein, Talent Assistant
Our newest addition to the team, Michelle Klein, graduated from UCLA in June 2012 with a degree in Communication Studies. Throughout college, Michelle interned in the Marketing departments at Metro-Goldywn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures before switching over to the Publicity, Talent Relations, and Alternative Entertainment departments at FOX Broadcasting Company. She was introduced to the world of talent booking through her role securing celebrity judges for Spring Sing, UCLA’s annual talent show.