Jen Drexler

Jen Drexler is a straight shooter who isn’t afraid to ask women challenging questions about intimate subjects. Thanks to her trend-spotting, strategic insight and clear focus on female consumers, Drexler is a national expert on marketing with women. She is a founding member of the New York based consultancy Just Ask a Woman and is the co-author of the agency’s new book What She’s Not Telling You: Why Women Hide the Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About It. (2010)

Jen is sought after for her non-traditional qualitative research approaches by blue chip clients like Kraft, Best Buy, Pepsi, Glaxo SmithKline and Maybelline. She is frequently interviewed about why women do what they do and what it means for marketers and has had appearances on The Today Show, CNBC and NPR and interviews in The San Francisco Chronicle and Advertising Age. Her perspective is captured almost compulsively through social media channels, posts on the company’s blogs and Tweets as well as bylined articles for magazines like Marie Claire and trade publications.

Jen’s background includes consumer trend forecasting. She was previously the TalentBank Director for Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, a trend-forecasting consultancy and contributed to Popcorn’s books including EVEolution—The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women (Hyperion, June 2000). Jen is trained in journalism and began her career in public relations with Ketchum Communications and Nike Communications.

In 2008, Jen won Advertising Women of New York’s prestigious Changing the Game Award and in has been the keynote speaker for her alma mater Lehigh University’s Honors Convocation. She lives in Maplewood, NJ with her husband and toddler twins.

Just Ask Jen

How did you come to JAAW?
“Mary Lou and I were introduced by a tarot card reader in 1999. No joke. A wonderful ad consultant, who also dabbled in astrology, read my chart and then set us up to meet when Mary Lou was exploring the idea for the company. We met to build the business concept and by July, we opened our doors.”

What personal skills do you use at work?
“There is a statistic that says when a woman likes a brand she tells one to three people and when she doesn’t, she tells seven to 13. I am passionate about dissecting the dynamics of these personal referrals and love doing that for our clients. Personally, I am a woman who tells twenty times that amount. I am such a born brand evangelist that I should get commissions from the referrals I’ve made.”

What makes a Just Ask an Expert Salon special?
Just Ask a Woman was born after Mary Lou invited smart women and men to brainstorm ideas for what her business could look like. This dynamic environment evolved to become an important tool for our clients so now we regularly bring together 10-12 senior level executives to think big thoughts and solve problems. It’s exciting to bring together these eclectic collections — in any Just Ask an Expert Salon we may have a CEO, a Reiki master and a candle stick maker (literally!) — to see what might unfold.