Leah Jereb
Copywriter / Creative Director / Comedy Writer / Performer / Voice Actor
Los Angeles, CA
leahjereb.com
instagram @ljsayshey
Q What do you do?
“Kind of a variety of things, so let’s ~bReAk iT dOwn!~ ”
Copywriting + Creative Direction: ""What is copy?"" you might be asking. Copy is any type of words used in marketing materials—from commercial scripts, to emails, too sentences on a website, to campaign headlines. I write all of that! It varies from project to project, but I typically work with brands to help identify not only the voice of their brand (how it sounds and feels) but also what kind of media channels make the most sense for their messaging. As a Creative Director, my copywriting work balloons into overseeing the overall conceptual premise for a campaign or brand. I work with designers and photographers to ensure we're conveying that creative concept holistically—from words to designs, lighting, color palette..all of it! It's very fun.
But in summary, I do these things: brand voice, campaign concepting, writing for web/print/social/etc, creative direction, naming, script writing, and strategic communications.
Comedy Writer + Performer: My training and comedic upbringing, if you will, is mostly in sketch comedy and characters (think SNL, Key & Peele, A Black Lady Sketch Show). I write original characters and sketches that I create solo or with a group. I'm often hired for copywriting gigs because of my comedy background, which is very cool! Keep doing that, people! Let me write you a funny commercial, or ask what I got in my folders already (because sometimes I come up with sketch ideas masquerading as commercials).
Art! 🤝 Commerce!
Voice Acting: This is a career area I am working on actively expanding right now! I've done some low key opportunities but am hoping to get behind the mic for more animation projects and live out my life long dream to voice a cartoon character. You can hear my demo reels at leahjereb.com/voiceover.
As a synthesis of all of this, I also run Sounds Good Studios (yupsoundsgood.com), a musical ad and jingle studio, with Jerik Centeno who is a music composer, producer, and audio engineer. More on that later!
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
It all started with not following my gut! Then following my gut (and we're still working on that, honey!)
If we roll it back to childhood, I was always a creator, performer, and entertainer. Musical theatre, choir, dance, painting, writing what I didn't realize were sketches and parodies at the time... And then, something happened. I had to choose a college major! And I, the President of Drama Club, decided I wanted to study ... International Relations? So I packed my bags and moved to Washington, DC where, after one semester, I changed my major to Public Communication. Luckily, the university I picked (American University) had a great communications school. Because the school was pretty connected with opportunities in the city, I was able to interview (and land!) an internship with the communications team at National Geographic.
Side note: I interviewed for that role when I was abroad in Copenhagen doing creative campaigns and covering events for local businesses (it was a study abroad program, but Danish professors have faith in college kids and throw them into real life scenarios...like when my classmates and I planned a marketing industry event at SAP headquarters and then also created a promotional campaign for a popular tech startup incubator - ok!)
My job at Nat Geo was a great learning experience—I got to work with world-class photographers, journalists, and scientists, and also dip my toe into the media world by pitching editors and journalists to cover what was going on at National Geographic and in the iconic magazine. I also developed some very cool campaigns and one of them actually got an honoree shoutout from the Webby Awards.
After booking a coveted late-night show appearance for a Nat Geo Explorer, my brain chemistry started changing back to writer/performer me who remembered I so desperately wanted to write and perform myself. I got back into improv classes and started actively pitching some humor publications. After I got an article published in McSweeney's (a popular satire site), I was soaring.
Still, I jumped from my publicist job at Nat Geo to a copywriting job at a government contracting firm. (Not sexy, but ... something!) There, I created the firm's creative campaign for their SXSW activation, wrote a lot of editorial pieces about women in data science, and wrote several technical case studies and a stakeholder report. Ultimately, the subject matter wasn't totally stimulating for me personally, but it gave me a lot of skills and experience working in a creative capacity with some pretty awesome art directors.
Alongside this job, I also worked with Pineapple Collaborative as a side hustle planning food and community-focused events. That was pretty major for me (I love food and community), and I got to know a lot of women in and around the food industry.
Finally, just months before the pandemic, I decided to quit my job and move to LA to keep doing copywriting for more aligned clients, actively pursue comedy and entertainment, and eat some vibrant California produce. We all know what happened March 2020 (and I lived with my mom!), but I did get to work with some cool clients around food, hospitality, CPG, and telecommunications during that time.
During the lockdowns, also did a lot of sketch writing, wrote a TV pilot, developed a lot of characters, and kept taking classes at The Groundlings and for voice acting (which had moved online—thank Zoom!).
Now, I work with wellness, food, and hospitality brands (plus whatever else comes my way—I'm pretty open as long as it's a brand not destroying the earth!) on creative copywriting, brand development, and musical ads, while writing and performing comedy around LA.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
Brands typically seek me out for my holistic, blue sky approach to creative campaigns and copy, my comedic writing background (they have a brand that they want to make funny and relatable!), as well as my eclectic marketing and communications skillset. Plus, I'm a pretty good project manager who can see the big picture and little details along the way. Deadlines will be hit—in style!
Q What are you working on right now?
The last thing I finished was a rebrand project for Apothékary, an herbal wellness company. For that project, I worked on refreshing the brand's voice and tone, copywriting for web, and writing packaging copy for about 26 SKUs. I also renamed several products. I loved doing it! I worked with Apothékary for about a year and also developed several product launch campaigns, wrote a lot of blog posts, and worked in a creative director capacity by overseeing creative for campaigns and working with external photographers and designers.
Most recently, I launched Sounds Good Studios, a musical ad and jingle studio. Sounds Good Studios is a collaboration between me and Jerik Centeno, a music composer, producer, and audio engineer. Jingles and musical ads have a proven track record for being super memorable and effective, and now, we’re making them fun, fresh, and honestly, just some serious bops. 🪩 You can hear our demos and learn more at yupsoundsgood.com.
I am also taking on new brand voice and copywriting clients—hit me up!
Q What’s your style?
Overall, I am a big fan of Maximum Effort's work (Ryan Reynold's ad / production studio). Their tongue-in-cheek, highly entertaining spots are very much up my alley in terms of what I'd like to create (Maximum Effort—call me!)
I'd say what we are doing over at Sounds Good Studios is probably closest to this marketing/entertainment crossover. For instance, we made (all on spec) a disco song for the dating app Hinge, a musical ad for Hello Fresh that parodies a Millennial Disney Channel show, and a gritty but slightly ridiculous rock jingle for a traffic law firm.
As far as writing style goes, I'm a word play sl*t! Some bigger conceptual (and comedic) ideas stem from me using the playfulness of language as concept.
Design-wise, I am starting to lean towards more bright, highly-saturated palettes, and whimsical borderline psychedelic illustrations. Some of my favorite branding and design lately is from Ruby Hibiscus Soda (design by &Talmor), Toodaloo (design by Herefor), and a lot of work from social + branding shop Wonderkind.
Lastly, the podcast POOG with Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak is doing all the right things for me creatively. If you don't know Berlant and Novak, they are two comedians who talk about wellness and beauty on the show. It's like eavesdropping on two people you want to be BFFs with (at least I do). That intersection of wellness and comedy is chef's kiss, in my opinion.
I also just have to add that whatever Martha Stewart posts on her Instagram is genius to me. She knows what she's doing. What an icon.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
Voice acting, for sure! Getting there slowly but surely and would love to connect with any animators or producers looking for talent.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
Finding aligned clients and trying to be patient while things fall into place. Sometimes the right things take more time than you'd like them to.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Honestly I'd just ask them to sit with me and do their own thing on their laptop, as to silently pressure me to chip away at passion projects I've had on the back burner for too long. Hang on, I gotta text some friends now...
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
My immediate answer is that I'd tell high school me to go to college for screenwriting and follow my gut as far as my passions were concerned. But now, I'm grateful for my work experiences and that I can pursue entertainment and comedy with other skills under my belt.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I'd love to work with a career and business coach on building a profitable, multifaceted career that functions harmoniously.
I would also just love to meet Sophia Roe who is one of the coolest, most imaginative chefs (and people in general) and ask how she comes up with ideas for her recipes.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
Retainer clients for copywriting projects, big splashy creative campaign projects, and clients for Sounds Good Studios. I'm also always open to and throwing my hat in the ring for TV writing jobs (pending WGA strike status!) as well as voiceover for animation projects.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
* A highly creative job with a client (ideally in food, wellness, or hospitality) who is down to try some fun things and isn't totally destroying the planet or people's health
* Writing/performing for a sketch comedy series
* Voicing a cartoon in an animated series or movie
Q What is your rate?
It varies by project, but my copywriting and creative projects typically have a $1,000 project minimum. Please reach out to discuss more if you're interested in working together, and we can discuss!
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Send me an email at hi@leahjereb.com and tell me what you're thinking! You can also email me there with any Sounds Good Studios inquiries.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Jerik Centeno - my Sounds Good Studios collaborator, an awesome composer, audio engineer, and producer!
Lindsay Durdel - an amazing interior designer (she knows how to rip a house down to the studs but also find the perfect throw pillow)
Austa Clausen - food + travel journalist and purveyor of grotto, a bar concept for sapphics in NYC.
Denasia Pinkard - my old boss, an amazing content designer and UX writer.
Rae Robey - my former co-city lead at Pineapple Collaborative. Awesome baker and food writer/editor.
Kelly Forsythe - communications pro and poet who wrote the critically-acclaimed poetry collection PERENNIAL
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Hanging out w/ funny friends, going for walks, lying down.
This member profile was originally published in May 2023