Jenny Hontz is an award-winning journalist, instructor and media consultant in Los Angeles.
She has written for publications such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Details, Harper's Bazaar, Sunset, LA Weekly, People, Angeleno, Health, Shape, British Elle, In Style UK, Emmy, Sante, VIA, Spa, The Robb Report, DineLA.com and Human Rights. Her focus ranges from hard news and investigative reporting to feature topics such as food, travel, health, fitness, media, fashion, home decor, lifestyle trends and celebrities.
Her Emmy magazine profile of Gordon Ramsay won Best Profile at min's 2013 Editorial & Design Awards. Her investigative piece, "Rubbed the Wrong Way," uncovered an epidemic of sex abuse in spas for Day Spa magazine and won the 2008 Western Publications Association's Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Department/Trade. (View full article in PDF)
Hontz spent eight years teaching at Northwestern University's Medill Cherubs journalism program, serving three years as head instructor. She helped lead a training seminar for student journalists at the Center for American Progress, a leading Washington, D.C. think tank, and is a frequent guest lecturer and public speaker.
Hontz also provides editing, script development and media consulting services to a variety of clients, including a prominent Hollywood writer/producer, the director of an international auction house and authors of fiction and nonfiction books.
The top graduate at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Hontz began her career as a political reporter on Capitol Hill. After moving to Los Angeles to report on the entertainment industry, she spent three years at Variety and Daily Variety, rising from business reporter to TV Editor.
In 1999, she was named vice president of creative affairs at Disney's Touchstone TV/ABC studio, where she oversaw all aspects of creative development and production of network primetime series, including hiring writers and directors, reviewing scripts and rough cuts, pitching new projects and managing multimillion-dollar budgets.
Hontz launched her own independent writing, editing and consulting business in 2001. With a wide range of interests and experiences, she has written investigative pieces on the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church for The New York Times and on sweatshops and slumlords for the LA Weekly. She has penned opinion pieces on topics such as the affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Times.
She has authored multiple cover stories for the Los Angeles Times Health section on topics ranging from ayurveda to art therapy, as well as magazine covers on celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Luke Wilson. Her travel stories have sent her shark diving in the Pacific Ocean, driving cattle through the Outback of Australia, stumbling across mating lions in Botswana and fine dining in Vancouver. With an adventurous spirit, she has thrown herself into first-person pieces on jujitsu, sword fighting, trapeze and butoh dance. She also writes a Spa Hopping column for Day Spa magazine and a food blog.
On-air experience includes co-hosting the E! pilot "Target Practice," as well as appearing as a guest commentator on Public Radio International. She has been interviewed on "60 Minutes," "All Things Considered," "Access Hollywood" and other news programs.
Hontz also serves on the editorial advisory board for Northwestern magazine and created a yoga teaching program at the Upward Bound House in Santa Monica, a transitional shelter for homeless families and low-income seniors. She lives with her husband and son in Los Angeles.
Jenny regularly contributes stories about health and fitness to the Los Angeles Times. Her articles include:
Yoga's Rock Stars
LA's top yogis have lifestyles that rival their celebrity clients'.
Shiva Rea, the reigning queen of LA's saturated yoga scene, strikes a pose for Yogi Times photographer Jasper Johal.
(Read article in PDF)
The Healing Canvas
Art can soothe the mind and body, therapists say. Now science backs them up.
Six women sat at a table covered with colored pencils and pastels, each of them focused on drawing a house with rooms representing their emotions and desires.
(Read article in PDF)
Balm from the East
The effectiveness of the ancient Indian healing art of ayurveda is getting a closer look in the U.S.
John Mejia experienced heart palpitations after a particularly stressful period running his Santa Monica consulting firm. His doctor diagnosed an abnormal heart rhythm and sent him to a specialist at a prestigious Los Angeles medical center.
(Read article in PDF)
'Kill Bill' without all the gore
As a huge fan of Uma Thurman's deadly maneuvers in the "Kill Bill" films, I was eager to try my hand at samurai sword fighting. Let's face it, there's nothing quite as hot as a woman who knows how to wield a sword.
(Read article in PDF)
Does Privacy Exist?
By Jenny Hontz
Details magazine
Whether you donated sperm anonymously years ago or logged on to Facebook last week, your personal data is being traded freely on social-networking sites. And it's too late to be afraid.
It wasn't quite the wedding gift he expected. Josh, a 34-year-old carpenter from upstate New York, was three weeks away from the big day last spring when he got an email from a stranger informing him that he was the father of a 13-year-old boy. (Read full article.)
A Priest's 2 Faces: Protector, Predator
The way Christine Hickey remembers it, the Rev. Paul R. Shanley was her protector, someone who made her feel safe. He was a hero to her parents, who even named one of her sisters, Pauline, after him. (Read full article on the NY Times website.)
Sumo Giants Take on
The Dazzle of Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — Futeno spent years developing his sumo wrestler's frame by consuming a special high-calorie diet and napping after meals. But as he explored the sights, and tastes, of the Las Vegas Strip this past week, he found that his appetite was no match for the pastrami sandwich at the Carnegie Deli here. (Read full article on the NY Times website.)
The Gospel of Luke
By Jenny Hontz
Houston magazine
Hollywood's favorite guy-next-door heads for the hills to turn director and feel out fatherhood. But is Texas son Luke Wilson ready to call the shots?
Luke Wilson has to work pretty hard to shed his nice-guy image. After years of playing supportive boyfriend to leading ladies like Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) and Uma Thurman (My Super Ex-Girlfriend) he's got the affable, slightly beleaguered guy-next-door role down cold. And despite being a confirmed bachelor, the Dallas-bred actor has the patina of an earnest family man, thanks in part to growing up with parents who have been married for 43 years and working alongside older brothers Owen and Andrew his entire career. (Read full article.)
Game Time in Botswana
At safari camps, signs of peace and peril
By Jenny Hontz
Washington Post
At Duba Plains safari camp in Botswana's Okavango Delta, there was fighting within the pride. A rogue lioness had killed four newborns, and their mother, breasts still engorged with milk, cried out over and over for her cubs.
(Read full article on the Washington Post website.)
LA's Front Porch
By Jenny Hontz
Sunset magazine
Take a walk along Santa Monica's retro, ritzy Ocean Avenue, where city meets sand
Lounging on the veranda of the art deco landmark Georgian Hotel, I'm watching women in large sunglasses stroll down Santa Monica's palm-lined Ocean Avenue when I overhear a screenwriter eagerly pitching her idea for a movie. (Read full article.)
Medical Mystery
By Jenny Hontz
Newsweek
After years of debate and controversy, the CDC is finally looking into the mysteries of Morgellons, an unexplained and debilitating skin condition that many doctors don't believe exists. (Read full article on Newsweek.com.)
Chef's Seminar: Heart & Soul
By Jenny Hontz
Sante magazine
Before Chef Glenn "Gator" Thompson opened Gator's Neo-Soul Café in San Mateo, California, last April, he embarked on a three-year culinary tour of the South to research the cuisine of his ancestors. And by "research" we mean he ate -- which created just one problem by the time he returned in 2006.
(Read full article.)
Hooked
By Jenny Hontz
Elle magazine (UK Edition)
Forget coke, crack and smack. Hollywood's party people have a new kind of addiction -- prescription drugs. Jenny Hontz reveals who's popping what on LA's most dangerous social scene.
(Read full article.)
Drive, She Said
By Jenny Hontz
Emmy magazine
She's known for forward motion, and she gets an early start -- at 3 a.m. Dawn Ostroff is already reading scripts. With her unstoppable drive, the CW exec is striving to secure the young network's destiny.
Powerful women often make tough choices when balancing work and family, but few aside from Sarah Palin have juggled like CW Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff. (Read full article.)
