Jess Loren

Loren was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and graduated from Schaumburg High School in Schaumburg, Illinois in 2003. In high school, Loren was president of her local Junior Achievement chapter.

Loren is an international speaker, having spoken at events on the state of social media and technology across the globe. In 2013, Loren was the keynote speaker at Internetworld in Stockholm.[3]

In 2012, Loren teamed with Swiderski to write Pinterest for Business: How to Pin Your Company to the Top of the Hottest Social Media Network about Pinterest and its business applications.[4] The book received minor accolades, and spent some time on Best of Business Books list. During this period, she also helped promote The Twelve Bars of Christmas.

Loren originally launched SocialTechPop as a business and technology blog with Ed Swiderski. In 2014, Loren revamped the focus to events like the Chicago Christmas Crawl,[5] and has partnered to bring Slide the City,[6] a city wide Slip 'N Slide, to eight states. The company is responsible for digital marketing for the Chicago Pride Fest and Market Days. In 2017, she launched BackspaceDaily, where she reports on a technology and pop culture.

In 2016, Loren was part of Steve Harvey's fitness challenge,[7] competing on the team of celebrity trainer Lacey Stone.[8] She has appeared on the Steve Harvey show 5 times, and most recently discussed her dating history while on the show.

In 2017, Loren's company DressCodeable was a finalist in the Chicago Tribune Big Idea Contest.

In the summer of 2012, Loren joined a selection committee for Project Impact, a competition that provides $100,000, management support, and networking opportunities to early stage nonprofits that are using an innovative model to improve the lives of low-income Chicagoans. Project Impact is run by A Better Chicago, a venture philanthropy fund for the Chicago metropolitan area.