Team
Jen Kasle, C.E.O. and Founder
As C.E.O. of The Talent, Jen oversees all accounts at the company and advises her carefully trained staff of 11 full time employees, along with various free-lancers and interns. Jen launched The Talent as 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 and online. Jen helped cast the hosts of CBS’s The Talk and the company continues to book all aspects of guest talent for The Talk for 11 seasons now, winning two Daytime Emmy’s along the way. She secured covers for Health magazine for 7 years, film talent for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson for over 5 years, and film talent for Watch What Happens Live on Bravo with Andy Cohen for over five years. The Talent has become the go-to agency for celebrity game shows, responsible for booking all of the celebrities for Hollywood Game Night, Match Game, Pyramid, and The Gong Show. The Talent has an ongoing contract with Dick Clark Productions to book presenters for the AMAs, Billboard Music Awards, ACMs and the NBA Awards. Perhaps her proudest efforts, however, have been in the non-profit sector where she’s booked for Red Nose Day for three years raising over 30M annually for children’s charities, as well as booking and producing the 2017 Hand in Hand Benefit (pulled together in less than 10 days) to raise millions for hurricane victims. Booking highlights have included Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Oprah, Cher, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Robin Williams, Steve Carell, Jack Black, Jamie Foxx, Scarlett Johansson, David Beckham, Kobe Bryant, Russell Crowe, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew McConaughey, Ben Stiller, Billy Crystal and Samuel L Jackson.
Sarah Goldsmith, Co-President
Sarah joined The Talent in 2009 from the syndicated daytime show Rachael Ray. Sarah’s game show coverage at The Talent includes clients such as Match Game with Alec Baldwin, Hollywood Game Night with Jane Lynch, To Tell The Truth with Anthony Anderson, among many others Primetime specials for all the major networks. Sarah’s other highlights at The Talent include the daily bookings for The Talk on CBS, What The Fit with Kevin Hart for YouTube and Eli Roth’s History of Horror for AMC. She has also received 3 daytime Emmy’s for her work on Rachael Ray and The Talk. Sarah has a specialized host casting interest for all platforms and networks and continues to further this niche casting need at The Talent. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Sarah grew up in Encino, California and launched her career at Entertainment Tonight.
Julie Rashid, Co-President
Julie has brought in and run some of the The Talent’s major accounts across various networks and platforms. She has spearheaded the teams that booked Larry King Now for nine seasons, the launch of the highly anticipated late night show on NBC, A Little Late with Lilly Singh, five seasons of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Bravo, and the launch of Dennis Miller + One. Her expertise on award shows, which came from being a producer at Entertainment Tonight for 9 years, has crossed over to presenter bookings for The American Music Awards, The Billboard Music Awards, The Academy of Country Music Awards, Much Music Video Awards, and The NBA Awards. She’s also secured top talent for The $100,000 Pyramid hosted by Michael Strahan, The NBA Celebrity All-Star Game, Miss America, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo and Carol Burnett’s 50th Anniversary Special. Julie joined The Talent in 2011 after concluding 5 years as a producer for the Emmy-winning Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago.
Marisa Tener Shold, Director of Talent
Marisa joined The Talent in 2013 in Los Angeles, before moving to the East Coast to continue booking for the company there. Her first show was the inaugural season of NBC’s Hollywood Game Night. From there she has produced celebrity talent for many game shows including Match Game, To Tell The Truth, Pyramid, Celebrity Name Game, and The Gong Show. She has worked on numerous primetime programs including American Ninja Warrior for Red Nose Day: Celeb Edition, The F Word with Gordon Ramsay, iHeart Radio Music Awards, Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief, and NBC’s Tribute to Jim Burrows. Marisa has lead the team on numerous accounts such as Quibi’s Thanks a Million, Celebrity Food Fight, Dinner at Tiffani’s, Worst Cooks: Celeb Edition, Fashion Police, Bill Nye Saves the World, and Movie Night with Karlie Kloss to name a few. Prior to working at The Talent Marisa worked in the fashion industry for over a decade. She spent several years working as a Photo Producer for Eddie Bauer in Seattle, as an agent for Ford Models in both New York and Los Angeles, an Account Manager at Starworks/SW2 in New York, and as a Bookings Editor at Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Megan O'Toole, Director of Talent
Megan brings over fifteen years of booking and producing experience to The Talent. Based in New York, she began her career in Los Angeles at the CBS late night show, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Subsequently, she worked on the launch of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and was quickly promoted to Segment Producer. As Segment Producer, Megan booked and produced celebrity segments, cultivating her long-lasting relationships within the industry and with A-list talent. After eight years at The Late Late Show, Megan became the Talent Producer at Last Call with Carson Daly. Since joining The Talent in 2014, Megan has been responsible for securing guests on the CBS daytime talk show, The Talk, proudly bringing home two Daytime Emmy Awards. Some of her favorite booking highlights include Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin, Antonio Banderas, James Corden, Kate Hudson, Michael Douglas, Mindy Kaling and Zendaya. In addition to The Talk, Megan has been an integral part of the booking teams for The Not-Too Late Show with Elmo, $100,000 Pyramid and Match Game as well as charitable organizations including Red Nose Day, TLC’s Give A Little Awards and The USO Organization, supporting our U.S. Military.
Monique Kuri, Talent Executive
Monique has tackled a variety of high profile projects since joining The Talent including but not limited to the daytime talk show, The Talk, for which she won an Emmy Award as Talent Producer, A Little Late with Lilly Singh, What the Fit with Kevin Heart, Earth to Ned on Disney +, If I Could Tell You Just One Thing with Priyanka Chopra, Book of the Month, and top rated broadcast game shows, Match Game with Alec Baldwin, To Tell The Truth with Anthony Anderson and Hollywood Game Night. Additionally, Monique has worked with top level charitable organizations to expand celebrity involvement including NBC’S Red Nose Day and Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief. She currently works with the USO to create unique celebrity driven experiences for the U.S. Military. Some of her favorite celebrity bookings to date include Malala Yousafzai, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Kobe Bryant, Oprah, Will Ferrel, Sofia Vergara, Anthony Bourdain and Alicia Keys. Monique previously worked as Director of Talent Relations and Business Affairs at Popsugar and Talent Coordinator at The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. In another life, Monique was a corporate litigator in Texas but unfortunately cried too much.
Kera Schulze, Talent Executive
Kera has risen through the ranks quickly at The Talent to become a Talent Executive, having started in 2015 as a talent assistant. She came to The Talent with an interest in live events and since, has booked talent for some of the biggest award shows and events on television including several years with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, ACM Awards, NBA Awards and Red Nose Day. She’s also worked The Oscar's red carpet securing interviews for IMDb. Most recently, Kera was part of the booking team for season 4 of American Idol, securing guest artists including Luke Combs, Tori Kelly, Jason Aldean, Chaka Khan, Alessia Cara, and more. Kera has had a strong hand in booking several digital series for the company, including Good Mythical Morning, Quibi's Musicology and Tiny Talk Show, as well as Kevin Hart’s What the Fit on YouTube. Her additional credits include season 1 of A Little Late with Lilly Singh, Eli Roth’s History of Horror on AMC, E!’s talk-show Ladygang, NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, and top-rated ABC gameshows including Match Game, To Tell the Truth, and $100,000 Pyramid. Kera joined The Talent team after two seasons in the talent department at The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She is a graduate of Ithaca College in New York.
Nicole Schloss, Talent Booker
Nicole joined The Talent in 2018 from dick clark productions (dcp), the world’s largest producer of televised live entertainment programming, with a passion for music and live events. As Talent Booker, Nicole has booked for some of the biggest live events on television. She has a strong hand in music bookings at The Talent, and has booked artists on American Idol on ABC, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC and The USO. Most recently, Nicole joined the booking team for IMDb, the #1 movie website in the world, helping secure talent for their website, events and social platforms. Additionally, Nicole has booked celebrity talent on the American Music Awards, NBA Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, Larry King Now and more. She has secured diverse talent such as Magic Johnson, Jon Hamm, Bebe Rexha, Edward Norton, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lauren Alaina, Cara Delevingne, Laverne Cox, James Arthur, Macklemore, RuPaul, Idina Menzel, Charles Barkley and Rick Moranis, to name a few. Nicole is grateful for the opportunity to work on a variety of projects for an array of networks and production companies.
Kelsey Gold, Talent Booker
Kelsey joined The Talent in July 2017 and has since climbed the ranks from Talent Assistant, Coordinator, and Associate, all the way to Talent Booker. As a booker, Kelsey has secured celebrities such as Melissa McCarthy, Bryan Cranston, Queen Latifah, Patrick Stewart, Drew Barrymore, Jamie Lee Curtis, 50 Cent, Seth MacFarlane, Gloria Estefan, Ludacris, Olivia Newton-John, Zachary Levi, and Henry Winkler—to name a few. Kelsey also books musical guests for The Talk, and some of her favorite performances include FINNEAS, Sheila E, Brad Paisley, and Brandy. She is excited to continue adding to her lists! Kelsey has worked with all types of clients at The Talent. Her favorites include CBS’ The Talk, Good Mythical Morning, The Great American Baking Show, the #IMDboat at San Diego Comic-Con, Double Dare, and Red Nose Day USA. Kelsey graduated from Boston University's College of Communication with a BS in Film and Television. Before finding a professional home at The Talent, Kelsey held positions throughout the entertainment industry in production and post-production at The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Weinstein Company, and Open Road Entertainment.
Lauren McNeill, Associate Talent Booker
Lauren joined The Talent team in September 2018 as a Talent Assistant. Her passion and love for all things entertainment and pop culture inspired her move to LA from Seattle. At The Talent, Lauren works on a variety of accounts including dick clark productions award shows, Dennis Miller + One, USO, What The Fit with Kevin Hart, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Prior to The Talent, Lauren interned for a major label recording artist where she assisted with planning and running a nationwide tour. She has also assisted on music videos and appearances. Lauren received a degree in Public Relations from Washington State University (Go Cougs!). While in school she was the Concert Director for her university’s entertainment board. Here she was able to book, create all marketing materials, and work directly with artists and agents to plan concerts. She worked on events with 2Chainz, Vic Mensa, Chase Bryant, Waka Flocka, G-Eazy and others.
Chloe Shaw, Talent Assistant
Chloe first joined The Talent as an intern in 2019 and returned as a Talent Assistant in July 2021. Prior to working as a Talent Assistant, she was responsible for her university’s blog, reporting on student life and different on campus events and organizations. In the past, Chloe has also worked for a social media agency where she was responsible for managing giveaways, securing brand ambassadors and creating content for various online platforms. Chloe graduated from the University of Oregon in June 2021 with a BA in Public Relations and a minor in Sociology. A day before her college graduation, she got the opportunity to rejoin The Talent team. Chloe jumped at the chance to work for a company she is passionate about and a job that just so happens to combine all of her favorite things! Some of her favorite accounts she has gotten a chance to work on include Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Carol Burnett’s 90th Birthday, American Idol, and the Betty White Tribute.
Caroline Gillespie, Talent Assistant
Caroline joined The Talent as a Talent Assistant in January 2023. Caroline graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a B.A. in Communication Studies and Theatre Arts in May 2021. She then took a gap year to travel and work in Italy before returning to LA to lay down some roots. She is so grateful to have found such an amazing company to help build her professional foundation and she is beyond excited to get her start in the industry and learn from this exceptional team.