Nevadan at Work: She’s the go-to PR woman for combat fighting groups

Jen Wenk has carved out a unique public relations niche in Las Vegas — combat sports.

Wenk, 42, is the go-to PR woman for combat fighting organizations in Las Vegas, which is her base for a sport that is growing beyond the headliner Ultimate Fighting Championship brand.

Representing professional mixed martial arts groups might seem like an odd destination for a woman who served as a CBS publicist and a public affairs specialist for former New York Gov. George Pataki in the late 1990s.

But if you saw the hyperactive, multitasking Wenk in action, you’d see it’s a good fit.

Wenk cultivated her PR combat sport chops by working as the public relations chief for UFC for six years from 2005-11. She’s still in close contact with UFC’s big guns, like the organization’s brash, blunt-talking president, Dana White.

But for the past two years she has flown solo with her own firm, StarPR Las Vegas, LLC, gathering new combat sport clients to promote.

White said Wenk is the ideal PR source for new organizations because her Rolodex has the essential contacts in the industry.

“She can reach all the people,” White said. “Jen knows everyone.”

Then, there’s her go-go personality and work ethic, he said.

“Jen was always a hard worker. She was always in the office early and out late,” White said. “She has drive and the will to do great work.”

Check out her daily regimen: Wenk goes to sleep at 11:30 p.m. and shuts off her cellphone or it beeps all night. She wakes up at 2 a.m. to return texts and emails, troll the Web for a story she thinks should be hitting online or flip through Twitter. Then, she dozes off at 3 a.m. until 6 a.m.m when she arises again to awake 10-year-old son Jalen at 6:30 a.m. to drive him to school at 7:30 a.m. At 8 a.m., she runs five miles or lifts weights. She runs with her iPhone and listens to a playlist so she doesn’t miss calls. Between weight sets at the gym, she keeps her phone handy and fires off emails and texts. Wenk even keeps a second “Batphone” pager for clients if a crisis strikes.

Her fight clients include transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, who is drawing national coverage that Wenk is coordinating. Other clients include Resurrection Fighting Alliance, Lion Fight Promotions, UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, the Blackzilians, Championship Fighting Alliance, UFC champion Anderson Silva, JACO Clothing and F3 Nutrition

Wenk’s journey to the fight industry and Las Vegas went through New York City. The Michigan native was drawn to New York’s quick pace, and landed a public relations job in then-Gov. George Pataki’s Manhattan office. She looks back with amusement at one particular press release she proofread in Pataki’s office in 1997 — the one that informed the media that Pataki banned “ultimate fighting” in New York state.

“It’s so ironic that I ended up writing for the Ultimate Fighting Championship,” she said. “If I could go back in time, I would have laminated it.”

Question: Of all the topics to do public relations on, what is your fascination with UFC and fighters?

Answer: I grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich., which is a big boxing town and just always loved fighting and full-contact sports. I took Okinawan Shorin- Ryu (a form of karate) and also played on a boys tackle football team when I was a little kid. It is just something inside of me. When UFC recruited me in 2005, I wasn’t really a fan. I didn’t know that much about MMA and was planning to not accept the PR position. But after talking to (UFC President) Dana (White), and hearing all the obstacles and challenges they were up against, I got excited. I knew what needed to be done, and that I could do it. Also, I believed in the potential of the UFC because I saw what the Fertittas had accomplished with Station Casinos. Over the years, I grew to love the sport and now it is the one thing that brings out all my passion and creativity.

Question: What did the UFC gig do for you that previous PR jobs didn’t?

Answer: It gave me the opportunity to work side by side with visionaries Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White. They empowered me and provided me with the resources and budget to knock down all the walls that were preventing the UFC from getting the recognition and credit it deserved. And all the while, I was absorbing their business acumen and principles of success.

Question: What is the most misunderstood perception in the public about combat fighting?

Answer: A lot of people don’t know that mixed martial arts is actually one of the safest full-contact sports today. The most common injury in MMA is a laceration. There has never been a death or serious injury in the almost 20-year history of the UFC.

Question: Why did you want to leave UFC to start your own PR agency?

Answer: Because I want to be great. I was very good at my job at the UFC, and after working there for six years during the most transformational phase in its history, I learned a thing or two from my bosses. I wanted to be great entrepreneurs like them, and I saw an opportunity to corner this market and establish myself as the world’s best in public relations for fighting sports. MMA is the fastest-growing sport in history and it is a $2 billion industry and it is only getting bigger. There was a need for someone like me who could teach businesses how to navigate this industry and monetize it.

Question: What was the biggest challenge when you made the transition from UFC to your agency?

Answer: It was not a challenge to transition workwise, because I switched from working inside the UFC offices 16 hours a day to working out of my offices at Sky Las Vegas or Miami 16 hours a day. And I went right from doing work for Dana and Lorenzo to my very first client, Glenn Robinson, who is also a visionary with an equally brilliant business mind. ... Something I miss to this day is doing my early morning workouts in the UFC basement gym with Dana, Craig Borsari and the trainer Terry King. That’s how I kicked off every day and actually got a lot of stuff accomplished down there, you know, getting approvals chatting with those guys through the boxing ropes.

Question: What’s your next favorite topic to do PR on after combat fighting?

Answer: Football. I love college football. I watched the draft and made a bet with this guy that EJ Manuel will become a superstar within the next two years. I’m actually eligible to get an NFL agent license, and so I’m planning to add that to my list of credentials next year.

Question: Do you have any interest to enter the octagon and whale on anyone?

Answer: No, but, you know, I would really love if I could take every single person in the world into the octagon, just once. So they can feel what it is like. It’s much bigger than it looks. And when you stand there, this sense of solitude sets in. The cage door shuts, and you realize there is absolutely nowhere to go. Then you imagine some guy right across from you. Staring you down. It is reverent and terrifying at the same time.

Question: How you do deal with media members who don’t seem interested in what you’re promoting?

Answer: I listen. Carefully. And as they speak, eventually I will hear what their interest is, and then I will identify a connection, establish some common ground, and build an idea around it. You know, one of the things I really love about PR is that money gets you nowhere in the editorial world. Everything you accomplish in media is earned, and those with the most talent and work ethic are always the most successful.

Question: What do you want to do in the next stage of your life?

Answer: Professionally, I would like to build my agency into the biggest and best in the world specializing in fighting sports, and down the line get involved in some NFL work as well. ... I seriously would like to settle down and maybe add another little superstar cornerback to the family.

Contact reporter Alan Snel at
asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273.