Jay Gentile is a senior partnerships executive and award-winning travel journalist with more than 20 years of experience across travel, culture, and premium lifestyle media. His work sits at the intersection of editorial authority and commercial strategy — building trusted storytelling environments while developing meaningful brand and destination partnerships.
Jay’s reporting and features have appeared in The Washington Post, CNN Travel, The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, Lonely Planet, Outside Magazine, Thrillist, Frommer’s, VICE, and numerous other national and international publications. He is recognized for destination-driven storytelling spanning travel, food and drink, music, and culture.
Jay currently serves as Director of Sales & Partnerships at Cool Material, part of the Interluxe Group premium media portfolio. In that role, he leads integrated partnership strategy across digital, newsletter, print, and experiential platforms — developing multi-channel programs for lifestyle, hospitality, and destination brands within trusted editorial environments. Through his editorial reporting and partnerships work, he regularly collaborates with destination marketing organizations, tourism boards, and hospitality brands shaping how destinations tell their stories to global audiences.
Previously, Jay was Account Lead at Consequence of Sound (5M+ monthly readers), where he managed branded content and digital advertising partnerships across national agency and brand accounts. He also served as Senior Editor at The Rundown, a multi-city daily email publication with more than one million subscribers nationwide.
Jay is the Founder and Publisher of Chicago INNERVIEW Magazine, an independent music and culture publication he launched in 2003, overseeing editorial direction, partnerships, and business operations for more than 17 years.
Earlier in his career, Jay worked as News Editor of the Estes Park Trail-Gazette in Colorado, covering tourism, government, and Rocky Mountain National Park. His reporting earned a “Best Feature Story” award from the Colorado Press Association.
Jay has traveled to more than 30 countries across five continents and is based in Chicago.
