Ellen Jaffe Jones


Ellen Jaffe Jones is a U.S. consumer, health, and fitness journalist and author. She is an accomplished athlete and the author of Eat Vegan on $4 a Day--A Game Plan for the Budget Conscious Cook, published in 2011. Her book, "The Kitchen Divided-Vegan Recipes for the Semi-Vegan Household" was published in summer 2013. Her most recent book is Paleo Vegan: Plant-Based Primal Recipes, published in paperback by Book Publishing Company on March 10, 2014.
As a former 2-time Emmy-winning TV investigative/consumer reporter/anchor for 18 years in Des Moines, Miami, and St. Louis, she wrote her book after her mother, aunt, and both sisters had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Figuring out how to avoid the risks associated with family genes and medical history became the investigative reporting job of her life.
Jones has won The National Press Club first place for the Best Consumer Journalism of 1984 and two Emmy Awards plus four Emmy nominations for her reporting. She won numerous other awards in broadcasting and broke new ground in the work place by taking an unusual paid leave of absence from her television job before the creation of the US national Family Leave Act. She continued to work out of her home when her children were young, doing then unheard of broadcasts from a microphone in her kitchen.
Her most memorable story was discovering that the Miami School Superintendent had stolen gold-plated plumbing for his summer home in Naples, Florida. Jones moved to her home town of St. Louis where she broke the story about Chrysler Corporation's executive car driving program. Executives drove cars before they were sold to the public with odometers disconnected and customers were not told this until Jones broke the story. Jones finished her TV career working as an investigative/consumer reporter and morning anchor at KTVI-TV, KMOV-TV, and then after 6 years as a stay-at-home mom, re-entered the workforce as a morning anchor at KDNL-TV.
Jones joined Smith Barney as a financial consultant, and during her 5 years, was the #1 market performer in 2001 at her branch which included downtown St. Louis. Jones then joined her husband, Clarence, in his successful media consulting business, Winning News Media, Inc. She did media consulting for many vegan and vegetarian doctors, dietitians, and health care professionals and organizations.
She became a cooking instructor for the national non-profit, The Cancer Project. She has been a runner since age 28, became a certified personal trainer and certified running coach. Before her book came out, she was the assistant volunteer coach for the girls cross country team at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida. She is also a private personal trainer/running and walking coach in Holmes Beach, Florida. Following a New York Times blog written by a reporter who credited Jones with a huge marathon time improvement, Jones' main personal training, running, and vegan coaching business is now virtual via Skype and FaceTime.

Current work

Jones does book signings and cooking demonstrations at major food and vegetarian festivals in the US and abroad, as well as other smaller venues. She writes columns for The Anna Maria Island Sun and ''Running Journal."
At the recent 2013 National Senior Games in Cleveland, against full-time athletes with university coaches in attendance, weekend-warrior Jones placed 7th in the US in the W60-64 in the 1500 meters, 10th in the 400 meters, 16th in the 200 meters and 19th in the 100 meters. To qualify for Nationals, she had to finish in the top 4 in each event at State. She placed 3rd in State in her age group in the 200, 400 and 1500 meters, 4th in State for the 100 meters. To compete at State, she had to finish in the top 3 at the county Senior Games.
She has placed in 106 5K races in her age group since 2006. She ran her first marathon in 2010 and was the 5th oldest female to finish the Palm Beaches Marathon. Her 100 Meter time is :06 slower than NCAA girls personal records listed in the 2012 University of Southern California Track and Field Media Guide. Fitness experts have said it is unusual for someone with her track times to have ever completed a marathon, vegan or not.
Jones has almost 37,000 followers on her "Eat Vegan on $4 a Day" Facebook page and has many more followers on other social media sites. She tries to answer questions and engage audiences, both live and virtual. She has a YouTube channel and is finally, as she says, putting that journalism degree to good use.