About
Elliot Tebele
With three major businesses under his belt before the age of 30, Elliot Tebele is an entrepreneur and digital media expert.
Early Life and Education
Elliot Tebele was born in Gravesend, New York, on February 22, 1991. He was raised in a Syrian Orthodox Jewish household alongside his four siblings (Sophie, Rose, Michael and Maurice). At heart, Elliot has always been an entrepreneur or a “hustler,” as he calls it. Even in high school, Elliot was strategic, flipping sneakers for profit while he was a student at York Prep. After graduating he enrolled at Hunter College in New York City. He stayed there for two years before withdrawing to work at his brother’s wholesale electronics company, located in Little Ferry, New Jersey. Although Elliot wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to do for a living at the time, he knew he wanted more. Shortly thereafter, he began to explore the business world through his own entrepreneurial endeavors.
Career
Even though Elliot never pictured himself working in the media space, he had a knack for curating relatable, humorous content. He began posting on Tumblr and Instagram in the early 2010s as a hobby, and quickly gained popularity for his meme-related content under the account name Fuckjerry. These accounts attracted millions of followers including celebrities like Madonna, Kim Kardashian, Tom Brady, Justin Bieber and more.
This success allowed Elliot to establish the enterprise FJerryLLC, a multi-platform comedy entertainment brand. The company currently owns a network of IG accounts with nearly 40 million followers combined. Accounts under the FJerryLLC umbrella quickly achieve massive success. Examples include @BeigeCardigan, which now has nearly 4 million followers, and the viral Instagram account @DudeWithSign, which has amassed over 8.1 million followers since its first post in October of 2019.
Largely impacted by his strong digital presence, Elliot was able to collaborate with several well-known brands including Express, General Mills, Subway and more. These achievements led Elliot to be profiled in publications such as Business Insider, Cosmopolitan Magazine, ABC, Coveteur and Maxim.
To this day, Elliot is diligent about his posting schedules and often spends hours each day curating content for his network. The Instagram account Fuckjerry was awarded “Instagram’s Funniest Feed” by the New York Post in 2014. Then, in recognition of the company’s advertising and brand impact, the company received the 2019 Shorty Industry Award for Best Use of Native Advertising.
In 2016, Elliot and co-founders Ben Kaplan and Elie Ballas developed the well-known card game “What Do You Meme?” The digital-age card game was initially launched as a Kickstarter and quickly evolved into a multi-million dollar enterprise. The company now creates best-selling games, greeting cards, and both plush and outdoor toys for all ages. Elliot wears a lot of hats at What Do You Meme?, but focuses namely in product and marketing. He loves product ideation, invention and creating new and innovative marketing tools.
In 2018, Elliot joined together with his brother, Maurice Tebele, and childhood friend Martin Hoffstein to establish a new tequila company, JAJA Tequila. Inspiring laughter, friendship and the celebration of tequila are at the forefront of the company’s focus. Elliot’s day-to-day at JAJA is centered on marketing, strategy and product development. From the beginning, it was important to him that the production of JAJA Tequila was sustainable and because of that JAJA practices strict environmental stewardship. From sourcing ingredients to sustainable glass containers, everything is done with sustainability in mind.
Personal Life and Philanthropy
After meeting through mutual friends, Elliot married the prominent Instagram influencer and personal stylist, Jessica Anteby, in August of 2015. They now have two beautiful daughters together, Colette and Rae.
Elliot has a keen interest in art, fashion, media, design and sneakers. He even has a massive sneaker collection that he displays at their West Village apartment. Although Elliot’s mentioned that his favorites change monthly, he’s also shared that he’s partial to the original Jordan 1’s from 1985 (from a collector’s stand-point).
Giving back to the communities that he lives and works in is a high priority of Elliot’s and this is evident through the philanthropic efforts of his business ventures. For example, JAJA Tequila makes contributions to groups dedicated to preserving the agave plant’s eco-chain, providing healthy working conditions for tequila producers, and supporting bat-friendly farms. In addition, What Do You Meme? donated over $500,000 worth of games to the underprivileged, military and local hospitals in 2021 alone. They aim to reach $1 million in donations this year. Apart from the businesses, Elliot and Jessica currently donate to their local Jewish Communal Fund through a joint fund and are looking to expand their philanthropic reach. At this time, they are looking for initiatives that will support their local communities, distribute footwear to those in need, promote sustainability and support local artists, art programs, children’s hospitals and the Jewish community as a whole.
