Jake believes empathy is teachable and that it can motivate social change.  In his professional engagements, Jake has written and produced informative marketing videos for social impact organizations including the Global Health Initiative, Jail Education Solutions, the Hult Prize and Clinton Global Initiative.  He currently produces videos for joint use by the Sorenson Impact Center and Forbes Media.  

Jake's directorial passion projects also teach empathy, but in contrast to his paid work, are proudly information-free and instead revel in the mess we call personality.  Beyond the Veyo (2015) is a short film on an old desert-dwelling mask artist who exhumes the corpse of his goat to form a church (DOXA Int'l Doc Film Festival).  This Cup(2016) is a morbidly obese couples' love story (Park City Showcase).  Jake enjoys working with others and has produced two character-driven feature docs: Stockham, the Father of Digital Audio (2015) and The Thief (2018). 

At Stanford, Jake aims to design non-fiction films so cinematic they feel scripted.  Jake's research interests include the Ukrainian conflict, space time, religion and all things anthropology.  Jake grew up, outdoors mostly, in Eagle River, Alaska and, indoors mostly, in Chicago, Illinois.  He speaks Ukrainian and is eager to find subjects affected by the war on the eastern border.