October 7th

Project Type: Pro bono / Date: 2023 & beyond

Like many others, the horrific events of October 7th shocked and challenged me to leverage my skills and energies to help the effort in whatever ways I could.

Initially, I was part of a rapid-response effort to organize bootcamps for Israeli influencers who were interested in joining the digital battle to explain Israel's position to the world. I helped on distribution strategy, scripting and content production to help tell stories in engaging, impactful ways through the platforms of some of Israel's largest digital creators - such as Shiraz Shukrun, Romi Geyor and Dekel.

As time went on, there was a growing list of American talent interested in coming to Israel to bear witness to the horrors and connect with locals. I was very active on content strategy, analytics and on-the-ground logistics to make these trips as successful as possible. We did things like organize meetups between foreign and Israeli talent, create content capture days and much more. From James Maslow to Debra Messing, Ben Gleib (below) and Michael Rapaport, it's been amazing to see the willingness of influential people to come and see what's happening with their own eyes. Read more here.

Throughout the aftermath of October 7th there were myriad efforts at "war rooms" and content production projects. I did my best to provide insight and distribution strategy for engaging memes, videos and other content meant to tell the horrible stories of October 7th.

At the 2024 Sundance Film Festival I took on a leadership role to incubate and execute a large-scale solidarity event. Along with the official Hostages Forum, I was able to pull off a powerful, emotional event of 250 people at the festival. We had several influencers and celebrities interview family members of hostages as well as a survivor from the Nova Festival massacre. The content from the event reached millions and this has become an absolute highlight of my professional life, which I'm very proud of. Check out Emmanuelle Chriqui's parting words, my wrap-up blog post, and be sure to follow Daniel Ryan Spaulding, Ashley Waxman Bakshi, Caroline D'Amore and Natalie Sanandaji.

I continue to assist all sorts of different efforts related to influencer content, solidarity events and celebrities visiting Israel. The outcomes of October 7th are still evolving and I'm commited to staying active in the fight for as long as it takes.

©2025 by Jacob Shwirtz. Stay Juicy!