Today, we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Jacob.
Hi Jeff, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Wow, that’s a BIG ask. I guess there are two questions here. One, how did I get started as a creative? And two, how did I get started as a non-profit activist-leader? As to the first question, my love of music certainly started with listening to Dad and Mom’s vast record collection, coupled with listening to Dad sing and play piano in the living room as a kid.
He’d do old standards, show tunes, Everly Brothers, Sinatra, Belafonte. The Beatles. Started piano lessons early and participated in school musicals by 3rd grade. Wrote my first song in 10th grade, recorded a horrible demo for my first recording freshman year in college, and then just kept going. I wound up in Nashville many years later and stayed nearly 2 decades trying to “lose the day job, ” and be a full-time songwriter.
Released 6 albums and countless singles and began producing a bit for others. (I even wrote a few magazine pieces!) During my last few years in Nashville, I also volunteered a bit in Animal rescue and faith-based initiatives. I also started my team-building company THE Song Team, as referenced in that earlier interview we did together. This takes us to question #2. I moved to South Florida a decade ago to combine my passions of volunteering/service and team-building.
My first role in non-profit leadership (or tilting at windmills ) was as Director at Big Dog Ranch Rescue. The largest, private, no-kill dog rescue is east of the Mississippi. That was an amazing and humbling experience. Since then, I’ve launched my own non-profit, done a TEDx talk, and taken on Executive Director roles for organizations doing good community work in the fields of Faith-based, Animal Welfare, and Mental Health/Substance Use Disorder.
I still write and record fairly often, and music is every bit as essential to me these days, as when I was living in Nashville surrounded by it every moment. Perhaps more so, as it now takes more effort and focus to balance out a life that carves enough space and energy for writing, performing, recording etc.
Music is right there with air and water for me on the needs chart.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nope, is it ever? I think everyone goes through life trying to avoid the biggest pot-holes, but you can’t steer around all of them. Bumps, twists, and turns… we all face. Some more than others, of course. I had a good, solid upbringing compared to many, many people, so that was a huge blessing. But I’ve had so many false starts and made too many poor choices to count. Then at some point, you just realize you are where you are really supposed to be.
I’ve battled mental health issues and even checked myself in for treatment at one point to stabilize my foundational self… the inner… emotional/mental core. It really helped, as did finding a good therapist and making sure to always focus on that which maximizes joy, calm, and contentedness. I’ve had plenty of disappointments in my career and in life. However, many more blessings have been brought to light as a result. The windows are always there to look through, sometimes we need to manually pull the blinds up though.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As an Artist/Creative as you call it, I consider myself first and foremost a songwriter/activist these days I suppose. What I mean by that is unlike my days in Nashville, when my primary goal as a songwriter/musician was to write and record songs that might someday make me wealthy and known/successful… currently these days, the vast majority of the songs that I bring to fruition start to finish, writing, arranging, recording, producing, shooting video, promoting… well, these songs are typically purpose driven songs or messaging songs.
They are geared towards getting a message across, elevating a non-profit’s cause in the public eye, unifying a group of people… Maybe upon moving to Florida from Nashville, the crossroads I found myself at dictated that I shift focus on my “content creation,” meaning the actual circumstances and situations I arrived in down here drove the shift… but there was certainly a moment when the thought crystallized in my brain that this is now how I exert most of my desire and talent for writing and recording.
For a higher power… a higher purpose. The desire to put more into that end of my creative pool probably began when I was still in Nashville, where over a period of years, I was blessed to utilize my songwriting and facilitating skills to work on both a “Songwriters for Soldiers” project, which was tremendously rewarding… transformational actually. Also, during that time, I was a “Staff Songwriter” for The Songs of Love Foundation for 3 years. Both of these experiences did MORE than a little shape the direction of where my songwriting was headed.
These days, when I’m not wearing my hat as a Non-Profit Executive Director (I love my day job at Temple Beth El of Hollywood), I’m writing or recording, gigging sometimes solo, and sometimes with our Temple Worship band, JewGrass Revival. Or, I’m on the road with my little side hustle, THE Song Team, these programs where my hit songwriter buddies use our songwriting and facilitation chops to create meaningful experiences in Corporate meetings and conferences.
These experiences entail working through collaborative songwriting on teamwork, organizational storytelling, creative problem-solving, innovation… and, frankly, leadership. What am I most proud of… that’s a tough one, but I’d say the songs I wrote with and for Soldiers battling PTSD, or the songs I created for children battling terminal illnesses and their families…. the feedback I sometimes got communicating back to me what a difference those experiences made to these folks… I guess I’m pretty proud of that impact.
Aside from leading Temple Beth El of Hollywood with the help of an amazing team that I absolutely love, I get up to Nashville frequently for teambuilding and other musical gigs, work still with Face the Music Foundation as a Musical Group Facilitator at the local Boys & Girls Clubs, sit on the board of The South Florida Folk & Acoustic Music Festival… you know, stay engaged. (not busy… engaged in life, right!).
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check?
I use a mindfulness app called Insight Timer most days which I find really helpful during those times when I seem to have forgotten how to just breathe and walk in gratitude. Recently, I’ve read a few books by Rabbi Moshe Gersht, which have been nothing short of mind-shifting.
One is called “It’s All the Same to Me,” and the one I’m reading still is called “The 3 Intentions.” I can’t refer back to them enough. Also, I recently re-read “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann… so beautiful, and I just received a gift of the book, “The Greatest Salesman in the World,” by Og Mandino, which I can’t wait to dig into.
Pricing:
- South Florida Customized interactive/Musical keynotes $2500
- South Florida House Concerts Solo – $500
- National Customized Musical Team-building programs – pricing upon discussion
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thesongteam.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesongteam
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffjacobteambuilder/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHkZHx2AEtw&list=PL1BMukas3gW_ELpIrQyJuGdY92uygJ0zQ
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2JOoorZWZKqPxPwJXXh9Ka
