Jonah Sachs, widely referred to as a marketing innovator and expert storyteller, graduated in 1997 from Wesleyan University uncertain about his future.<\/p>\n
He had a bachelor\u2019s degree in American Studies and had been editor-in-chief of the university\u2019s newspaper, but was terrified of getting a job where he wouldn\u2019t be noticed or appreciated. Instead of finding refugee in his parents\u2019 basement hugging a six-pack, he went and did something else: after two years of mostly freelance gigs in design and layout, he reconnected with his childhood friend Louis Fox and together they started their own company, Free Range Studios. \u201cIt actually just felt safer for me to start my own thing than face the rejection of the system. So that fear was step one,\u201d he says<\/a> about founding Free Range, which aims to offer non-profits and social causes the same kind of communication tools and advantages that corporate brands have regularly.<\/p>\n Sachs and Fox established their work ethic early on, choosing to work with people and brands they believed in and opting for mission-based campaigns that would shed light on social and environmental issues. Since then, the company has worked with the likes of Amnesty International, Earthjustice, Greenpeace International, SEIU, the ACLU and the Harvard Civil Rights Project. Free Range Studios also offer e-workshops to teach corporations how to create compelling, coherent stories about their brands and messages, and change the way they communicate to the public.<\/p>\n Almost 20 years have passed since Sachs made the risky decision to go out on his own and tackle entrepreneuring, but the bet seems to have paid off. Jonah received acclaim for several of the videos he created for campaigns the company worked on, such as The Meatrix<\/a> (2003) \u2013 a spoof on the movie The Matrix revealing uncomfortable truths about factory meat farming \u2013 and The Story of Stuff<\/a> \u2013 a 20 minute animated documentary about the lifecycle of material goods that reached over 10 million viewers. His work got him three \u201cBest Of\u201d awards at the industry respected South by Southwest interactive festival.<\/p>\n