Jacob Soboroff (Harvard Westlake ’01)
When we went to meet Harvard Westlake alum and current host of HuffPost Live, Jacob Soboroff, the first thing we noticed were the shoes. “Nike x APC” he told us. Did Nike send them to you? He just smized at us … too modest to take the claim.
Jacob lives in Silverlake with his wife Nicole Cari (they originally met at the Band of Outsiders L.A. Showroom where she is the Sr. Director of Press and Marketing — you can thank her for such cool events as the BOO Cemetery Screening Picnic last summer). He has three sisters, stylist Hannah Soboroff who works for Brad Goreski, Molly Soboroff who works for the Jewish Federation, and Leah Soboroff who is a freshman Northeastern. His brother Miles Soboroff was at CAA in the sports department before becoming an independent sports manager and also went to HW.
Their father, Steve Soboroff, came on the show the day we were visiting to speak about the Space Shuttle Endeavour’s journey across Los Angeles, he is the Senior Advisor for California Science Center’s and was instrumental in bringing the shuttle to the museum. Nice family, right? He was also a senior advisor to Mayor Riordan before making a mayoral run himself in 2001 (he was beat out by Villaraigosa) and was appointed Vice Chairman of the Dodgers one day before the MLB seized control of the team; Steven was one of McCourt’s most vocal defenders.
“My mother Patti is an all-star mom who probably had the most difficult job in our family — raising all five of us” Jacob told us.
Jacob is known to roll around on his laser scooter throughout the first floor level of the AOL building where HuffPost Live is produced; the editorial team for the Huffington Post is on an upstairs floor (By the way, have we yet mentioned The Daily Truffle has a blog on the Huffington Post?). The offices are a scene out an Apple commercial; communal bikes, games like ping pong, and white board everywhere in case someone has a thought. The war room of HuffPost Live is one long table of 30+ staffers including producers, hosts, researchers and interns.
Jacob got into hosting as a means to mix his interests in acting and politics (he was in the theater program at NYU and Harvard Westlake). His first job, after working for the Mayor Bloomberg in New York, was with Chris Hardwick’s Wired Science on PBS. He broke into hosting with hist first gig on AMC (Toronto Film Festival) which led to others; NBC (School Pride), MTV (election coverage in March ’12), CNN (SEGMENT), political activist group Why Tuesday, and finally HuffPost Live.
DAY IN THE LIFE: JACOB SOBOROFF
6am: Jacob uses his home office in the morning to work on stories to pitch that day which will have to be in by noon. HuffPost Live streams weekdays from 7am to 7am; the New York time takes 7am to 3pm and the L.A. team (which is not as staffed) covers the hours of 3pm to 7pm.
7:40: Leaves the house for Pilates on Larchmont or spin at YAS.
9:30am: Arrives at the Beverly Hills offices of Huffington Post, located in the building of their new parent company AOL on Maple Drive.
12pm: Final production is completed for the day so they are ready to go by 3pm.
3pm: From 3pm to 7pm Jacob and his co-hosts Alyona Minkovski, Janet Varney and Nancy Redd shoot live from the HuffPost Live stage.
7:30: Dinner with Nicole; it’s either Sporanza, Forage for to-go, Ricky’s fish tacos, Little Doms in Loz Feliz, Cafe Stella, Blossom, or somewhere downtown.
On the weekends, he surfs with friends (usually Ventura) or plays basketball in a Cheviot Hills league with his brother.
Fellow producers Lucy Blodgett, Camille Santochi, Jacob Soboroff in the HuffPost Live war room
Jacob and dad on the day the Space Shuttle arrived
Alyona Minkovski, Larry King, Jacob Soboroff on the HuffPost Live stage
HuffPost Live stage
HuffPost Live — On Air
HuffPost Live edit bay
Bike for anyone if you work at AOL
Lunch room at AOL / HuffPost Live
AOL / Huffington Post HQ in BH
