Jake grew up in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science and modern Middle Eastern studies. Following graduation, he was a visiting researcher at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland where he conducted research on the role of the Muslim Brotherhood during the Arab Spring. He then moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on the expansion of global authoritarianism and international support for women’s political empowerment. Prior to attending the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Jake was a legislative aide to Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. He supported the senator’s role as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health as well as his work on defense policy and veterans affairs. Jake completed his summer internship as a Harold W. Rosenthal Fellow at the Department of Defense where he worked on U.S. defense policy in Africa.