Jérôme Jarre facts for kids

Jérôme Jarre (pronounced [ʒaʁ]) is a French entrepreneur and humanitarian. He became well-known as a star on Vine and Snapchat. In 2014, he was one of the most followed people on Vine. He also became one of the first big Snapchat celebrities.

After starting businesses in China and Canada, Jarre began posting videos on Vine when it first launched. He later left his businesses to focus completely on making Vine videos. In 2013, he helped create GrapeStory, an agency for social media stars.

In 2014, he turned down a huge offer from an advertising company. He said no because the product didn't fit with his beliefs.

In 2017, he started a campaign with Turkish Airlines to send help to Somalia. Many famous people, like Ben Stiller and Sarah Silverman, supported him. By September 2017, he had helped raise almost $4,000,000 to help people in Somalia who were suffering from a drought. He often posted videos on Twitter to support the Somali people and their country.

Jarre once had over 15 million followers on social media. However, he later decided to step away from fame. He wanted to live a more private life and find himself as a person.

Early life and learning

Jarre was born in Albertville, France. His mother, Agnes Jarre, raised him. When he was 19, he left business school and moved to China. He stayed in China for one year. During that time, he learned to speak English and Chinese. He also started several new businesses.

His career

Starting businesses

In China, Jarre started a few businesses. One of them did very well. He used the money from that business to move to Toronto, Canada. There, he co-founded a software company called Atendy with Christopher Carmichael.

Becoming a creator

While in Toronto, Jarre heard about Vine. He created an account on the platform right away. Later, he moved back to Paris, France. He continued making Vines while also managing his business. Eventually, he decided to leave his business to focus only on creating videos for Vine.

Helping people with Love Army

Jarre worked with the American Refugee Committee (ARC) to create a new way to help people. In September 2017, his group, Love Army, was invited to talk about their work. This was at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation event called GOALKEEPERS. Important people like Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and Malala Yousafzai were also there.

Jérôme Jarre, Casey Neistat, and Juanpa Zurita spoke for Love Army and ARC. At the same time, the ARC team was in Somalia. They were with 1,000 people in 8 different villages. These people were ready to get money sent to their phones.

For the first time ever, a live video was set up between the people in Somalia and the GOALKEEPERS event. Everyone at the event could see exactly where the money was going. Jerome and his team then did something surprising. They asked Bill and Melinda Gates to help them reach their goal of raising $1 million. The Gates family agreed. In moments, Abdirashid Duale, the CEO of Dahabshiil, who was in the audience, sent the money from his phone live. Each of the 1,000 people in Somalia instantly received $1,000. This special moment was shown live to everyone.

GrapeStory agency

GrapeStory is a talent agency that Jarre started with Gary Vaynerchuk in May 2013. This agency helps connect social media creators with brands. Brands want these creators to make marketing content for them.

After gaining many followers on Vine, Jarre decided to start an agency for Vine, Instagram, and Snapchat stars. He was looking for a business partner. He learned that Gary Vaynerchuk would be in Toronto. Jarre had taught himself English by listening to Vaynerchuk's book, Crush It!, when he was in China. When Jarre told Vaynerchuk his idea, Vaynerchuk liked it and became his partner. Jarre then left his business in Toronto and moved to New York to work on GrapeStory. By August 2013, the agency had signed up many Vine stars.

Litre of Light project

Jarre also started a campaign called Litre of Light. In this project, "likes" on social media posts became like money. Plastic bottles were used to create lights for villages in rural Philippines. For example, he once helped turn 150,000 Instagram likes into a lit-up village in the Philippines.

See also

In Spanish: Jérôme Jarre para niños