Jen Appel, M.A.
Founder, Somewhere I Read
Harvard-Trained Educator/Award-Winning Producer/Storytelling Strategist for National Renewal
Storytelling builds nations. It shapes identity, directs conscience, and determines whether a people rise together or fall apart. Jen Appel founded Somewhere I Read to reclaim America’s identity — the one promised in our founding documents and echoed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he declared:
“But…Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.”
Through truth, beauty, and courage, she’s uniting artists, educators, veterans, technologists, and citizens to bring decency and true patriotism back into style — and to make sure the voices of the people remain the driving force of this republic.
Her understanding of narrative was forged through the most visceral of music experiences growing up, very much including the redemptive pulse of the American anthem — as her eldest half-brother discovered, produced, and managed Mr. Bruce Springsteen — giving her a front-row seat to the making of an American icon and the realization that art can indeed move a nation.
Standing amidst the roar of sold-out Giants Stadium shows, she witnessed ten thousand voices rise in unison — songs that could both celebrate and critique, inspire and confront — that embodied what President John F. Kennedy once described:
“If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice… make them so. The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state.”
She watched Bruce do that. And she knows what it takes. If Jen Appel does not flinch it is because she knows:
“Baby this town rips the bones from your back… tramps like us, baby, we were born to run.”
Like Kennedy and Bruce, Jen believes a nation cannot flourish without its artists. She echoes JFK’s vision:
“I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft... where poets, artists, and scholars will lead the nation to a deeper understanding of its meaning.”
That call — joined with King’s enduring message from his last night on earth — forms the foundation of Jen’s life work.
She believes “We the People” are being called to complete the original revolution; to see it all the way through - this time, together - to realize the full promise of America’s founding ideals through art, empathy, and moral imagination.
She believes we are charged with what our visionary Founding Fathers penned over 250 years ago. Her mission is to pick up the thread that Dr. King and President Kennedy left for us — as Bruce’s anthems pump through her veins — to finish what many a legend began:
the reawakening of America’s conscience through creativity, bravery, and truth.
And now — in the 21st century — through technology that truly serves the governed.
A Harvard-trained educator and seasoned producer, Jen has spent over three decades teaching A.P. U.S. History, Government, and Entrepreneurship, while designing transformative curricula that bridge education, media, and moral imagination.
Her film work includes producing for Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues, Broken Lizard Productions, and Cataland Films — and she now leads Traitor: A Story of Patriots, a feature documentary and concert series exploring how music can reignite America’s Spirit once again.
Earlier, she served as Senior Communication & Pursuit Strategist at Ernst & Young, helping Fortune 500 clients define their purpose and turn vision into measurable impact.
As Jen says:
“It is all in how you tell the story. Your positioning. The narrative. How you frame it, is part of what creates it. The story we tell ourselves becomes our experience. Let’s tell a good one.”
But Jen also saw that storytelling alone — while powerful — is not enough in the age of surveillance capitalism and AI-driven control.
If we are going to protect democracy, the people must not only shape the narrative — they must own the microphone, the platforms, and the technology that defends their freedom.
And so, under Somewhere I Read’s banner, she is leading a movement that empowers citizens in both spirit and infrastructure:
• Real-time citizen journalism elevating truth from the ground up
• Firewalls and home privacy tools that keep your data yours
• Encrypted, anonymous communication to protect truth-tellers
• Livestream safety tools that uphold election integrity
• Accountability technology in every encounter with power
This is innovation with a heartbeat and a backbone — technology grounded in liberty.
A future where We the People stay in control.
A republic we intend to keep.
Through Somewhere I Read, Jen is galvanizing what’s been fragmented and aligning good work across the nation into one unified cultural front.
Because the real fight for America’s future isn’t political — it’s spiritual, creative, technological, and deeply human — and it is here.
The only way to heal a divided country is to sing a louder, more beautiful and honest story — and to secure the systems that carry that story — together.
So — let’s roll.
We’re taking our country back — and we intend to keep it.