JAYEL AHERAM is a writer, Iraq War and Marine veteran, and photographer based in Seattle. Powered by coffee and rage.
Aheram is an internationally-published photographer whose work has drawn acclaim from notable names such as Yoko Ono and Rosie O’Donnell. His photography have been featured and published in more than a hundred print, television, and online venues including Nature, the New Yorker, Poets & Writers, The Desert Sun, NPR, Fox News, Marine Corps Times, and the Italian book cover of Warren I. Cohen’s bestselling book “America’s Failing Empire.” He is a popularly exhibited artist featured in more than a dozen exhibitions, including three critically-acclaimed solo exhibitions, two of which had been named by Palm Springs newspaper The Desert Sun’s “Hot Picks of the Desert” in two different years. According to the Desert Sun, “Aheram’s photographs, like deserts themselves, depict scenes of beauty and desolation. “The Harsh Desert” goes beyond the theater of war to reveal an Iraq few Americans have seen.” In the summer of 2011, he was honored by the City of Palm Desert with a solo exhibition of his collection “In Martial Hues.” The same collection was chosen by College of the Desert’s Marks Art Center for an exhibition in December 2011.
VIEW: ARTIST CV
Aheram is an award-winning blogger writing about politics and foreign policy. His writing has been featured and published by Young Americans for Liberty, Antiwar.com, Bradley Manning Support Network, The Huffington Post, Young American Revolution, The Daily Trojan, and the Congressional Record. He has been quoted and mentioned by Al Jazeera, The Hill, POLITICO, Yahoo! News, Buzzfeed, Salon, and Reason. In 2012, he was the official correspondent for Tumblr at the Republican National Convention, reporting from the ground in Tampa, Fla. Previously, he was a political commentator on the international multilingual television network RT International, speaking to a global audience about American foreign policy, activism, and domestic issues. In 2012, he was awarded “Blogger of the Year” by Young Americans for Liberty. In 2013, his column on the Afghanistan War was cited by Rep. Walter Jones on the House floor and published in the Congressional Record. In addition to being a writer, he was the editor-in-chief of the college newspaper The Chaparral, researcher at the television network JAGTV, and editor of the book “School Emergency Management: A Practical Approach to Implementation” published by Polimedia Publishing in 2013.
Aheram is an activist who has worked with Young Americans for Liberty, Come Home America, Veterans for Peace, March Forward, and other organizations. He was one of the primary organizers with Occupy Coachella Valley and in May 2012, he was awarded by Veterans for Peace the “Silver Helmet Award” for outstanding service and leadership in connection with the Occupy Wall Street protests, and was recognized by the California State Assembly and the City of Cathedral City for the same. Also in 2012, he was awarded the “Peace Day Award” for “outstanding leadership and courage” in connection with his antiwar activism. In 2013, he was awarded the “Young American Freedom Hero” by the Freedom Law School and “Patriot Award” by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. His activism has been profiled by the Palm Springs’s the Desert Sun, Sri Lanka’s The Nation, BallotVox, and other outlets. He has been the featured speaker at various conferences, protests, and panels for many organizations including Republican Liberty Caucus of Los Angeles County, National Lawyers Guild, Sierra University, National League of American Pen Women (Palm Springs), Occupy Coachella Valley, Veterans for Peace (Palm Springs), Occupy Rose Parade, Tenth Amendment Center, March Forward, College of the Desert, and Freedom Law School. He is the founder of the antiwar organization Come Home America Los Angeles.
Outside of writing and activism, Aheram is a public relations and marketing professional specializing in digital and creative projects management, publicity and marketing, outreach, and social media strategy. Some of his past clients include Oscar-winner and nine-time Emmy-winner Cloris Leachman, actor Tom Sizemore, Oscar-nominated actress Sally Kellerman, legendary actor Bud Cort, television personality Josh Flagg, international recording artist Bertie Higgins, various established authors, thought leaders, and independent films.
In 2013, Aheram graduated from College of Desert with an associate of arts degree in Journalism. He is an avid gamer and is currently playing: League of Legends, Civilization V & VI, Diablo III, Torchlight 2, and occasionally still plays text-based roleplaying games. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington.