Romain Sepehr Vakilitabar
PopShift (by Pathos Labs)

Personal Bio

After noticing how challenging it was for movement leaders to distribute their messages widely and reach people outside typical echo chambers, Romain Sepehr Vakilitabar founded PopShift—an initiative within Pathos Labs that scales narrative and cultural power to those on the front lines of social and cultural movements. To date, PopShift has brought together over 300 of Hollywood's most influential storytellers with more than 500 frontline activists and experts to imagine ways of scaling impactful new narratives to audiences across the nation. This work has achieved a 76% rewrite rate for scripts being developed by the TV writers involved.

With a background that includes a fellowship at Stanford's Polarization and Social Change Lab and recognition from organizations like NBCUniversal, Paramount, and the Omidyar Network, Romain has been driven by an obsession with understanding how change happens in a polarized climate.

Project Description

As a Roddenberry Fellow, Romain will expand PopShift’s narrative infrastructure for social movements. While PopShift has focused on collaborating with influential television writers and screenwriters in Hollywood, they have also identified the need to enroll digital creators, influencers, and journalists. This project will connect frontline activists with a broader network of influential storytellers, amplifying voices often marginalized by dominant cultural narratives.

By reaching beyond television and film to include creators from other mediums, this initiative aims to reshape dominant cultural narratives, by reaching and mobilizing new communities. It seeks to connect with wider lay-audiences traditionally outside specific ideological circles, normalizing narratives that can foster a kinder, more inclusive, pluralistic, and sustainable future.