Josh Heller: from humble beginnings to founding Favored Nations

An enterprise that is by the artists, for the artists is making waves as entrepreneur Josh Heller scales it to new heights of goodwill. He reveals why he founded “Favored Nations.” Let’s delve.

When passion becomes profession

Josh describes himself as a passionate entrepreneur and philanthropist who has an innate liking for helping people. That’s the fertile ground from where his desire to start a non-profit organization sprouted. Josh’s upbringing is also responsible for his inclination towards charity. He grew up on food stamps and lived in government housing.

Co-founded in 2018 with his friend Noah, and launched in early 2020 at the beginning of Covid, Favored Nations amassed more than 100,000 members in just the first six months of its inception and raised more than $150,000 for initiatives like COVID-19 relief, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the youth vote in the 2020 election. Ask him what drove him to found Favored Nations, he says, “I have always been involved in creative professional endeavors and I wanted to use this creativity to help people because I have lived through many struggles. In that rut, when you see a helping hand reaching out from a crowd of thousands who are just scrambling through each day and going about their fast-paced life – it inspires you to do great things – I wanted to be that helping hand this time, for not one but as many people as possible. That’s my driving force behind Favored Nations.”

Through Favored Nations, Josh hopes to continue to passionately support and advocate for mental health, raise awareness for important causes that mean the world to the youth generation, and develop new ways to help those in need globally.

Josh’s idea behind philanthropy through Favored Nations is driven by his desire to build community and connection. Having gone through anxiety and depression as a child, Josh always wanted to start a non-profit community (community – that’s what he prefers to call it rather than an organization – a community for the artists by the artists) that would look after people struggling and dealing with the same issues Josh had and way more, including systemic racism, and human rights.

Favored Nations leverages massive social media platforms using e-commerce and various campaigning strategies to crowd-source funding and resources to those in need, all while raising awareness.

Apart from being the co-founder and CMO of Favored Nations, Josh is an experienced actor and photographer. He has produced and directed campaigns for top-tier talent and fashion labels and continues to help build new brands and set trends in the industry.