Jacob Michael Sasfai is an American writer, artist, and educator. He has worked in various positions in customer service, as well as in education and music publishing. Jacob has experience as a private tutor, a music teacher, a bartender, a model, and a performing artist.

Born in Summit, New Jersey in 1999, Jacob grew up in nearby Maplewood, New Jersey. He graduated cum laude from the Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey in 2017. Jacob then graduated from Columbia University in New York City in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature & Society, an interdisciplinary specialization that investigates how languages, modes of thought, and cultural experiences shape peoples’ interactions with the humanities. He earned his degree with a Concentration in History, specializing in the United States during the 20th century.

In 2024, Jacob moved to Paris, France to teach English in a public high school. Soon thereafter, he discovered his call to Christian ministry while worshipping at both the American Church in Paris and the Cathédrale Saint-Sulpice. He enrolled in the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey in the fall of 2025, where he is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Divinity.

Jacob has had extensive first-hand experience within multiple religious groups, such as attending preschool in a Jewish synagogue, growing up in the Presbyterian Church, starting a Taoist meditation group at his high school, joining the Muslim Student Association in college while considering converting to Islam, and participating in Tibetan Buddhist meditation seminars while living in Brooklyn after college. Jacob returned to Christianity during a near-death experience when he reconciled with the silhouette of Jesus Christ in a hospital bed, and he decided to become Catholic after witnessing the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist at Basilique du Sacré-Cœur in Paris. At the Easter Vigil in Princeton in 2026, Jacob converted to Catholicism.

Jacob has performed with several music groups at venues in New Jersey, New York City, and Paris since 2017. He performs jazz piano, as well as rock, pop, and dance music. Jacob has been recognized by numerous prestigious jazz programs and organizations across the United States, such as Jazz House Kids, Brubeck Jazz Summit, National YoungArts Foundation, and Vail Jazz Workshop. He also worked as an executive assistant and social media coordinator for the Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and Second Floor Music in New York. Jacob has contributed award-winning musical scores to several independent films and has taught piano in both Brooklyn, New York and in Paris, France.

Jacob has experience tutoring several subjects, of which are English language (all levels), French language (all levels), American history, world literatures, maths, biology, essay writing, study skills, and organizational planning. He is also certified to teach English as a foreign language.

Jacob speaks French fluently and Russian conversationally. He studied Biblical Hebrew at seminary and plans to learn Spanish and Italian as well.