Nicole Shanahan and Jacob Strumwasser.Photo:David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty
Nicole Shanahanhas the support of her partner Jacob Strumwasser as she hits the campaign trail.
On March 26,Robert F. Kennedy Jr.introduced Shanahan ashis new running matefor vice president inthe presidential election.
While making the announcement in her hometown of Oakland, California, she and Strumwasser were photographed holding hands as they took the stage with RFK Jr. andhis wife, actressCheryl Hines.
Instead of having a traditional wedding,they celebrated their commitmentto one another in a love ceremony in May 2023.
Here’s everything to know about Shanahan’s partner.
He’s the vice president of Lightning Labs
Strumwasser currently serves as the vice president at Lightning Labs, which develops software that powers the Lightning Network for Bitcoin. Perhis bio on the company’s website, he was inspired to work full time and grow the network after seeing the “empowerment bitcoin and Lightning provides to those who are disenfranchised.”
He’s a ‘reformed Wall Street guy’
They first met at the Burning Man festival
Nicole Shanahan and Jacob Strumwasser.Kim Dunham
Kim Dunham
After Brinfiled for a dissolution of marriagefrom Shanahan in June 2022, she attended the Burning Man festival where she was introduced to Strumwasser through a mutual friend.
“I was there for less than 24 hours and we met over coffee,” Shanahan told PEOPLE of their first encounter. “He had no idea who I was, and I had no idea who he was, and we became friends. Our relationship started as a deep friendship. We saw each other in a silo of our own experience with one another and nothing else.”
They share a love of surfing
As Shanahan and Strumwasser got to know each other, they bonded over their shared love of surfing. In fact, they quickly came to realize that they had both been surfing at the same beach before officially meeting.
“We were living parallel surfing lives it seems,” Shanahan told PEOPLE. “And then we met at Burning Man, which is the driest place on the planet, and talked about how much we missed surfing.”
They committed to each other in a ‘love ceremony’
Nicole Shanahan and Jacob Strumwasser.Chester Chipperfield
Chester Chipperfield
That same beach they surfed at later played a pivotal role in their relationship. In 2023, the two committed to each other during a love ceremony, which included a water blessing from the beach.
“We fell in love surfing there,” Shanahan told PEOPLE of their special spot, where they also surfed during one of their first dates. “We did a love blessing ceremony with water we collected from that beach.”
Shanahan added that they finished the sweet ritual at her SoCal property. “It was spontaneous with a few friends,” she said of the event. “We didn’t know who was gonna end up there, but we had a handful of friends and we had a friend who believes in the magic of water lead a water blessing for us. It was beautiful.”
She noted that she opted for a love ceremony over a traditional wedding after researching handfasting. “I always dreamed of doing a handfasting because I felt like it represents the spirit of marriage more than the legal documentation of marriage,” she explained. “I think that in today’s society, we’ve really gone in the direction of these big, very expensive weddings with lots of people and tons of planning. Then we sign these legal documents … and I wonder if we lost the plot a little bit on what that’s all about.”
He’s super supportive as she co-parents her daughter with ex Sergey Brin
Shanahan previously told PEOPLE that Strumwasser has been a supportive partner as she raises her daughter Echo with her ex Brin, with whom she’s built “a healthy co-parenting relationship.”
“Echo comes first, and Jacob understands that,” she prefaced. When asked what it’s been like for her and Echo to start a new life with Strumwasser, Shanahan said, “It’s been a process of trusting myself, trusting him, listening to my daughter and paying very close attention to household dynamics. And she comes first, every day she comes first.”
source: people.com
