Jeff Halperin is an American former photojournalist, independent videographer, and founder of ZenHD, a Phoenix-based video production company, best known as the husband of former Fox 10 anchor and politician Kari Lake.
He built a two-decade career behind the camera before stepping away from news stations to run his own production business full-time.
Who is Jeff Halperin?
Jeff Halperin is an American entrepreneur and former photojournalist from Phoenix, Arizona.
He spent more than a decade working as a news photographer and videographer at major broadcast outlets before launching his own production company.
He rose to wider public attention through his marriage to Kari Lake, a longtime Fox 10 news anchor who later ran for governor of Arizona in 2022 and for the U.S. Senate in 2024.
Yet Halperin’s career in visual media stands on its own terms, with an Emmy nomination and a roster of broadcast, commercial, and documentary work behind him.
ZenHD, the production company he founded, handles everything from broadcast content to web and corporate video production. As of 2026, Halperin remains the owner and primary operator of the business, based in Phoenix.
His 2020 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Sports Journalism placed him among the recognized names in independent broadcast production.
Early Life of Jeff Halperin
Jeff Halperin was born in the United States and grew up with a strong interest in visual storytelling and journalism.
Multiple sources confirm his Colombian heritage on his mother’s side, with his father being American.
That background shaped a bilingual upbringing, and Halperin later became fluent in Spanish, which became a professional asset throughout his career.
His early years in the American Southwest gave him a grounding in regional news culture. He has described video production as his central calling from an early age, and his career choices bear that out.
He grew up to attend Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, where he studied journalism and history.
Jeff Halperin Age / Birthday
Jeff Halperin was born in 1967 in the United States. As of 2026, he is 59 years old.
His career timeline confirms this age range: he entered Creighton University around 1990 and graduated in 1994, placing his birth firmly in the second half of the 1960s.
Today, Halperin remains professionally active through ZenHD and continues to support his wife’s public career as a political figure.
Jeff Halperin Ethnicity / Religion / Nationality
Jeff Halperin is American by nationality, born and raised in the United States. His ethnic background is multiracial, with his mother from Colombia and his father being American.
That Colombian heritage shaped his early home environment, where Spanish was spoken regularly.
He later applied his bilingual skills across his journalism and media production career. His exact religious belief is not revealed.
Jeff Halperin Education
Halperin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and history from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated in 1994, having entered the university around 1990.
The journalism-focused program laid the technical and editorial groundwork for his broadcast career. After graduating, he moved directly into newsroom work at NBC.
That combination of journalism theory and history gave him a broad editorial foundation that went beyond technical camera skills.
His bilingual ability in Spanish, developed at home and carried through his education, also opened doors in a broadcasting industry that increasingly valued multilingual journalists.
Jeff Halperin Career
Jeff Halperin spent the early part of his career inside local and national television newsrooms, working as a photojournalist and news photographer before eventually transitioning to independent production.
His work across multiple outlets built a reputation for reliable visual storytelling under deadline pressure.
Early Career (1993–1998)
After graduating from Creighton University in 1994, Halperin began his professional life at NBC News, working as a news editor and news photographer.
He held that position for approximately four years, covering national events and gaining experience across a range of story types.
His work at NBC included coverage of major national stories during the mid-1990s. During that period, he also worked at KPNX-TV, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona.
It was at KPNX-TV in Phoenix that Halperin first crossed paths with Kari Lake, who joined the station as a weekend weather anchor in 1994.
Major Positions Held (1998–2000)
In 1998, Halperin followed Kari Lake to Albany, New York, when she moved to join WNYT-TV. He worked at WNYT as a news photographer through 2000, continuing his role as a broadcast journalist at the local news level.
His time at WNYT extended the range of his on-the-ground reporting experience in a different regional market. Later, the couple returned to Phoenix, where both would build longer-term careers.
Working across both Phoenix and Albany newsrooms gave Halperin a well-rounded view of local broadcast news operations on both coasts.
Current Role: ZenHD and Independent Production (2000–Present)
After leaving WNYT around 2000, Halperin stepped away from traditional newsrooms and launched ZenHD, his own video production company based in Phoenix, Arizona.
ZenHD offers comprehensive services spanning broadcast production, commercial video, corporate content, documentary work, and web content.
Within ZenHD and his wider freelance work, Halperin has described himself as serving in roles that include Director of Photography, cameraman, and cinematographer.
His production company is listed on Vimeo, where he operates the Team Lake page in support of his wife’s political career.
In March 2021, Halperin also registered Awake Media LLC in Maricopa County, Arizona, according to records from the Arizona Corporations Commission. His wife, Kari Lake, is listed as the manager of that entity.
ZenHD’s annual revenue has been reported at approximately $4.397 million, reflecting the scale of its production operations.
Jeff Halperin Notable Projects
One of Halperin’s most significant professional achievements came through his work on the ESPN documentary Enes Kanter: Enemy of the State.
The film, part of ESPN’s E:60 series, covers the political activism of professional basketball player Enes Kanter in his native Turkey.
In 2020, Halperin and his production team received an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Sports Journalism category for the documentary.
The nomination was not a win, but it earned him national recognition within the broadcast and sports journalism world.
Kari Lake publicly celebrated the nomination on X (formerly Twitter), saying she was proud of her husband’s achievement. That moment drew wider public attention to Halperin’s work for the first time.
He has also produced the comedy-drama Run For Your Life, broadening his output beyond documentary and news content.
The ESPN Emmy nomination remains the highest-profile individual recognition of his production career to date.
Jeff Halperin Wife
Jeff Halperin married Kari Lake on September 26, 1998. The two met in the early 1990s while working at KPNX-TV in Phoenix, the NBC affiliate where Halperin was a videographer and Lake was a weekend weather anchor.
Their relationship grew out of years of working side by side in a local newsroom. By the time they married, both had also spent time at WNYT-TV in Albany, New York, where Halperin continued his career in news photography.
Kari Lake is Jeff’s second wife. Before their marriage, Kari was previously married to Tracy Finnegan, an electrical engineer; that marriage ended in divorce.
Jeff and Kari have now been married for nearly three decades and continue to live together in Phoenix, Arizona.
Kari Lake left Fox 10 after more than two decades as a news anchor. She ran as the Republican candidate for governor of Arizona in 2022, losing narrowly to Democrat Katie Hobbs, and then ran for the U.S. Senate in Arizona in 2024.
In March 2025, she was sworn in as a special advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media under President Donald Trump. In May 2026, Trump nominated her to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica.
Throughout Lake’s political journey, Halperin has been a constant presence at her side, filming many of her campaign events personally.
The couple has lived in Phoenix for most of their marriage, building their family and professional lives in the same city where they first met.
Jeff Halperin Children
Jeff Halperin and Kari Lake have two children together. Their daughter, Ruby Halperin, was born on March 30, 2003. Their son, Leo Halperin, was born on October 10, 2008.
Ruby has been publicly visible through her mother’s political campaigns. She attended Xavier College Prep in Phoenix, where she was a varsity track and field athlete.
She later worked as an executive assistant for Turning Point USA beginning in October 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Leo, born in 2008, is 17 as of 2026 and maintains a lower public profile. Both children have grown up in Phoenix, Arizona.
Ruby in particular became a familiar face at her mother’s political events, offering Kari Lake candid feedback that earned public praise from the candidate herself.
Jeff Halperin Net Worth
Jeff Halperin’s estimated net worth is $2 million as of 2026.
His income comes primarily from ZenHD, his Phoenix-based video production company, which handles broadcast, commercial, documentary, and web content for various clients.
Business Ventures
ZenHD, which Halperin founded around 2000, has grown into a full-service production operation.
The company’s annual revenue has been reported at approximately $4.397 million, suggesting a solid business base well beyond personal freelance income.
In March 2021, Halperin registered a second Arizona-based company, Awake Media LLC, in Maricopa County.
Kari Lake is listed as the manager of that entity on the Arizona Corporations Commission’s records. The business adds another strand to his production portfolio.
Overall, Halperin’s wealth comes mainly from his production business, with additional income flowing from freelance videography and his documentary and campaign production work.
Jeff Halperin Social Media
Jeff Halperin keeps a relatively low profile on social media compared to his wife. He operates the Team Lake page on Vimeo, where his production work for Kari Lake’s political campaigns is documented.
He is listed on the page in multiple roles including Director of Photography and cinematographer.
Jeff does not maintain a widely publicized personal Instagram or Twitter account under a confirmed verified handle.
His professional presence online is primarily tied to his ZenHD production work and the campaign-related Vimeo content.
That preference for working behind the camera, rather than in front of an audience, has been a consistent thread across his entire career.
Conclusion
Jeff Halperin’s career spans more than three decades of broadcast journalism and independent video production, including an Emmy nomination for his 2020 documentary work with ESPN.
His story is one of a skilled visual journalist who built a production business from the ground up while also playing a central supporting role in one of Arizona’s most high-profile political careers.