ROCHESTER MEN’S ENTREPRENEUR Jason Hilton

JASON HILTON

The Unreasonable Man

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

These days, above all else, Jason finds his identity in Jesus as a Christian. However, others have seen him and known him as many things. Jason started his first business at age 15 buying and selling collectibles at local shows and flea markets. Since then he has founded and built several businesses including an investor marketing agency, a 501c3 dedicated to inclusive events that serve all of Rochester and beyond, pop up experiences, Rochester’s first cereal bar, a FORBES business council member, missionary, entertainer, promoter, and served as the CEO of a publicly traded company. Even with all this, Jason finds the most joy in serving and volunteering with many local charities.

His greatest and most important role has been being a husband and father. Jason’s heart for serving, love for food and pop culture has helped transform the way people experience our community and city.

Here’s what friends, family and community members have to say about him.

“You are SO present in their lives, unlike a lot of dads. My first impression of you was definitely that you are selfless. You’re always looking out for your family, friends, and community first and then yourself.” -Alex Papaleo “You’re like an older brother to a lot of people in the community. Anytime someone would come into the shop it was just a sense of familiarity in the way you talked to them even if you’ve never met them. You’ve got a really big heart and you love to share it” -Jacob Hubbard

“Never change Jason. You are an earth

angel and though it’s not always pretty you are always loved and passing that on to everyone who is privileged to encounter you.” -Dani Polidor

“Throughout our experience collaborating together on East & Alex you were extremely generous with innovative ideas and support for your friends’ efforts. Also your love of family stood/stands out to me” -Ralph Vincent DiTucci “Jason is a charismatic leader, entrepreneur, caretaker for your family and people in general. A big guy with a bigger heart!” -Harry Jallil

“A man from the wrong side of the tracks trying to make right. His living situation created some good, bad, and great habits.No matter what obstacles were there he strove to overcome. And has the courage to break new ground like a true explorer.” -Sean Dougherty

“I admire Mr. Hilton and his company for the work they do in the community, as well as the innovation they have demonstrated by opening the first cereal bar in Rochester. POP ROC is a destination for many (including myself). Jason is active in supporting the downtown region. He is civic-minded and I know personally from working with him, he cares deeply for our city and community. During the COVID-19 crisis, Jason was one of the first business owners to work on supplying food and masks for those in need.” - Aaron Newman

The most important person in his life and the one who knows him better than anyone else, is his wife Angelina Hilton. Angelina had this to say.

“I’m blessed to call Jason Hilton my husband, my partner, my confidante, my best friend, my biggest supporter and encourager, and the father of our children. I’m thankful to share all areas of my life with him, and for how hard we’ve worked at getting where we are now.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” - George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

after our first date which included a home cooked meal he prepared along with some Wii bowling and a living room dance party. I remember he shared his passion for food and that he believed a relationship with food is one of the most intimate relationships someone can have, because we become what we eat. Then he told me how happy it made him to cook for others. I can see the joy it brings my husband to be creative in the kitchen, and the reaction people have when they experience what he has prepared. He said he really wanted to feed a community, and desired to help heal people from the inside out.

There is so much I can share about this man, but I think it’s important to let you know some reasons why I love and support him and how he is continuously making a positive difference in my life as well as in the lives of others.

I love him for how much he loves his family. He didn’t know what it was to truly love someone else until his first niece was born. Since I’ve met him, helping to raise his nieces and nephews was his priority. These children I met 12 years ago are now young adults and Jason is still an active role model and support system in their lives. He is also a present father. We both work together in our careers and as parents. We are often on deadlines and schedules so it can be easy to get distracted or feel we aren’t doing enough for our family and work. But when I see Jason with our kids, they are so happy. He takes time to play with them, learn with them, adventure with them, involve them in serving our community. When their daddy comes home, all they want to do is climb all over him and tell him about what they’ve been doing and show him what they’ve been working on. When we would have opposite schedules and he would leave early in the morning, I would hear him praying over our children. I didn’t grow up having a relationship with

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” - Jeremiah 29:11

my father, many people I know didn’t, and I’m so grateful that he makes his family his priority and makes sure to let us know we are loved.

I love him for how much time and effort he puts into being a better version of himself. It’s important to us to break off the iniquities from previous generations in our family and we recognize we have to make changes in our lives to do this. We both acknowledge we have hurts, habits and hangups we have to deal with so we can be the best version of ourselves for each other, our kids and those who look up to us. In 2016 we joined Celebrate Recovery. Right before this our relationship had hit rock bottom. We had an intervention from our pastors and community at Bethel Christian Fellowship. We temporarily separated while we started out in different recovery locations and after several months, came back together and continued on our path of recovery together. The reason I mention this is because we are called to share our testimony with others and I’m glad we do because we know it helps letting people know they are not alone and that someone does care and love them. Allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in front of others takes courage. We understand hurt people hurt people, and it’s here we have learned what having grace truly means. What loving the unlovable truly means. We accept hardship as a pathway to peace. I love him for loving me at my worst. For forgiving me of the things I have done to hurt him. I love him for not giving up on me and empathizing with my struggles. I love him for not judging me when I share my feelings. I love him for giving me space and time I need to grow. I love him for the person he is growing into. He admits he struggles and is transparent about it. I’ve seen this man grow from solving issues with fists to solving them with prayer. I am so inspired by the way my husband handles adversity. I’ve seen him be taken advantage of, stolen from, beaten up, and torn down by low blows and he still conducts himself with grace. Jason says, “I follow God because He is good, not because I am good. I am a sinner, I am human. And this is where I think people get confused about what it means to follow Christ. I follow His lead because I’m not perfect and I want to be better.”

I love the way Jason thinks. I’m so turned on by his passion behind ideas. I love working with him because I know whatever we work on will be exciting, challenging, and different. He is a creative problem solver which is why I think he is always thinking of ways to bring people together to experience joy. His love for learning and risk taking sets him up to have really big, audacious goals.

I love how he is at my side during some of the most important milestones of my life. I get a great job after college, he is there. I quit that job to move to the Philippines and start a new business, he is there. I became a caregiver for my mother who had cancer, he was there. I began volunteering, lobbying, and traveling giving speeches for the American Cancer Society, he was there. He even scheduled us to cook on a regular basis for patients and caregivers at the Hope Lodge. For both our children, he attended every appointment and was there coaching me through both births. I began my journey in recovery, he was there. This man is a constant in my life. This is important for me to share because I know what it’s like to be lonely, even when surrounded by people. People who stick around for you, support you, and sacrifice for you, this is love. It wasn’t always easy, it still isn’t. But I know come hell or high water, or a crazy pandemic, my husband is my ride or die.

“Grit is not just a simple elbow-grease term for rugged persistence. It is an often invisible display of endurance that lets you stay in an uncomfortable place, work hard to improve upon a given interest, and do it again and again.” - Sarah Lewis. I love how my husband stands up for what is right, regardless of popularity or consequences. I love how he can take crappy circumstances and do something good with it. It doesn’t matter how stressful or tough life gets, he thrives on the pressure to find the silver lining. We’ve experienced some really crazy things in our life, and yet we haven’t allowed ourselves to remain stuck. I’m amazed that even during some of our darkest times, times that could shove a person right on their bottom and hold them there, people still seek Jason out and he still gives what he can.

Even after 12 years, life with Jason is everything but boring. Together, he and I make a really dynamic duo. While we’re closing one chapter of our lives, we’ve been simultaneously writing the next. At the moment, we are working on three new projects, one of which we are about to launch, Variant America. This particular project is taking us across America with our family. Think of it as a family version of “No Reservations” meets “American Pickers” with a little “Diners, Drive Ins & Dives” mixed in. It’s our goal to help make Rochester a fun, family destination. By going out and bringing back what we see and learn in other places, we believe more people from all over the world would come to experience it in our city as a more family friendly, pop culture destination. We believe people will want to live, play and most importantly, stay in Rochester if we stick to our core values of fun, creativity, safety and community. We hope you’ll join us on our adventures and new ventures by following us on social media or signing up for our newsletter at www.poprochester.com. If you’re interested in participating, please email us at poprocculture@gmail.com’’