The Ad Council: Love Rises in Houston

The continuing success of the ‘Love Has No Labels’ campaign by the Ad Council has sparked a new digital series hosted by storyteller and filmmaker, Jay Shetty.

Building on the recent short film, ‘Rising,’ a new two-part documentary series with Facebook and Great Big Story expands on the theme, “Why does it take a disaster to bring us together?” The series highlights the lessons people can learn from human behavior during disaster to ultimately act inclusively every day.

The docuseries, produced by Courageous, Great Big Story’s branded content studio, showcases real people who have formed unexpectedly deep connections in the wake of tragedy. In the first episode, Munira and Sara, a Muslim woman and a Jewish woman, share how they overcame their bias in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and formed a long-lasting friendship that helped rebuild their community.

In the film, we see the two women connect on a deeper level. Munira talks about how she didn’t know if she could be friends with a Jewish person, while Sara says everyone she knew was Jewish. The unlikely meeting happened in the recovery of the hurricane, with the two ending up on a panel together to help rebuild. Munira states that she was fascinated by Sara, while Sara repays the compliment by saying “Munira helps me think differently.” The two developed a respect and friendship through hardship. “Nobody said, ‘Oh wait, excuse me, before I rescue you, who do you pray to?’” says Sara.