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NEW YORK — Six years ago this week the world stopped as we knew it. For most of us, the pandemic meant loss, fear and uncertainty. But for a then-teenager in Los Angeles, it sparked something remarkable.
Spend a day with Demi Weitz and you’ll likely find yourself laughing one moment and inspired the next.
“Who said this to you? ‘Change the world, Demi. Change the world,'” Eyewitness News Entertainment reporter Joelle Garguilo asked.
“Ryan Seacrest said that to me. On Zoom,” Weitz said.
If her name sounds familiar, it should. Six years ago, she turned a birthday Zoom call into an all out movement where she raised $38 million.
Rewind to March 2020. The world shut down and there was so much darkness, but there was light too, and a lot of it came from Demi’s kitchen.
“March 2020 was the most pivotal part of my life,” Weitz said. “It was my 17th birthday, and my dad wanted to do something online. He got all of my friends on, and Dario started playing covers. Then my dad’s good friend Melvin was on, and he called his friend John Mayer.”
For context, Demi’s dad, Richard Weitz, is one of the most powerful agents in Hollywood. She realized she could tap into his A-list access and do some good.
“I was like, you have a platform, we need to raise money,” she said.
Dolly Parton, John Legend, the original cast of “Hamilton,” hundreds of performers answered the call.
“And it skyrocketed. We raised $38 million for 75 different charities,” Demi Weitz said.
But what no one knew was that while Demi was bringing joy to millions, she was quietly suffering.
“I was in excruciating pain to the point where it was debilitating,” she said. “It was hard for me to make friends. I was always in bed. I was always complaining.”
Six surgeries during her freshman year of college made starting a new life almost impossible, until finally, she got a diagnosis.
“As I grew up, my kidney lost more and more function, and it was basically dead. I got an MRI, and my kidney was black,” she said.
Nearly six years after that first fundraiser, Demi Weitz did it again, this time hosting a funeral for her kidney. The event became another fundraiser, raising thousands more. Jay Shetty, Jeff Ross and even Rick Astley showed up.
“I like to do these fun things on a whim,” she said. “But they have to have impact.”
She has since joined an organization that helps children in the kidney division at a children’s hospital. “What the Schenkman’s have started is so powerful,” she said.
From Quarantunes to her kidney journey, through it all, music has always been her way to make her mark.
“Music is like the thing that saves everyone,” Demi Weitz said.
Now, at almost 23, she is ready for a new endeavor, a music tech startup to help up-and-coming artists make a living.
“I created an app. It’s called On Octave. We’re helping artists connect with fans, and we’re adding a feature where you can tie that into a charity,” she said.
“Because it’s you,” Garguilo said. “Because it’s you.”
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