The Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2023 has dropped, and Austinites stepped up to the plate.
With 600 enterprising people selected, the list measures “tomorrow’s brightest young leaders” who are solving “the world’s biggest problems—on their own terms.” A few quick facts about these go-getters:
- The average age of this year’s list is 27 years old
- The average workload is about 64 hours per week
- 59% identify as male, 40% as female, and 1% as non-binary
Without further ado, here are the 18 trail-blazing vicenarians — people between the age of 20 and 29 — and a few even younger, with ties to Central Texas.
💅 Art + style
- Wisdom Kaye | 21 | Model | A Houston local and former Texas State University student, Wisdom began his social media career in early 2020. Now he boasts more than 2 million TikTok followers, a guest judge credit on “Project Runway,” and collaborations with designer brands like Gucci.
👩💻 Consumer Tech
- Aanandh Chandrasekar, Daniel Miyares | 26, 25 | PetPair cofounders | It’s no secret Austinites love their pets — these cofounders created a pet adoption marketplace pairing with eight shelters with a goal to end animal euthanasia.
✏️ Education
- Cooper Jones | 29 | Rah Rah cofounder | This Austinite created an app that synergizes maps, schedules, and student information all in one place for college students.
⚡️ Energy
- Bobuchi Ken-Opurum | 28 | Re-Housed Decision Support Toolkit founder | Made for low- to moderate-income self-builders in the tropical Global South, Bobuchi’s toolkit offers design solutions, diagnoses housing vulnerabilities, and makes suggestions to increase resilience.
- Nicholas Grundish | 28 | Vice president of Battery Technology, EnergyX | Nicholas started the Battery Innovation Laboratory and large cell prototyping line from scratch at his current company, where the goal is to extend the range of electric vehicle batteries.
💰 Finance
- Kinjal Shah | 29 | Blockchain Capital partner | Kinjal is also a cofounder of Komorebi, a decentralized autonomous organization that invests in women and underrepresented minorities in the crypto sphere.
- Sohail Prasad | 29 | Destiny and Forge founder | So far, Forge has raised more than $250 million in venture capital funding.
🍽 Food + drink
- Amir and Amin Bahari | 27, 27 | Elite Sweets cofounders | While struggling with cravings for sweets during his weight loss journey, Amir and his twin brother created a low-sugar donuts. The company is now valued at $8.1 million.
🕹 Games
- Daniela Ali, Ali Hassan | 28, 26 | Oni Studios cofounders | The married couple will soon open a 30,000-sqft production headquarters near Austin, funded entirely by Hassan’s streaming revenue.
- Emilio Leynez Cuevas | 27 | E-sports player | The second highest-earning Mexican e-sports player of all time, Emilio recently joined North American team Soniqs.
- Oyin Egbuson | 27 | Epic Games marketing manager | One of the youngest members on the “Fortnite” marketing team, Oyin works on bringing sports, music, fashion, and diversity to the game.
🏗 Manufacturing + industry
- Stefan Gresham, Connor Navalta, Jay Vaughn | 26, 26, 25 | Opifex cofounders | The Texas A&M graduates expect to make $30 million in revenue this year from construction equipment rental company Opifex.
🎧 Media
- Michael Sikand | 22 | Our Future founder | Since launching in May 2020, this business news page born from a podcast series called Our Future has gained more than 800 million views across all platforms.
🎶 Music
- Simon Kessler | 29 | Insomniac Events talent buyer | The previous booker for Lollapalooza festivals, Simon now scouts for Insomniac Events and serves as cofounder for publishing company Maison Arts.
🛍 Retail
- Jungmin Kang | 18 | Snoopslimes founder | Jungmin is doing what she does best: selling slime, which she has been doing since she was 13. She expects sales to top $11 million this year.
🤝 Social impact
- Pelkins Ajanoh | 28 | CassVita cofounder | Through CassVita, Cameroonian immigrant Pelkins — who got a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and MS from Harvard — has created biotechnology that increases the shelf life of cassava from 3 days to 18 months.
📱 Social media
- Zachary Hsieh | 23 | ZHC CEO | A self-taught artist, Zachary uses his gifts and social media accounts — where he has a combined 50 million followers — to highlight pilanthropic projects.
🏈 Sports
- Scottie Scheffler | 26 | PGA Tour golfer | Now residing in Dallas, this former Longhorn jumped to No. 1 in the world golf ranking during his first four PGA Tour victories in a span of six starts.