Class of 2018

Age: 27 Pronouns: He/Him Neighborhood: Bushwick Most Likely to: Start my own venture capital firm Favorite Quote: “It’s great to be here. It’s great to be anywhere.” – Keith Richards  Nate Cotanch grew up with New Mexican roots, where Hatch Chile was a staple in local cuisine. Entrepreneurial in nature, Nate noticed a hole in…

Age: 28 Pronouns: She/Her Neighborhood: Bed-Stuy Most Likely to: Stay in bed all day watching Fixer Upper on HGTV  Favorite Quote: “In the final analysis, it was between you and God, it was never between you and them, anyway.” – Mother Teresa Since her first Psych class, Naiylah knew she’d go into therapy. Currently, she…

Name: Harry Portnof Age: 29 Neighborhood: Prospect Heights Most Likely to: Crowd surf Favorite Quote: “Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming.” – David Bowie Accountant turned record label owner isn’t a phrase you’d normally have a reason to utter, but that’s exactly what Harry Portnof is. As a teen, Harry discovered his…

Age: 29 Pronouns: She/Her Neighborhood: Clinton Hill Most Likely to: Host a fertility séance Favorite Quote: “Be here now” Product marketing manager at Planned Parenthood’s innovation lab, Hannah Pyper, has a strong connection to her role. After beating ovarian cancer, Hannah found a career that utilized her digital media background while ensuring women have proper…

Age: 26 Pronouns: She/Her Neighborhood: Bedford-Stuyvesant Most Likely to: Do it for the story Favorite Quote: “I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.” – Audre Lorde If you ever want to understand a writer at their core, read their work. What a writer takes to the page is often more telling than anything they could hope…

Age: 28 Pronouns: She/her Neighborhood: Bed-Stuy Most Likely To: Ask to say “Hi” to your dog Favorite Quote: “I am a superficial woman of depth.” -Melissa Broder It’s no secret that magazines are struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing patterns of media consumption. Figuring out how to deal with the rocky media landscape…

Age: 29 Pronouns: He/Him/His Neighborhood: Greenpoint Most Likely to: Run for Office Favorite Quote: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss There was a time when our private lives were understood as wholly separate from our public personas….

Age: 22 Pronouns: She/her Neighborhood: Bed-Stuy Most Likely to: Have a dollhouse in their adult home Favorite Quote: “If you go home with somebody, and they don’t have books, don’t fuck ’em!” – John Waters Food isn’t generally a medium associated with art, but that hasn’t stopped Emma Orlow. After studying “Food Art as Body Politics”…

Age: 29 Neighborhood: Bed-Stuy Most Likely To: Share TMI Favorite Quote: “We are torn between nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known.” ― Carson McCullers If you follow any social influencer or clothing brand, you know that…

Age: 27 Neighborhood: Williamsburg Most Likely to: Be the first one awake Favorite Quote: “As you wander on through life, whatever be your goal, keep your eye upon the donut, and not upon the hole.” Daniel King is a builder and a fixer. His mentality that “vintage is the future,” is what led Daniel to…

Age: 29 Neighborhood: Crown Heights Most Likely to: Produce a Broadway musical by 2020. Favorite Quote: “No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.” – Althea Gibson Everybody wants to be the boss. Or at least, most infatuate themselves with the idea of being a boss because of the association with power. But power…

Age: 27 Neighborhood: Bed-Stuy Most Likely to: Have a deep and heartfelt conversation with you upon meeting you Favorite Quote: “American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.” – James Baldwin Ashleigh Eubanks is a woman of few words. Not because she has…

Every year, our annual 30 under 30 lists highlight young Brooklynites who are marching fearlessly into the future, taking the borough with them―wherever they go. Following their lead, we asked ourselves what we could do better to ensure that these lists fairly reflects this borough’s population, and everything it has to offer. If not everything,…