When the Forbes 30 Under 30 list releases each year, it’s a time to give young leaders and innovators their flowers. The annual list also serves as a moment for readers to praise honorees, discover new talent, and be inspired to excel within their own endeavors.
Forbes’ Black honorees in categories such as science, technology, healthcare, and gaming, in particular, are ones to revel on as the Black community is underrepresented within these spaces and deserves proper recognition.
Take a look at this year’s Black honorees that are breaking barriers in their respective fields.
Editorial Note: This piece has been updated to reflect additional honorees on Dec. 6, 2021.
Kalina Bryant
Category: Enterprise Technology
Age: 29
Position: Global Head of Customer Advocacy, Asana
Notable Accomplishment: Bryant made history as Asana’s first African American woman to join its revenue executive leadership team. She brought in $9 million in annual revenue for the company in just six months.
Brandon Hill & Tremaine Kirkman
Category: Enterprise Technology
Age: 28 & 28
Position: Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Officer, Vori
Vori secured $5.7 million in funding from YCombinator, Greylock Partners and South Park Commons, among others.
Raven Baxter
Category: Science
Age: 28
Position: Molecular Biologist, Raven The Science Maven
Baxter snagged a partnership with Netflix and Ada Twist Scientist for her science education show on Looped.
Kaela Singleton
Category: Science
Age: 29
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Emory University
Singleton researches the role of mitochondria in Menkes disease, a rare genetic disorder that interferes with how the body regulates copper.
Brandon Allen and Marcus Stroud
Category: Venture Capital
Age: 27 & 28
Position: Managing Partners, TXV Partners
Since 2019, Allen and Stroud have invested over $20 million into startups such as Future Fit, Data.World, Oura, Future, Kambr and Trax.
Jillian Williams
Category: Venture Capital
Age: 28
Position: Principal, Cowboy Ventures
Led the launch of the Female Innovators Lab, a venture studio partnership between Anthemis and Barclays, to help cultivate entrepreneurial talent of women founders in the fintech space at the earliest stage.
Emmanuella Asabor
Category: Healthcare
Age: 29
Position: M.D.-Ph.D. Candidate, Yale University
Asabor’s research showed racial disparities in access to COVID-19 testing in the most populous U.S. cities. She piloted a program at Yale to increase accessibility to free primary care for asylum seekers regardless of documentation status.
Loza Tadesse
Category: Healthcare
Age: 29
Position: Assistant Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tadesse developed a rapid system that quickly identifies infectious bacteria to help find better treatments and less reliance on broad-spectrum antibiotics.
LaShyra Nolen
Category: Healthcare
Age: 26
Position: We Got Us
Nolen is an appointed member of the White House Health Equity Leadership RoundTable.
Joseph Kitonga
Category: Healthcare
Age: 24
Position: Founder, Vitable Health
Kitonga’s company has raised over $9 million in investments so far to help provide cost-effective healthcare for underserved hourly workers.
Kelsey Taylor
Category: Social Media
Age: 29
Position: Senior Sports Partner Manager, Twitter
Taylor led Twitter’s partnership with NBC during the 2020 Olympics.
Vernon Coleman
Category: Social Media
Age: 24
Position: Chief Executive Officer, Realtime
The app Realtime has secured $4 million in investments. One of its investors includes Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm Seven Seven Six.
Chisom Obi-Okoye
Category: Social Media
Age: 29
Position: Product Marketing Manager, Pinterest
Co-led the development of Pinterest’s Creator Fund and Idea Pins to help the platform be a force in creator-monetization.
Jeff Wright
Category: Social Media
Age: 27
Position: TikToker
Wright has amassed 2.4 million followers on TikTok and his videos landed him a writer-performer gig on Seth Meyers’ “Late Night” show.
Kaelyn Castle, Khamyra Sykes and Theo Wisseh
Category: Social Media
Age: 25, 15 and 19
Position: Influencers, Collab Crib
While a part of the largest Black collective of digital influencers, the group has raked in 30 million followers across social media.
Kris Lamberson
Category: Games
Age: 25
Position: Professional Gamer, Faze Clan
Lamberson has earned an estimated $2.5 million in the past year from streaming and collaborations with the NFL, Beats and McDonald’s.
Blessing Adeoye
Category: Games
Age: 27
Position: Producer, Kinda Funny
His platform has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities such as Extra Life, Gaymer X, AbleGamers and Black Girls Code.
Jess Adepoju
Category: Games
Age: 29
Position: Senior Product Manager, Bad Robot Games
One of the 10 founding hires of JJ Abrams-owned gaming startup Bad Robot Games.
Jeannail Carter
Category: Games
Age: 27
Position: Professional Gamer, Red Bull Gaming
Carter is Red Bull’s first Black female gaming athlete; won two ICFC North American championships.
Tsion Behailu
Category: Enterprise Technology
Age: 29
Position: Founder, Arize AI
Behailu’s startup has $24.5 million in funding from Battery Ventures, Foundation Capital and Trinity Ventures, and more.
Sam Udotong
Category: Enterprise Technology
Age: 27
Position: Chief Technology Officer, Fireflies.ai
Fireflies.ai’s partners include Zoom, Slack, Salesforce, Dropbox and Asana; the company has raised $19 million from Khosla Ventures, Canaan Partners and more.
Nelly Cheboi
Category: Social Impact
Age: 29
Position: Co-founder, TechLit Africa
Cheboi’s nonprofit has built 10 computer labs in rural Kenya and is currently working on the next 100 computer labs.
Beverly Leon
Category: Social Impact
Age: 29
Position: CEO, Local Civics
Leon’s ed-tech startup connects at-risk youth with civic learning experiences in their community, school and online, as well as resources for educators.
Sirrita Darby
Category: Social Impact
Age: 29
Position: Co-founder, Detroit Heals Detroit
The mission behind Darby’s nonprofit is to help Detroit youth develop coping strategies and obtain resources for their healing.
Ofo Ezeugwu
Category: Social Impact
Age: 29
Position: Founder, WhoseYourLandlord
Ezeugwu has raised $1.1 million to increase housing literacy in communities.
Donte Miller
Category: Social Impact
Age: 28
Position: Co-founder, Village Micro Fund
The Atlanta resident’s grassroots micro-finance organization facilitated $1.5 million of COVID-19 Relief Funds to local Black-owned businesses.
Olivia Owens
Category: Social Impact
Age: 29
Position: Creator, IFundWomen of Color
Through her role at IFundWomen of Color, Owens addressed a funding disparity for women of color on the platform and helped boost them from representing 30 percent of the funds raised to now 51 percent.
Kyle Woumn
Category: Social Impact
Age: 26
Position: Co-founder, Overflow
The co-founder’s company has raised over $13 million to help nonprofits accept stock donations to fuel their missions.
