Nine athletes, influencers and startup founders from the Philly region earned spots on this year's 30 Under 30 list from Forbes business magazine.
The annual roundup pulls from online submissions, industry sources and alumni recommendations. The nominees are judged based on funding, revenue, social impact, scale, inventiveness and potential. Contenders must be 29 or younger on Dec. 31. The Philadelphia-area inductees include the creator of a kid-safe power tool, founders of a meal service and a University of Pennsylvania student looking to make video games more inclusive to the visually impaired.
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In total, more than 600 people were selected by the outlet, which organized honorees in 20 categories such as sports, social media, education and social impact — each with a list of 30 entries (some include multiple people). Here's who made the cut from this area:
Saquon Barkley, 28, Sports: In addition to leading the Eagles to Super Bowl LIX in February, the highest-paid running back led the NFL with 2,005 rushing yards in 2024. Forbes also noted Barkley's high-profile brand partnerships, including Pepsi, Toyota and Visa.
Brandon Edelman, 29, Social Media: The Philly influencer known as Bran Flakezz has over 1 million followers across all platforms and is known for his humor and lifestyle content, the outlet said. His "TikTok Transparency" series explores the creator economy. Edelman graduated from Jefferson University with a degree in fashion merchandising and previously worked for Anthropologie and Gopuff before transitioning to content creation full time in 2022.
John Huddleston, 27, Transportation & Aerospace: The Brown University graduate from Philly launched Albacore Inc., a defense technology company that creates autonomous submersibles, a type of underwater vehicle, to deter water-based invasions. The company is working on a 6-foot-long vehicle that can patrol up to 1,000 miles, Forbes said.
Jalen Hurts, 27, Sports: The Eagles' Super Bowl LIX MVP is the seventh-highest-paid player in the NFL, securing a $255 million, five-year contract extension in 2023. Forbes noted his brand work with Beats, Sprite and watch company Breitling, as well as his upcoming children's book from Penguin Random House.
Alexandre Imbot, 27, and Eli Moraru, 25, Social Impact: The Penn graduates launched the Community Grocer in 2021, which allows Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients to purchase hot meals with their benefits. Forbes said the company has served over 10,000 people in the city and earned more than $1.15 million in revenue this year.
"We’re grateful to serve as stewards of a collective vision created by — and for — our neighbors, and we remain committed to carrying that vision forward every day," Moraru told the Daily Pennsylvanian after being selected.
Kausi Raman, 28, Education: Another Penn alum, Raman is the co-founder of ChompShop, a company that created a kid-safe tool for cutting cardboard. The device looks like a small table saw but operates like a high-powered hole punch. In 2024, Raman and fellow Penn graduate Max Liechty received a $250,000 investment after appearing on ABC's "Shark Tank."
Crystal Yang, 18, Games: The Philly-area's youngest honoree founded a nonprofit called Audemy, which creates toolkits that help make video games such as "Minecraft" and "Roblox" accessible to the visually impaired. The company has gotten the support of Intel, Amazon and Google for Nonprofits, and Yang was featured in a federal policy announcement on AI education.
Isis Young, 29, Media: The Berlin, New Jersey, native is a former collegiate and international basketball player who covers the WNBA, NBA and college basketball at Yahoo! Sports, NBC and CBS Sports, where she's the lead WNBA analyst. She also founded Your World Enterprises, which helps athletes with media training and young reporters looking to work in the industry. She's worked with more than 35 organizations in 20 different sports and trained over 1,800 athletes.