By Laura DeMarco, GreaterCLE
Thirty Greater Clevelanders under age 30 have been named to their inaugural Forbes 2023 Local Leaders list. The honorees include Browns quarterback Joshua Dobbs, bankers, app designers, tree activists, developers, coffee shop founders – and a nine-year-old DJ.
There’s even an applesauce innovator – Ethan Holmes, Founder of Holmes Mouthwatering Applesauce and the inaugural Cleveland Chain Reaction winner in 2017.
“I have applied to the Forbes national list for many years and was never chosen, so being named to this means a lot to me – especially since I will be 30 on September 3!” said Holmes in a call. “It’s like God or the universe said, ‘Hey, you did do a great job getting up this age and building this business. It’s an early birthday gift!
“It’s also great exposure. We are launching a new product line this month. We sent our first shipment to Walmart yesterday. And we are working with Forbes to be part of their Summit in October.”
Combined, these rising stars anticipate at least $200 million in revenue this year, says Forbes.
And, the Leaders are:
- Jared Anderson & Sandor Gyerman, 24 & 24 | Cofounders, andor. Creative
- Natalie Bata, 29 | Cofounder, Cocky’s Bagels
- Reilly Berk, 25 | CEO, Berk Enterprises
- Devon Carter & Laura Frias, 29 & 26 | Cofounders, Recognize Education And Learning (REAL)
- Ryan Cleary, 29 | Cofounder, FloatMe
- David Davis II & Tim DiStefano, 25 & 23 | Cofounders, FBA Flip
- Nichole Davis, 25 | Founder, Wayfinder Patient Advocates
- R. Joshua Dobbs, 28 | Athlete and Founder, ASTROrdinary Dobbs Foundation
- Conrad Geis, 26 | President, Geis Development
- Aaron George & Dan Lozada, 26 & 22 | Cofounders, SupplyNow
- Lily Goodwin, 9 | DJ, The Lily Jade Show
- Palak Gupta, 29 | PhD Candidate, Case Western Reserve University
- Elie Haoui, 23 | Cofounder, Milk + Honey
- Ethan Holmes, 29 | Founder, Holmes Mouthwatering Applesauce
- Kuan Huang, 29 | Cofounder, Aropha
- Karim Janmohamed, 24 | Co-CEO, Karali North America
- Jonah Katz & Andrew Hamilton, 22 & 23 | Cofounders, Layer
- Samira Malone, 28 | Executive Director, Cleveland Tree Coalition
- Sergio Mazzola Poli de Figueiredo, 29 | General Surgeon, Cleveland Clinic
- Aiden Meany, 29 | Founder, Found Surface
- Geeta Minocha, 25 | Cofounder, Ohio Public Banking Coalition
- Andrew Newsome, 29 | Vice President, ScaleCo Capital
- Selina Pagan, 27 | Co-Executive Director, Young Latino Network
- Maria Paparella, 25 | Founder, Chair-ity
- Leopoldo Peña, 28 | Cofounder, Presta
- Nathan Sundheimer, 29 | Head of U.S. Healthcare Partnerships, Plug and Play Tech Center
- Cameron Tolbert, 26 | Founder, Native Ingredients
- David Tirpak, 29 | Founder, Miracle K9 Training
- Mitchell Vargo, 26 | Partner, Forward Hospitality Group
- Dianne Williams, 27 | Founder, Little Zen Yoga
“It’s super cool,” says David Tirpak, who founded Miracle K9 Training, a training, boarding and daycare kennel with a staff of 15 people, in 2019. “Being young in the entrepreneurial space in Cleveland has always been unique and interesting. This validates what is possible if you put your heart and hard work into something.”
The Local Leader lists are an outgrowth of Forbes prestigious 30 Under 30 franchise, the definitive young leaders lists that the company launched a decade ago.
Cleveland is one of just 10 cities to make the Local Leaders list, highlighting the changemakers and groundbreakers who are innovating and inspiring the future in The Land. The other cities include Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Puerto Rico, Seattle and Toronto.
Honorees were nominated through online submissions, industry sources and Forbes alumni. Candidates were evaluated by Forbes writers and a panel of independent judges on factors including funding, revenue, social impact, scale, inventiveness and potential. Cleveland judges were Mayor Bibb; Andrew Berry, General Manager, Cleveland Browns; Ashley Keating, Partner, CincyTech; 2023 Forbes Under 30 honoree Marisa Sergi-Schumann, Chief Executive Office, L’uva Bella Winery; and Eddie Taylor, Jr., President, Taylor Oswald (who is on GCP’s Executive Committee.)
The spotlight on Cleveland doesn’t stop there.
This October, Forbes brings its 2023 Under 30 Summit to Cleveland, the first of three years in Ohio. The Summit, which has already celebrated more than 10,000 young leaders, will be in Cincinnati in 2024 and Columbus in 2025.
