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From the 28-year-old founder of Seoul Juice to the TikTok star known for bringing his coffee around the world, here are the young people reshaping fashion, food and the arts in Los Angeles.

By Kristin Stoller & Monica Sager, with Sarah Eccleston; Illustration by Jordan Carter

The 30 young entrepreneurs on our inaugural Under 30 Local Los Angeles list prove that La-La Land’s talent lies beyond just actors and singers. From global payment apps to period pills to Spanish language podcasts, these creative, ambitious and daring leaders represent the best of the best in the city.

Jabari Banks

25 | Actor

Jabari Banks is a young actor and musician hailing from Philadelphia. Banks is best known for his role as Will Smith in Peacock’s Bel-Air, the re-imagined drama series based on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show aired its second season in February 2023 and was recently renewed for a third. His performance in the show has earned him nominations for “Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series” by the 2023 NAACP Image Awards and “Best Actor” by the 2022 BET awards. Next, Banks will be starring in JC Lee’s Bad Genius alongside Benedict Wong and Callina Liang.

Emily Beihold

23 | Musician

Em Beihold is a platinum-certified pop songstress with 24 million Spotify monthly listeners and 2.3 million followers across social platforms. The Los Angeles native climbed into pop culture with hit 2022 song “Numb Little Bug,” which saw over 500 million global streams and cracked the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, lifting Beihold to No. 1 on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart. She accelerated her rise with the Egg In The Backseat EP, and made her late-night television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last year. Her duet with Stephen Sanchez, “Until I Found You,” has over 540 million Spotify streams, and she opened for Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi on his U.S. spring tour this year.

Bobby Bitton

28 | Cofounder, O Positiv

Witnessing his sister Brianna's debilitating PMS symptoms, Bobby Bitton teamed up with her to create FLO, an all-natural, hormone-free PMS vitamin. It became the first product of the pair’s direct-to-consumer O Positiv women’s vitamin company, addressing menstrual health, menopause, gut health, vaginal health and everything in between. Their portfolio of science-backed supplements has seen some 1.3 million customers, with 200,000 paying monthly subscribers. After the success of FLO, they expanded their product offerings with the addition of URO, a leading vaginal health brand that is the top selling product on Amazon for yeast infections, and MENO, a menopause brand introducing the first gummy supplement on the market. With $3.2 million in funding, they now offer 18 products and plan to be available in retail stores by 2024.

Matthew Chang, Mohammed Hayat & Patrick Utz

25, 24 & 25 | Cofounders, Abstract

Founded in October 2020, the trio call their startup Abstract the “Atlassian for government data,” aiming to make lobbying accessible through a collaborative workflow management platform built on the largest structured dataset of state government documents. Regulated enterprises, lobbying firms, trade associations and government agencies use Abstract’s AI to discover, analyze and influence legislation. Its 75 annual subscribers–including the California Lieutenant Governor’s Office and the City of San Diego–can track government bills and get alerts for key bill updates, as well as create insight reports on the bills, such as uncovering which bills any organization has registered in support or opposition for. First generation immigrants, the cofounders have secured $2.7 million in funding from investors including Blue Heron Ventures and Redbird Ventures.

Eric Chi

27 | Cofounder, eBay Ventures

Born into an immigrant family with grandparents who owned a convenience store and restaurant, Eric Chi learned early in life the challenges that small business owners face. He wanted to support these businesses and has now been able to with eBay Ventures, which he cofounded in 2022. It is now a corporate venture capital fund for eBay to invest in the next wave of innovation empowering online merchants, including fan-engagement platform Notable Live, designer-rental marketplace The Volte and sporting goods trade-in market SidelineSwap.

Kyle Denman

28 | Designer, Kyle Denman Fashion

Kyle Denman wants to change the culture of the fashion industry through his creativity and background in design, education and policy. The political scientist-turned-designer creates bespoke fashion that starts a conversation around culture and underserved communities of color through his avant-garde style and emotional storytelling. He has presented collections at New York Fashion Week and on Project Runway’s Remake It Work contest. Celebrities including Beyonce have worn Denman’s designs, mainly wedding dresses and red carpet and gala looks. He was recently named the executive director of Arts Bridging the Gap, an Los Angeles-based organization that uplifts youth from underserved communities through art programs.

Elana Dickman

28 | Partner, Red Beard Ventures

Elana Dickman is a partner at Red Beard Ventures, a full-stack, Web3 fund that is investing in blockchain consumer applications, infrastructure, gaming, the metaverse and DeFi startups. Dickman and her partner have invested in 25 companies, including end-to-end DAO, Zero Tech and Alethea AI, a syndicate investment which works to monetize AI-generated media. The firm has currently deployed over $50 million in capital. In addition to her investments, she has founded podcast and event company The Girls Table, aiming to amplify entrepreneurs’, creators’ and investors’ voices.

Alec Ellin & Saj Sangvhi

28 & 29 | Cofounders, Laylo

In 2021, Alec Ellin and Saj Sangvhi launched customer relationship management platform Laylo, allowing musicians, celebrities and creators to automatically notify fans about new content, merch, tickets and more through text, email and Instagram direct messages. Users, such as Sam Smith, Calvin Harris, Airrack and Apple, pay a monthly fee for the service, starting at $15 per month (though there is a free version for new creators). With nearly $9 million in funding from investors like Y Combinator and Sony Music, the startup has driven over $100 million in ticket and merch sales and is valued at $30 million.

Faraz Fatemi

29 | Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners

As a child of Iranian immigrants, Faraz Fatemi’s passion for entrepreneurship and community was rooted in his family’s belief in the American dream. As a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, he’s invested $74 million into Los Angeles-based startups, including $6 million in Seed funding to JOOPITER, Pharrell Williams’ online auction site, and, this year, a $13 million investment into newsletter platform beehiiv and a $31 million investment into Gardens gaming studio. He’s brought together over a thousand people in the Los Angeles area by spearheading events, such as the celebrity-hosted Lightspeed LA Celebrity Salon Series, quarterly LA VC meetups and LA Tech Week marquee events.

Brian Femminella & Travis Chen

23 & 24 | Cofounders, SoundMind

An army veteran, Brian Femminella saw his fellow service members struggling with PTSD and began to research how music therapy could help. In 2019, he teamed up with cofounder Travis Chen to create SoundMind, an audio and visual wellness platform offering music therapy for its more than 500,000 Gen-Z users dealing with anxiety, PTSD and depression. Schools and teams pay for a subscription to the platform, which starts at $4.99 per user per month. SoundMind has secured $3 million in funding from investors including Gaingels VC and General Catalyst, among others.

Sarah Figueroa

29 | Cofounder, Geojam

In June 2019, Sarah Figueroa founded Geojam, a new social media app that sends its 45,000 users a daily prompt (such as, “What would you do if you won the lottery?”) and allows users to see their friends’ replies once they respond. Users can earn Geojam native cryptocurrency, $JAM, by answering prompts and keeping up daily streaks, which can then be exchanged for merchandise and experiences with creators using the platform. The site makes money through sponsorships licensing and a 2.5% transaction fee on purchases. Geojam boasts $8.5 million in funding from investors including Mariah Carey, Machine Gun Kelly, and 24KGoldn and expects to bring in $4 million in revenue this year–up from $3 million in 2022.

Jordan Justus & Prajwal Kotamraju

28 & 28 | Cofounders, Automotus

An LA native, Jordan Justus set out to tackle a problem he knew all too well: traffic congestion. He teamed up with Prajwal Kotamraju and Harris Lummis (who lives outside of LA) to build Automotus, an automated curb management platform that aims to reduce emissions, congestion and safety hazards in cities and airports across the country. Customers–like city governments, airports and fleets–can install Automotus cameras to existing infrastructure, such as streetlight poles, giving them access to real-time curb and traffic activity. The tech can also automatically alert enforcement officers of violations in real time or send citations directly to vehicle owners. With $12 million in funding from investors like Techstars Ventures, it’s currently used by 12 cities and 1,000 fleet operators.

Luis Manta

28 | Founder, Seoul Juice

As a Division 1 soccer player at St. Louis University, Luis Manta had an allergic reaction to an added dye in a sports drink, so he needed to find a natural hydration beverage that had both potassium and tasted good. So he blended Korean pears, water and lemon in his dorm room, which he now sells as Seoul Juice in stores across the U.S. and Canada, including Costco. Valued at $5 million with $425,000 in funding, Seoul Juice, is the first natural Korean pear juice to be sold in the U.S. Seoul Juice had a projected revenue of $1.75 million for 2023.

Brian Nam

26 | Cofounder, DIVE Studios

Brian Nam cofounded DIVE Studios, a media platform that produces videos and podcasts, primarily featuring AAPI stories and interviews with K-pop stars. It generates income through brand partnerships, advertising, merchandise sales and marketing services. DIVE has also released an app, called Mindset, that seeks to normalize mental health conversations, especially within the AAPI community. Its paid subscription service gives users access to an exclusive audio library that gives advice from mental health professionals and professors, as well as a members-only community and discussion forum. The content has amassed 750 million views and 50 million monthly viewers. Mindset has expanded their reach by interviewing artists outside of the K-pop genre and has hosted physical events on college campuses where students discuss mental health.

Madison Love

28 | Songwriter

A graduate of New York University’s prestigious Clive Davis School Of Recorded Music, singer and songwriter Madison Love has written some of today’s biggest hit songs. In 2016, she co-wrote Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello’s "Bad Things," which hit No. 1 on pop radio charts. Other hit songs that she’s co-written include “Him & I” for G- Eazy and Halsey and the Lady Gaga song “Sour Candy” featuring BLACKP!NK off the Chromatica album, which was nominated for best pop vocal album at the 2020 Grammys. In 2018, she wrote “Sweet But Psycho” for Ava Max, which reached No. 1 in 22 countries and hit a billion streams on Spotify, and in 2020, she wrote “Rare” for Selena Gomez, the title track of Gomez’s third studio album, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, among other hits.

Justin Lu

29 | Founder, Ezpapel

While helping his father with his trucking business, Justin Lu created software that automated tasks, data entry and coordinated with shippers to create a more efficient and productive trucker workflow. They went from a three-truck, $1 million business to a 50-truck, $20 million business in three years. After his father retired, Lu brought his software to the public, creating Ezpapel. With $1.5 million in funding, the platform includes an AI-powered transportation management system and an app that has a built-in scanner for documents, a trip sheet to record trip expenses and automated tracking updates. Ezpapel charges $50 per truck per month to its 49 clients and is valued at $15 million.

Steve O’Dell

29 | Cofounder, Tenzo

After struggling with unhealthy energy drinks that made him feel jittery, Steve O’Dell found matcha. In 2017, he cofounded his own matcha green tea powder company, Tenzo, with 31-year-old Robbie Page to provide better energy to the world. Now valued at $20 million, the startup is currently serving over 100 million drinks per year, selling directly to consumers online, in cafes and through 50-plus bulk deals with companies like Unilever and Dream Pops. O’Dell has also invested in fellow beverage companies Jibby and Aura Bora, among others, and, earlier this year, started an influencer marketing agency called Spotlight.

Anne Nguyen Oliver

27 | Founder, House Of M Beauty

A Vietnamese immigrant, Anne Nguyen Oliver fought with postpartum depression and discovered that saffron was an effective mood enhancer. In 2019, she founded luxurious skincare line House of M Beauty, which utilizes saffron to create treatment products for sensitive skin. House of M Beauty is currently being sold at Nordstrom and more than 200 boutique stores nationwide. With 40,000 customers, wholesale makes up 80% of the brand’s sales. They are projecting $8 million in revenue by year end.

Drea Okeke

28 | Creator

As a Nigerian-American content creator, Drea Okeke (@dreaknowsbest) has amassed a following of 6.4 million TikTok followers of her relatable comedic skits and videos. She’s now taken her storytelling abilities to the Fuse original series, We Need to Talk About America, where she provides sharp-witted and honest reactions to American pop culture oddities. She’s collaborated with notable celebrities like Mariah Carey and Tracee Ellis Ross and secured deals with brands like Nissan, Google, Coca-Cola, Disney, and more, raking in earnings of more than six figures last year.

Chris Olsen

25 | Creator

Chris Olsen rose to prominence in 2020 after joining TikTok and quickly gained popularity for his comedic videos, including his recording therapy series and coffee delivering series that’s seen Olsen deliver coffee to everyone from Jennifer Lopez to Kamala Harris. Olsen has amassed over 10 million followers and nearly 1 billion likes on TikTok alone. This year, Olsen founded his sustainably-sourced coffee brand Flight Fuel, partnering with Ecologi to plant one tree for every sale on the site. Olsen was nominated as TikTok and GLAAD's first-ever Queer Advocate of the Year award in 2021.

Karagan Osmann

28 | Founder, The Smoo Co

Since she was 14 years old, Karagan Osmann has struggled with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS causes small cysts in the ovaries and harmful side effects including acne, hair loss, weight gain, difficulty getting pregnant and irregular periods. In 2019, Osmann founded The Smoo Co, a women’s health company which sells vitamins, minerals and herbs for women with PCOS on their website, Amazon and Walmart. Her products have helped 20,000 customers a year manage their PCOS, balance their hormones and get pregnant. In 2022, The Smoo Co made nearly $2 million in revenue and it is projected to make $2.25 million in revenue by the end of 2023.

Alex Poscente

25 | Cofounder, Bits Crypto

Alex Poscente cofounded fintech startup Bits Crypto in 2022. Much like popular fintech company Acorns, the app rounds up users’ every day purchases to the next dollar and automatically invests that spare change into cryptocurrencies. It also allows its roughly 5,000 users to make one-time investments into any of the 150-plus cryptos listed on Bits Crypto. The startup has secured $1.2 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins.

Rustin Rostami

26 | Cofounder, TYLT

Rustin Rostami formed TYLT to innovate lifestyle electronic products beyond typical functions, such as backpacks and water bottles that can charge your devices and tray tables with wireless charging pads. TYLT mainly sells wholesale to big box stores, with customers such as AT&T, Verizon, Costco, Best Buy and Target. The company’s products are meant to both serve a function and be stylistic. Rostami now has several patents for his work. TYLT, which has a valuation of $10 million, created a partnership with One Tree Planted to directly fund trees in areas that have been deforested or have high carbon footprints.

Sahar Rohani & Junyi Wu

24 & 26 | Cofounders, SOSHE Beauty

Junyi Wu and Sahar Rohani built an award-winning, eco-friendly beauty brand to ensure their products do not end up in landfills–unlike the over 120 billion other units each year that do. SOSHE Beauty sells mascara and lip balm to 12,000 on SOSHE Beauty’s website, at independent boutiques and on Urban Outfitters’ website. Customers keep their refillable case and are able to re-use them, such as by transferring the mascara brush to the next container while following the refillable guide, for up to about 70% less waste.

Ty Schenk

25 | Founder, Keeta

Ty Schenk became frustrated with settlement times, intermediaries and high costs involved with his global payment transactions. Last year, he founded Keeta, a global payments platform that seamlessly transfers money across borders without wait times or hidden fees. With $17 million in funding from venture capital, Keeta is currently in an invitation-only soft-launch stage, though it is valued at $75 million. Users can open domestic and foreign currency accounts instantly from one operating system, hold funds in over 30 currencies and set up interest-bearing accounts where available. Users are also given a Keeta debit card, where they can get cash from over 50,000 ATMs.

Vikram Sreedhar & Christal Wang

27 & 29 | Cofounders, Shimmer

As someone who dealt with ADHD her whole life, Christal Wang found there weren't any affordable, engaging ADHD coaching services available. So she and Vikram Sreedhar cofounded Shimmer, an app that combines one-on-one expert ADHD coaching with other tools, such as personalized plans, progress tracking and short modules on various topics that come with ADHD. Shimmer received $1.3 million in funding from more than 10 investors and is projected to make $1 million in revenue by the end of 2023. Since its debut on the App Store, it has served over 1,000 clients.

Alyah Chanelle Scott

26 | Actor, Director and Producer, Runyonland Productions

Alyah Chanelle Scott became a household name after starring as Whitney in Mindy Kaling’s HBO Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls. She can also currently be seen in Steve Levitan’s series Reboot for Hulu. On the stage, she is best known for her role as Nabulungi in the U.S. National Tour of Tony Award winning musical The Book of Mormon. She recently cofounded her own production company, called Runyonland Productions, which was a producer on the 2023 Tony Award-winning musical Parade.

Eloiza Tecson

27 | Managing Partner, EY Ventures Group

At EY Ventures Group, an investment, advisory and impact vehicle, Eloiza Tecson has invested $10 million into health and wellness programs. Included in its eight portfolio companies are Before Noon, an Asian-American, women-founded alternative mental wellness company, and Courtcourt, a basketball-oriented social space. Collaborating with government organizations, Tecson created health and wellness programs and corporate career programs for veterans. She also advises St. Jude’s Children Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee on donor engagement and fundraising. To create an equitable and accessible space for women in health, wellness and other fields, she created The Drift podcast, where she discusses how to create a more equitable environment in the workplace.

Camila Victoriano

29 | Cofounder, Sonoro

After a stint at the LA Times launching the popular “Dirty John” podcast, Camila Victoriano cofounded global entertainment company Sonoro in 2020. The company works with leading and emerging Latinx creators to produce podcasts that then come alive in TV and film, such as bilingual comedy “Princess of South Beach” and “Tejana.” Since launch, they have nearly 30 million monthly downloads, have launched over ten No. 1 podcast hits (in English and in Spanish) and worked with 300-plus Latinx creators. They also have TV and film deals with Paramount+, UCP and Netflix, among others. Sonoro has $13 million in funding from investors including Lerer Hippeau and Greycroft.

Evan Zimmerman

29 | Cofounder, Drift Bio

In 2020, Evan Zimmerman noticed that life science groups like USC Medical School were processing a large amount of data per year without the computer science capabilities to do so effectively, resulting in inefficiency and data loss. He teamed up with early Okta employee Len Boyette to solve this problem, launching Drift Bio last year. The software startup helps life science companies manage and analyze their biological data in the cloud. For example, biologists using Drift are able to access key bioinformatics tools and workflows, produce visualizations and generate results–all without a single line of code. The Y Combinator backed startup is valued at $15 million.


JUDGES


Antonia Hernández

President & CEO, California Community Fund

Nationally regarded for her expertise in immigration, civil rights and philanthropy, Antonia Hernández has spent more than four decades advocating for social justice and improving the lives of underserved communities in Los Angeles County and beyond. Since 2004, she has served as president and chief executive officer of California Community Foundation, one of Southern California’s largest and most active philanthropic organizations, which has served Angelenos for over a century. The Foundation partners with more than 1,800 individual, family and corporate donors and holds assets of more than $2.3 billion. During her tenure, California Community Foundation has granted over $3.4 billion, with a focus on health, housing and economic development, education and immigration programs.

Deborah Benton

Founder, Willow Growth Partners

Deborah Benton is the founder and managing partner at Willow Growth Partners, an emerging growth consumer fund investing in fast-growing, values-led brands and the technologies that power them, in categories including beauty, personal care, health & wellness, food & beverage and baby/pet. Portfolio companies include Goodles, De Soi and Manscaped. Prior to Willow, Benton launched a family office vehicle in 2014 focused on investing in seed-stage consumer brands and enabling tech companies. Earlier in her career, Benton held executive-level operating roles including president and chief operating officer of Nasty Gal, an online women’s fashion brand, and chief operating officer at ShoeDazzle, an online women’s subscription footwear company cofounded by Kim Kardashian.

UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2018

Phil Quist

Agent, CAA

Phil Quist is a music and web3 agent at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Quist represents many of the world’s leading musicians, including Tate McRae, The Chainsmokers, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, 3LAU, Charli XCX, Mark Tuan and Maggie Lindemann, among others. His clients in the burgeoning Web3 space include Daniel Allan, Dave Krugman, LandVault, HUME, Micah Johnson, Nyla Hayes and Cool Cats, among others. He appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Music list in 2018. He is an active member of the music community serving as the head of MusiCares Foundation’s Young Ambassadors Board, where he organizes fundraising events geared toward raising awareness of MusiCares, which has distributed more than $100 million dollars since its inception in 1989.

UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2023

Dillon Rosenblatt

Cofounder, Autograph

Dillon Rosenblatt is the cofounder and CEO of Autograph, the sports NFT behemoth cofounded with Tom Brady. Autograph uses blockchain technology to connect fans through their passion for sports, entertainment and cultural icons. Rosenblatt has secured partnerships with companies including DraftKings and LionsGate to bring his vision to life and spearheaded negotiations with the world’s leading entertainers and athletes to sign them with Autograph. Passionate about entrepreneurship at an early age, Rosenblatt founded his first venture while he was in high school, Tutors App, an on-demand tutoring service and marketplace. He kicked off his formal career in business development at Apple, where he worked primarily on the Apple Music platform. Rosenblatt then held a talent and business development position at video-sharing platform Cameo, where he learned first-hand the value of authentically connecting celebrities directly with their fans through custom messages. He appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Sports list in 2023.



Forbes Under 30 Team
Forbes Under 30 Team

Kristin Stoller
Kristin Stoller