Zain Abbas, Scholastic Kids Press Reporter, 11
Zain Abbas might be doodling in the back of class, but after school he’s an aspiring actor and graphic novel enthusiast who was chosen as one of 45 Scholastic Kids Press Reporters in September. Chronicling news for kids by kids, the position allows Abbas to stretch his journalistic skills by covering a wide range of subjects. His first story, about Cleveland’s presidential debate, was published in October. Read More >>
Annette Blackwell, Maple Heights Mayor, 58
When Annette Blackwell was sworn in as the 16th mayor of Maple Heights in 2016, she shattered a ton of barriers to become the first female and first African American to hold the top post in the city’s 100-year history. A business professional who spent the previous 16 years as a senior commercial property tax analyst at Deloitte and Ryan global tax services, her work history prepared her to address Maple Heights struggling finances, which she has now brought back from the brink of bankruptcy. Read More >>
Callie Brownson, Cleveland Browns Chief of Staff, 31
Callie Brownson has busted through as many NFL glass ceilings as she has ball carriers. After becoming the first woman hired as a full-time NCAA Division I coach at Dartmouth College, the former football player was hired by Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski last February as chief of staff. Then in November, she became the first woman to serve as an interim position coach, leading the tight end group in a win against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Read More >>
Rachel Cargle, Author and Activist, 32
Rachel Cargle’s activism and academic work provides tools and resources to encourage intellectual discourse around the intersection of race and womanhood. With 1.9 million followers on Instagram, she puts forth a monthly self-paced and self-priced learning platform, The Great Unlearn, which provides a syllabus of critical texts, lectures and reading lists from academics of color to aid the process of unlearning internalized systems of racism. Read More >>
Chris Coles, Musician, 35
Music has always been a saving grace for Chris Coles. To this day, the Kent State University jazz ensemble instructor uses music to tell larger stories that can not only save others, but also inform and ask questions. After the Charleston church shooting in 2015, Coles began the Nine Lives Project as a way to make sense of the events of that day. While he was part of the Banff Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music in Canada in 2015, the project evolved into an immersive musical and choreographed performance involving different mediums such as dance and animation. Read More >>
Lora DiFranco, Free Period Press Founder, 34
Values of self-care have always been an integral part of Lora DiFranco’s life. She founded Free Period Press in 2013 as a beautiful, guided way for people to feel more grounded and organized. She started out with adult coloring books and created the ever-popular Cleveland Metroparks Mini-Guide and a collage kit to help infuse positivity into everyday life. Read More >>
Courtney Gousman, News 5 Cleveland Anchor, 38
Courtney Gousman has never shied away from a challenge. After working in TV news for almost two decades, she has seen time and again that life always throws a couple curveballs along the way. In the last year, she’s gone through a divorce and moved away from her native city of Chicago to take on a new role as anchor for News 5 Cleveland.Read More >>
Christine Guy, Bartender and Manicurist, 53
Christine Guy found a way to deal with all the terrible things that happened in 2020 by turning things around, for herself and her neighbors. With a humorous weekly routine that started in April, she’s made a habit out of taking out the trash while wearing wacky, inventive costumes. Read More >>
Nathanael Honvou, American Ninja Warrior Junior Champion, 11
Nothing can hold Nathanael Honvou back because he’s lightning quick. When he was 6, Honvou broke the record for the fastest time for his age group in the 5-mile run at the Johnnycake Jog. Now, five years later, Honvou holds another important title as the champion of the 9- and 10-year-old division of American Ninja Warrior Junior’s second season after finishing first in all seven competitions. Read More >>
Marina Jackman, Time2Talk CEO, 30
At a time when people felt isolated and distanced from one another, Marina Jackman found a way to bring people together with Time2Talk, an app that pairs up those eager to learn Spanish with native speaking tutors from different parts of Latin America. After two years of development, the app launched last summer and has since grown to serve more than 300 students in Canada and the U.S. Read More >>
Machine Gun Kelly, Musician, 30
Colson Baker — known as Machine Gun Kelly — has come a long way from when he was hustling in the streets to get his mixtapes out at 15. Having sold 20 million records worldwide with five studio albums and 31 singles, his most recent album Tickets to My Downfall debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in October, making him the first Cleveland artist to have a No. 1 album in 15 years. Read More >>
Veranda L’Ni, Drag Queen, 47
Veranda L’Ni, the performative alter ego of real estate agent Shamus Dickinson, is a larger-than-life creation. Dubbed the “Giant Redwood of Drag,” she’s produced a myriad of shows as Cleveland’s tallest drag queen including the annual Cleveland Drag Showcase and Queens Of The 9 at the Metropolitan Hotel. She is also the hostess of Drag Queen Story Hour at Near West Theatre, a hands-on workshop and storytelling show for kids and adults. Read More >>
Alphonso Linarez, Latin Guitarist, 80
After leaving his native Peru for Spain after high school, Alphonso Linarez explored the world, traveling to Paris to play Latin guitar professionally and to dozens of countries as an international tour guide. In 2005, he retired — to Cleveland of all places — and has been playing his unique, melodic Latin-style fingerpicking classical guitar three times a week at Barroco Arepa Bar & Concert Cafe. Read More >>
John Magaro, Actor, 37
Even if you don’t know John Magaro by name, you almost certainly recognize his face. Since getting his start at Cleveland Play House and Akron’s Weathervane Playhouse, the prolific performer has appeared in Netflix’s Orange is the New Black and Umbrella Academy and most recently starred in First Cow, an 1820s period drama garnering significant Oscar buzz. Read More >>
Bishop Edward Malesic, Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Bishop, 60
Bishop Edward Malesic was installed as the 12th bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland last September, which has the sixth largest Catholic Charities operation in the country. His warmth, quick laugh and down-to-earth way of speaking underscore his upbringing in a factory town near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And his handling of the sex abuse scandal in Pennsylvania attests to his commitment to transparency and honesty. Read More >>
Mallory Martin, Cleveland International Film Festival Artistic Director, 35
In her wildest dreams, Mallory Martin envisioned herself working for a film festival. In 2010, she started out as an intern at the Cleveland International Film Festival, then worked her way up to artistic director in October. Now, she’s tasked with leading CIFF in planning its annual programming all while navigating the challenges of going fully virtual during the pandemic. Read More >>
Tomislav Mihaljevic, Cleveland Clinic President and CEO, 56
Before taking over the Cleveland Clinic in 2018, Tomislav Mihaljevic received sound advice from his predecessor Toby Cosgrove: what you do is not important, but what matters most is striving to be the best in the world at what you do. A career cardiac surgeon, Mihaljevic helped build and served as the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi before taking on his new position in Cleveland, overseeing more than 2.4 million patient visits a year and more than $10.5 billion in operating revenue. Read More >>
Marla Perez-Davis, NASA Glenn Research Center Director, 59
Marla Perez-Davis is a pioneer. Named the director of NASA Glenn Research Center last January, she oversees as many as 3,300 employees between Cleveland’s Lewis Field station and Plum Brook Station in Sandusky. Since taking on the position, she has been involved in nearly every step of the Artemis program, which will send the first woman to the moon in 2024. Read More >>
Lindsey Phillips, Reverse Women Founder, 36
Lindsey Phillips is a task master. As a life coach and founder of Reverse Women, she helps other women reverse stereotypes while empowering them to achieve their goals. She’s also a mother of two and the director of operations at marketing firm AMP Strategy. Read More >>
Bill Priemer, Hyland President and CEO, 53
When Bill Priemer joined Hyland as the vice president of marketing in 1997, the Westlake-based information management software company employed 30 people. Fast-forward two decades later and Priemer is at the helm of Hyland as president and CEO with a global reputation for excellence, offices all around the world and upwards of 4,000 employees. Read More >>
LaRese Purnell, Real Black Friday Founder, 42
Life has come full circle for LaRese Purnell. Once homeless as a child, today he is the co-owner and managing partner of CLE Consulting Firm, a downtown accounting, tax and payroll company that’s pivoted to ensuring businesses stay open during the pandemic, and a co-owner of Cajun-Creole restaurant Black Box Fix. As the founder of the Real Black Friday, he’s devoted to giving back by encouraging small business development and financial literacy within the Black community. Read More >>
Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Indians Third Baseman, 28
If the Cleveland Indians were a luxury sports car, third baseman Jose Ramirez would be the engine. And the battery. And the radio. He just makes the team go (and looks like he has fun doing it), especially in the shortened 2020 season where he hit 17 home runs, including a walk-off bomb Sept. 22 that clinched a playoff spot for the team. Read More >>
Rose Scotland, YMCA Instructor, 95
Rose Scotland’s life is anything but average. Upon graduating from high school in 1943, she landed a job at Perfection Stove Co. in Cleveland where she learned how to rivet pieces of metal that were used in F-15 fighter planes. This hands-on position transformed her into one of the many who looked up to the iconic allegorical figure, Rosie the Riveter, who inspired women to take part in the workforce. At 95, she’s still working as an instructor at Hillcrest YMCA. Read More >>
Nicole Steffen, Eat Local Ohio Co-founder, 25
Chances are you’ve drooled over Nicole Steffen’s work during a late-night Instagram session. As the co-founder of Eat Local Ohio, she champions Ohio restaurants by cueing in more than 37,000 Instagram followers on crave-worthy dishes, cool new chefs and must-visit restaurants across Ohio. Her website is also geared to helping anyone find exactly what they’re looking for using a searchable database to browse 200 listings for their next meal. Read More >>
Emilia Sykes, Ohio House of Representatives Minority Leader, 34
Emilia Sykes became the first Black woman under the age of 30 to serve in the Ohio General Assembly when she was elected in 2014 to represent Akron’s 34th District. She was preceded in the position by her father, Vernon, who held the post since he was first appointed in 1982, with the exception of 2000-2006 when it was held by her mother, Barbara. Sykes was elected by her peers as the Minority Leader of the Ohio House of Representatives in 2019. Read More >>
Joe Toohey, Fox 8 News Co-anchor, 33
A 2010 graduate of John Carroll University and Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, native, Joe Toohey worked for five years as a producer on Meet the Press in Washington, D.C., straight out of school. He then moved in front of the camera in 2016 as anchor and chief political reporter at Fox 5 New York. But he jumped at the chance to return to his Cleveland roots this summer, when he was hired as co-anchor of the Fox 8 newscast at 7 p.m. Read More >>
Jill Vedaa, Salt Chef and Co-owner, 47
Since opening her Lakewood restaurant in 2016 with business partner Jessica Parkinson, the veteran chef has created a cozy, intimate spot known for an impressive menu of small plates that Vedaa changes about every 10 weeks. As Salt gets ready to celebrate its fifth anniversary in July, the two-time James Beard semifinalist is cautiously optimistic during a time when, like so many other restaurants, her and her team have had to pivot and reinvent what they do because of COVID-19. Read More >>
Megan Whalen Turner, Author, 54
A low-key local literary powerhouse, Megan Whalen Turner is best known for her fantasy series Queen’s Thief. The series began with The Thief, published in 1996, which tells the twisty-turny story of a young, mysterious thief named Gen. This year is the 25th anniversary of that first book and the finale of the six-book series, Return of the Thief, was published in October. Read More >>
Jordan Wong, Artist, 30
Jordan Wong, a master graphic designer known as Wongface, weaves intricate details of Gundam action figures, Dragon Ball Z characters and more alongside interesting typeface in each work of art. His colorful and imaginative murals have popped up all over Northeast Ohio, from Madison Avenue’s futuristic public transportation mural to a sprawling Public Square collage in 2019. As the president of the Cleveland chapter of the AIGA Professional Association for Design, he also aims to offer a creative space for other young artists and Asian Americans. Read More >>
Brian Zimmerman, Cleveland Metroparks CEO, 48
Brian Zimmerman’s love for the outdoors stems from childhood wonder. As the Cleveland Metroparks’ CEO, he’s helped the park system grow exponentially over the last 10 years by acquiring more than 2,700 acres of land — including Edgewater Park’s 2,400-footlong beach. By strengthening Cleveland’s connection to the lakefront and ahead of the completion of its Wendy Park Bridge, Zimmerman has seen an increase of more than 1.6 million recreational visits to the Metroparks. Read More >>
