On Tuesday, Forbes announced their annual 30 Under 30 List for 2025 — honoring young leaders who excel across 20 different fields ranging from music to education to venture capital.
Candidates are selected through various submissions, industry sources, and alumni recommendations and evaluated by judges and Forbes staff. Over 25 current and former Trojans made Forbes’s list for excellence in their fields.
Finance
Anthony Zhang was an entrepreneur before he even left USC, co-founding the food delivery company EnvoyNow and joining an impromptu Shark Tank with Mark Cuban on campus in 2015. The former Sigma Chi and Undergraduate Student Government member dropped out of USC in 2016 to focus on growing the company and today he is the CEO of Vinovest, a platform for wine and whiskey investing that selects and authenticates the spirits and deals with storage, insurance, valuations, negotiations and sales.
Arts & Style
On The Row in 2017 you might have found Elena Bonvicini selling upcycled jeans to her Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sisters. Today, Bonvicini’s EB Denim reconstructs vintage America Levi 501s and made over $2 million in sales last year. She graduated with a degree in public relations in 2022 and was a member of the Fashion Industry Association.
Natalia Bryant, is a current senior majoring in Cinematic Arts, Film and Television Production. She signed with IMG Models in 2021 and was the face of Victoria Secret’s 2024 spring and fall campaigns. Bryant is a board member of the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, aiding underserved athletes in the memory of her father Kobe Bryant and sister Gianna Bryant.
Alex Gruszynski, graduated USC with a bachelor’s of business administration after transferring from Wake Forest University. After graduation, Gruszynski co-founded Nova, a platform for creatives and artists to access job opportunities, with fellow honoree Aidan Cullen. At the start of the year, Nova announced $1.75 million in seed funding, to expand their official app.
After graduating USC, Alex Zhang is now the COO of Powder Mountain, a haven and ski resort. Powder Mountain exceeds beyond being just a destination and prides itself on being a place where ski culture and alpine community thrive.
Retail & Ecommerce
It was a stint at a biotechnology company of all things that set Eric Delapenha on the path to found Strands Hair Care, a customizable hair products line. Delepenha, who graduated in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in human biology, saw in his work on a genetic testing product that consumers wanted personalized solutions.
Strands Hair Care recently partnered with Walmart in 2022 to create The Hair Lab, which offers base products and customizable add-in oils that are specific to the customers needs. The hair line and recently launched body care line can be found at over 2,300 Walmart stores and more than 100 CVS locations.
Venture Capital
Alaina Hartley, a 2016 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in economics, still serves as vice chair of USC’s Women in Economics network. She was recognized for her work as a principal at Greycroft, an investment service focusing on venture capital and technology. Hartley’s work is mainly targeted toward early-stage consumer brand companies.
Sarah Wu, was honored for her investment work on AI, work and healthcare as a principal at Emerson Collective. Wu graduated USC with bachelor’s degrees in computer science and business administration. She was a part of the Trojan Marching Band and Trojan Investing Society during her time on campus.
Science
Alexander Ballatori made Forbes’ list for his work on the stroke detection tool StrokeDx as a co-founder and CEO. Ballatori received his doctor of medicine degree in 2023 from the Keck School of Medicine in 2023, where he led the Student Orthopaedic Surgery Interest Group and Integrative Education Student Interest Group.
Social Media
Known as the “Sandwich King,” Owen Han co-founded the supper club at USC and attended Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The cooking content creator gained popularity on TikTok over his mouth watering recipes. This year, Han published his first book, “Stacked: The Art of the Perfect Sandwich.”
Hollywood & Entertainment
A graduate of the Stark Producing Program, James Flannery, is an executive on the drama development team at Netflix working on shows including “The Umbrella Academy,” “Maid” and “The Recruit.”
Emily Hamilton was recognized for her work as director of development, at 101 Studios, working on shows including “Yellowstone” and “Tulsa King.”
Having studied theater, cinema and international relations at USC, Boma Iluma has directed film, television and music videos including one short film displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
Julia Stier, serves as head of development for Cold Iron Pictures but has also become a multihyphenate, writing off-Broadway plays, acting and hosting a vampire film-review podcast, “Bite Me.”
Disclaimer: Stier worked as a theater and dance editor for Annenberg Media.
Marketing and Advertising
Cameron Azoff, who attended USC from 2016 to 2017, now manages relationships with international music stars for Beats. Azoff followed in his father’s footsteps, music manager Irving Azoff, by securing partnership deals with Kim Kardashian, A$AP Rocky and Cardi B, among others.
Games
After graduating from USC in 2018, in 2014 Shane Gill and Riley Testut partnered together to create Altstore, an alternative to the Apple App Store allowing users to sideload apps — including Testut’s own Nintendo emulator Delta. After European Union rules forced Apple to allow third party app stores, Altstore surged in popularity.
Nicole Havin has taken a 2022 degree from the School of Cinematic Arts and her work at Trojan Vision and turned it into a career in game design. She currently works at Treyarch and most recently worked on “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.”.
While getting her master’s degree in communication management, Selina Liu was inspired by a class titled The Industry, Science and Culture of Video Games. While at USC, she worked with the Esports Union and USC games program before becoming a game producer at Riot Games.
Another producer at Riot Games, Abigail Nakaishi, graduated from USC with a bachelor’s degree in computer science games. She served as team manager for Trojan Esports during her time on campus. Nakaishi is cofounder and lead producer of the game studio The Rejects.
Robyn To graduated USC with a Bachelor’s of Science in computer science games and today is the lead online programmer at Brass Lion Entertainment.
Social Impact
Nihar Neelakanti, has used a degree from the Marshall School of Business and developed Ecosapiens, an NFT system that allows individuals to buy into carbon removal.
Transportation & Mobility
With degrees in computer science from the Viterbi School of Engineering and business administration from the Marshall School of Business, Michael Baldwin co-founded OpenTug. The company works to connect shippers and barges, which have lower carbon emissions than typical truck transit.
Food & Drink
Sam Madani graduated USC with a Bachelor of Science in business administration in 2017. He is co-founder of BOMANI, which sells the first alcohol-infused cold brew coffee. BOMANI Cold Buzz is currently sold at Whole Foods, BevMo!, Ralphs, and various local shops.
USC alums Yasaman Bakhtiar and Leah Marcus co-founded Good Girl Snacks. Bakhtiar majored in art history and was active in the Expat Society with Marcus, who majored in communication. Their company has popularized the term “Hot Brand Pickles” and focus on tapping female energy to fuel activity.
Christian Lee majored in business administration at USC and graduated in 2017. Now serving as president and COO of Flame Broiler, Lee aims to expand the growth of the Korean restaurant, which has 130 locations throughout the United States. His father, Young Lee, founded Flame Broiler in 1995.
Graduating with a master’s degree from the Marshall School of Business, Dylan Tang is the founder of Tang Vineyards. The mission of the company is to bring the flavors of China, his home country, to North America by cultivating Asian produce and grapes.