Seven University alumni appear on Forbes Magazine’s sixth annual 30 Under 30 listings of the most influential people under the age of 30. The lists, which span 20 different industries, honor entrepreneurs, breakout stars and agents of change across their respective disciplines.
Six hundred innovators in their fields garnered this honor, including the following Syracuse University alumni:
Ross Burack, Martin J. Whitman School of Management ’11, Food and Drink.
Laura Foti, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications ’13, Marketing and Advertising.
Michael George, College of Visual and Performing Arts ’11, Music.
Drew Taggart, Visual and Performing Arts ’12, Music.
Jacquie Katz, College of Arts and Sciences/Newhouse ’09, Hollywood and Entertainment.
Evin Robinson, Visual and Performing Arts ’12, iSchool G’14, Education.
Jessica Santana, Martin J. Whitman School of Management ’11, iSchool G’13, Education.
About the Syracuse honorees:
Burack, 27, is the co-founder of Choza Taqueria, a Mexican restaurant with four locations in and around New York City, including in the Westfield market at the World Trade Center. Burack currently runs a commercial real estate leasing and investment sales company. After studying the industry’s trends, he decided to open Choza, a “fast-casual” restaurant. A resident of New York City, Burack earned a degree in finance and entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises.
Foti, 26, is the head of paid media and analytics for General Electric Digital. According to Forbes, Foti, who graduated with a public relations degree, “uses her experience helping clients navigate business transitions plus her PR background to coordinate large new technology roll-outs and encourage user engagement through paid media and inbound analytics.” Among her most recent projects, Foti, a Boston resident, is working on the Industrial Internet of Things business, which produces applications and an operating system custom-made for industry.
George, 27, is the artist manager for SB Projects in Los Angeles. A resident of New York City, he is credited with discovering Martin Garrix, a phenom in the Miami dance music scene, for talent manager Scooter Braun in 2013. With George’s help, Garrix blossomed into one of the top DJs in the country, earning $16 million in 2016. George studied in Syracuse’s Bandier Program and earned a degree in the recording and allied entertainment industries.
Taggart, 27, is a musician for the electronic dance music duo The Chainsmokers, who were nominated for three Grammy awards this year, including Best New Artist for their hits “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Closer.” Taggart, a West Hollywood resident, and bandmate Alex Pall are among the favorites to win a 2017 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Taggart studied in Syracuse’s Bandier Program and earned a degree in the recording and allied entertainment industries.
Katz, 29, is a television literary agent for Creative Artists Agency, an American-based talent and sports agency located in Los Angeles. Katz has worked with comedy writers and directors for successful television shows like “Modern Family,” “Transparent” and Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” as well as “The Daily Show.” Katz’s clientele also includes Amber Ruffin, a writer on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and the first African-American woman to write for a late-night, network television talk show. Katz, a resident of Los Angeles, was a dual major, earning degrees in both psychology and public relations.
Robinson, 26, and Santana, 27, are the co-founders of New York on Tech, a nonprofit organization that aims to create and improve pathways for impoverished students and those from underrepresented populations to gain exposure to and proficiency in the fields of technology and innovation. Through immersive programs for high school students that include internship opportunities and mentoring, as well as after-school educational programming, Robinson and Santana help a forgotten segment of the population receive access to this training.
Robinson, a Brooklyn resident, earned undergraduate degrees in both economics and communications and rhetorical studies before earning his master’s in information management from the iSchool.
Santana, a Brooklyn resident, studied accounting as an undergraduate, and earned her master’s degree in information management from the iSchool.
Forbes allows an honoree to earn this distinction once in his/her career.
The designation was handed out in the following categories: Art and Style, Consumer Tech, Education, Energy, Enterprise Tech, Finance, Food and Drink, Games, Healthcare, Hollywood and Entertainment, Law & Policy, Manufacturing & Industry, Marketing and Advertising, Media, Music, Retail and E-commerce, Science, Social Entrepreneurs, Sports and Venture Capital.
For more information on the honorees, visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2017/01/03/meet-the-2017-class-of-30-under-30.
