Forbes featured 18 NYU alumni, a student and a faculty member in its 2024 edition of the “30 Under 30” list — a ranking of successful people under the age of 30 across more than 20 industries. They were listed under nine of the 20 categories, ranging from music and social media to health care and consumer technology.    

The annual ranking includes Tisch alum Celeste Yim for their writing on “Saturday Night Live,” and CAS alum Atalie Gimmel was recognized for her social media work at Vogue magazine. The list also recognizes current Tisch student Taylor Cassidy in the social media category for her web series “Fast Black History,” and Tandon professor Nialah Wilson-Small in the science category for her coordination algorithms that are used for human-drone interactions through touch. 

CAS alum Sam Kapp was included in the arts and style category for co-founding the Kapp Kapp gallery alongside his twin brother, Daniel Kapp. Sam Kapp said the art history program at NYU and its New York location exposed him to diverse art throughout his education.

“I totally credit my time at NYU for inspiring my interest in the arts,” Kapp said in an interview with WSN. “By chance, I ended up taking an introductory art history seminar my freshman year without really knowing what I was signing up for, and just fell totally in love.”

In the venture capital category, Stern alum Geri Kirilova was featured for her role as managing partner at the firm Laconia Capital Group. Kirilova started as an intern at the firm in 2016 and has since brought in clients including the software companies Orcolus and Auto Fi, which are currently valued at $500 million and $700 million respectively.

“You have to be very good at the work execution skills that are required in a junior role while demonstrating that you have the capacity and potential to step into a more senior role,” Kirilova told WSN. “To keep getting promoted, you have to level up your skill set to eventually become a trusted partner.”

Kirilova first learned about venture capital after she joined the Undergraduate Stern Women in Business Club. She then studied abroad at NYU Prague and interned for a venture fund called Credo Ventures.

CAS alum and entrepreneur Mir Hwang was nominated in the consumer technology category for co-founding GigFinesse, a booking platform that connects emerging artists with venues to book local shows and national tours. In an interview with WSN, Hwang said he initially entered NYU with the intention of studying medicine, but unexpectedly “fell in love with music.”

“The biggest fear of mine was the what if,” Hwang said. “I don’t want to be in my mid-to-late 30s looking over a surgical table and thinking, ‘Wow, what if I had tried this instead?’ When you are young and in your 20s, you have the ability to make mistakes — you can afford to make mistakes.”

Contact Maisie Zipfel at [email protected].