The Root 100 – 2020

1. Nikole Hannah-Jones

Investigative journalist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Nikole Hannah-Jones is the wildest dream fulfilled of the Black female journalists who wrote the truth of their times before her. This year, the New York Times Magazine reporter and six-time __The Root 100__ honoree earned crowning recognitions for [her editorial brainchild, _The 1619 Project_](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html), which recontextualized the Black American story starting with the arrival of the first enslaved Africans. She was awarded the ultra-prestigious 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, an achievement in and of itself, but the Pulitzer Center also became an official education partner for _The 1619 Project_ and helped to dispatch [an entire curriculum based on Hannah-Jones’ brilliant work](https://pulitzercenter.org/lesson-plan-grouping/1619-project-curriculum) to more than 4,500 classrooms nationwide. This completely [pissed off](https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/09/17/trump-launches-patriotic-education-commission-calls-1619-project-ideological-poison/#33cd4548155a) the current resident of the White House and [his ineffectual right-wing chumps](https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/06/politics/trump-education-department-1619-project/index.html) (see: [Tom Cotton](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/27/tom-cotton-1619-project-slavery/)), but you know you’re making [good trouble](https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2020/07/remembering-john-lewis-the-power-of-good-trouble/) when politicians are big mad. Hannah-Jones is changing how history is taught, and this year, after helping to [reignite the discussion about reparations and racial justice](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/24/magazine/reparations-slavery.html) for Black Americans, she’s reframing what the future looks like, too.

2. Colin Kaepernick

Activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Pro sports didn’t just develop a conscience out of the ether this year. Kap woke them up. Since he first [refused to stand for the national anthem](https://theundefeated.com/features/colin-kaepernick-protests-anthem-over-treatment-of-minorities/) in 2016, Colin Kaepernick has prevented America from allowing football to be the country’s favorite escapism from racial injustice, even at the expense of his on-field career. After the death of George Floyd, nearly every major sports league—including [the WNBA](https://roguerocket.com/2020/07/27/wnba-mlb-anthem/), the NBA, [the National Women’s Soccer League](https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/us/nwsl-soccer-kneel-national-anthem-spt-trnd/index.html), [the Premier League](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-england-ava-shu/soccer-players-take-a-knee-as-premier-league-restarts-idUSKBN23O30J), [Major League Baseball](https://www.theroot.com/giants-manager-kneels-during-national-anthem-and-trump-1844459197) and, yes, [even the NFL](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/06/every-nfl-player-who-will-kneel-during-national-anthem)—has seen its athletes protest or take a knee during the national anthem in support of racial justice. As the pandemic pummeled Black and Latinx communities, Kap’s nonprofit [Know Your Rights Camp](https://www.knowyourrightscamp.com/) and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights jointly committed $1 million to [fund the release of incarcerated people](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/02/2056858/0/en/Robert-F-Kennedy-Human-Rights-and-Colin-Kaepernick-s-Know-Your-Rights-Camp-Commit-1-Million-Towards-Supporting-Community-Bail-Funds.html) who were vulnerable to the coronavirus and unable to afford bail. Kaepernick’s change-making is recoloring media, too. This year he led his production company, Ra Vision Media, into [a first-look deal with Disney](https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/colin-kaepernick-walt-disney-first-look-deal-espn-1234698911/) and formalized a partnership among Kaepernick Publishing, Audible and Medium, where he’s the newest board member, to create storytelling platforms for Black and brown writers, directors and producers. His activism has had a visible impact on other influential athletes. Before the first NBA game in this abbreviated season, LeBron James led players, coaches and referees in [taking a knee](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/31/lebron-james-salutes-colin-kaepernick-inspiring-nbas-national-anthem-demonstration/), saying, “I hope we made Kap proud.”

3. Maya Moore

WNBA player, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

A star in the WNBA, Maya Moore paused her career as a forward for the Minnesota Lynx [for a second straight season](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/sports/basketball/maya-moore-jonathan-irons.html) this year to advocate for Jonathan Irons, a man serving a 50-year sentence on a burglary and assault conviction despite the lack of forensic evidence linking him to the crime. She met him when she was a member of a prison ministry, they befriended each other, and [she became an ardent advocate](https://theundefeated.com/features/maya-moore-game-changer-jonathan-irons-epitome-of-using-your-platform/) for his release. The four-time WNBA champ first took time off from basketball last year to focus on helping Irons mount what might have been his final appeal, which meant she also forfeited an opportunity to play in the now-2021 Tokyo Olympics for Team USA. Her sacrifice paid immeasurable dividends in July when Irons walked out of the Jefferson City Correctional Center [a free man](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/sports/basketball/maya-moore-jonathan-irons-freed.html). And in a surprise move, Moore announced on [_Good Morning America_](https://www.theroot.com/maya-moore-announces-marriage-to-jonathan-irons-who-sh-1845075418?rev=1600268910700) on Sept. 16 that she and Irons are now married, having wed a few months before. Moore, who led her team in one of pro sports’ first Black Lives Matter protests, is continuing her work on justice-system reform through her organization [Win With Justice](https://winwithjustice.org/about/), which aims to change the "win at all costs" culture of prosecutors who focus more on getting convictions than on getting justice.

4. Bubba Wallace

NASCAR driver

Website, Instagram, Twitter

His pinned tweet is an allow-me-to-introduce-myself moment: “There is only 1 driver from an African American background at the top level of our sport…I am the 1.” Bubba Wallace’s three-year [rise to the NASCAR elite](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/bubba-wallace-nascar-jamil-smith-1035004/) thrust him into the public eye, and the public’s interest only escalated when he came in second at [the 2018 Daytona 500](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/02/darrell-bubba-wallace-jr-nascar-daytona-500-austin-dillon-emotional-press-conference-video), making him the highest-finishing freshman driver and Black competitor in the race’s history. He wasn’t looking to be an activist, but during [the national outcry against police brutality](https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/bubba-wallace-nascar-racism) this year, the NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate was inspired to stand against the organization’s [use of the Confederate flag](https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/12/876347528/nascar-driver-bubba-wallace-on-confederate-flag-ban-a-long-time-coming) and the hate it represents. He asked NASCAR’s president to ban displays of the flag. Two days later, the announcement was made that symbols of old Dixie were no longer welcome in any form at racing events. Wallace’s request drew the ire of Old South sympathizers, but [he became a hero](https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/29420336/beats-dre-reveals-bubba-wallace-endorsement-deal-president-trump-criticism) for making an overwhelmingly white sport a lot more welcoming for new fans of color.

5. Yamiche Alcindor

Journalist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

She generally wears blazers, not capes, but her 10-toes-down reporting from the White House’s front lines of delusion and lies has made Yamiche Alcindor this year’s journalism superhero. When Donald Trump [ignored or interrupted her at multiple press briefings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q7vxFSnILY), calling her questions “nasty” and her “threatening,” [the masterful _PBS NewsHour_ correspondent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTI9Ce81m00) persisted in fact-checking the president’s self-aggrandizing manipulations of the truth. Alcindor, who also covers race and social justice for PBS and contributes to NBC News and MSNBC, possesses a signature calm, always professional, always poised, always armed with accuracy—often with [direct quotes straight from 45 himself](https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1246883824459538437)—to ask the questions the people need to know. In March, #WeLoveYamiche trended on Twitter after one particularly contentious exchange went viral, but that’s not just true in 2020. We love Yamiche for being [a brilliant, tenacious reporter](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/author/yamiche-alcindor) who happens to be a brilliant, tenacious Black woman hell-bent on extracting the relevance from every story she tells.

6. Sarah Cooper

Comedian, author

Website, Instagram, Twitter

The only greater compliment than being [blocked by Donald Trump](https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/23/media/donald-trump-sara-cooper/index.html) on Twitter is gaining thousands and thousands of followers across all manner of social media by making fun of him in her “How to Trump” series. A viral [TikTok superstar](https://www.tiktok.com/@whatchugotforme?lang=en), Cooper lip-synchs the president’s greatest hits of stupid sound bites, turning his most ineloquent explanations and statements into [a punchline he wrote himself](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/magazine/sarah-cooper-doesnt-mimic-trump-she-exposes-him.html). Remember when Trump explained that Americans could get all better by injecting disinfectant? The Jamaican-born comedian spun that into her “[How to Medical](https://twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1253474772702429189)” video, which racked up more than 22 million views on Twitter alone and skyrocketed her career in the process. The Los Angeles Times called her “one of the hottest [comics of the coronavirus era](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-06-01/sarah-cooper-donald-trump-impersonator-youtube-twitter-tiktok),” and it looks like Netflix agrees—in August, Cooper [announced her first sketch-comedy special](https://www.vulture.com/2020/08/sarah-cooper-netflix-comedy-special.html), _Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine_, co-executive-produced by Maya Rudolph for the big streaming giant.

7. Ibram X. Kendi

Author, director of Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Explosive uprisings across the country have demanded not only justice for Black people but also structural changes to protect us, and Ibram X. Kendi’s anti-racist work has been fundamental to [dismantling the intricacies of systemic racism](https://www.aspenideas.org/sessions/how-to-be-an-antiracist?utm_source=google&utm_medium=adgrant&utm_campaign=Society&utm_term=how%20to%20be%20an%20antiracist&gclid=CjwKCAjw97P5BRBQEiwAGflV6fFPyrIFYi7RYyJ0WDBYuwfTCoG7mt3EpS9Pw6gF-tW9HE1j_TA_uhoCClwQAvD_BwE). After founding the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University and leading it for three years, the Guggenheim fellow, contributing writer for [The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ibram-x-kendi/) and National Book Award winner [moved to Boston University](http://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/ibram-x-kendi-on-change-protests-antiracist-research-center/) in July to launch its Center for Antiracist Research, focusing also on developing a COVID Racial Data Tracker to monitor the virus’s impact on Black and brown communities. Kendi’s New York Times-bestselling [_How to Be an Antiracist_](https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist-1) is now required American reading, [his 2020 TED Talk](https://www.ted.com/talks/ibram_x_kendi_the_difference_between_being_not_racist_and_antiracist?language=en) has racked up more than 1.4 million views, and he released the [_Antiracist Baby_](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624774/antiracist-baby-picture-book-by-ibram-x-kendi-illustrated-by-ashley-lukashevsky/) picture book to give little ones a head start on the acceptance of others and their humanity. In this time of prescriptive change, it seems that people are listening.

8. Nneka Ogwumike

WNBA player

Website, Instagram, Twitter

She’s earned champion credentials in her WNBA career—No. 1 draft pick, Rookie of the Year and six-time All-Star—but some of Nneka Ogwumike’s greatest victories happened off the court this year. In 2016, when she was named MVP, she made $63,710, just under the league’s $75,000 average salary. This year, as [president of the WNBA players’ union](https://www.fastcompany.com/90525968/most-creative-people-2020-nneka-ogwumike), she helped to [negotiate a collective bargaining agreement](https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/28480768/new-wnba-cba-include-salary-bump-other-cash-compensation-increases) that translated to an 83 percent compensation raise, expanded health care and full-salary maternity leave for WNBA players. And as Black women lead like Black women lead, particularly in a league that earned an A+ on the annual [WNBA Racial and Gender Report Card](https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/7d86e5_918fdf4e8051461d8f8f5f8f4180deb4.pdf), the Los Angeles Sparks forward not only drove her team to [the playoffs](https://sparks.wnba.com/2020-playoffs/) but also formulated the union’s focus on social justice and the [players’ protests against police brutality and racial violence](https://slate.com/culture/2020/08/wnba-activism-nba-strike-influence-jacob-blake.html) (Her equally talented sister, Chiney Ogwumike, also made this year’s list). Condoleezza Rice once called Nneka Ogwumike a “[transformative personality](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/nneka-ogwumike-and-the-wnbas-big-complicated-moment),” and in this case, she was on point.

9. Rob Gore

Emergency physician, founder and executive director of the Kings Against Violence Initiative

Website, Instagram

[Named a hero](https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/health/cnnheroes-rob-gore-kings-against-violence-initiative/index.html) by CNN in 2018, Dr. Rob Gore has continued to prove his worthiness of that title in 2020. [While expecting his first child](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/25/us/new-york-coronavirus-frontlines-couple/index.html) with his restaurateur wife, the emergency room doctor was working at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic at Kings County Hospital Center at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn—living apart from his family in an Airbnb to keep them safe while providing critically needed care to people in the neighborhood where he grew up. Gore has also long exhibited a deep commitment to addressing societal ills like violence and racial injustice. He [started the Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI)](https://kavibrooklyn.org/aboutus/ourmission)—an intervention program for youths—over a decade ago in hospitals and schools in Central Brooklyn to stem the violence that [kept bringing Black men to his ER](https://www.theroot.com/this-emergency-room-doctor-was-tired-of-seeing-gunshot-1790855381) with gunshot wounds. His passion for holistic care for Black communities has [even brought him to Haiti](https://kavibrooklyn.org/aboutus/theteam), where he’s helping to build a healthcare system in the northern region of the nation, which was ravaged by a massive earthquake in 2010.

10. Cori Bush

Democratic nominee, Missouri’s 1st Congressional District

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Cori Bush first leaped to national attention when she was featured in the Netflix documentary [_Knock Down the House_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCSo2hZRcXk) as an everyday Black woman doing extraordinary things: working as a registered nurse, an ordained pastor and a mother while also running for office in the congressional district that includes St. Louis and Ferguson, Mo., where Mike Brown was killed Though Bush lost in her ambitious attempt to beat the Democrat incumbent, William Lacy Clay, in both 2016 and 2018—clearly not an easy feat, given that the Clay family had held the seat since 1969—in 2020, voters gave her the [dynasty-ending win](https://www.theroot.com/progressive-cori-bush-just-pulled-off-the-upset-for-the-1844618239), putting her on the verge of [becoming Missouri’s first Black congresswoman](http://www.stlamerican.com/election/cori-bush-will-become-missouris-first-black-congresswoman/article_7f1ba6fa-d6dd-11ea-befe-23d3d78094ef.html). Her promise to fight for real change in the lives of people in her community—people like her—[through policies](https://coribush.org/issues) like “Medicare for All” and a $15 minimum wage is now resonating more than ever. It doesn’t hurt that [Bush herself was a protester in Ferguson](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/11/cori-bush-interview-missouri-congress-michael-brown) during the 2014 uprisings and makes no bones about what is driving her to representative politics even as her star rises higher. “As long as I’m bringing home deliverables to my community…as long as there are little Black girls and all kinds of other children coming up to me saying, ‘I wanna do that’…that’s what it’s about,” [the mother of two said](https://twitter.com/CoriBush/status/1294816430114963456) after [making headlines with her primary victory](https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/longtime-rep-william-lacy-clay-loses-democratic-primary-in-missouri/2020/08/05/43e9d73c-d6c9-11ea-aff6-220dd3a14741_story.html).

11. Jamaal Bowman

Democratic U.S. House candidate for New York’s 16th Congressional District

Website, Instagram, Twitter

New Yorkers used the power of the vote to send a message to the Democratic establishment again this year, this time in the primary for New York’s 16th Congressional District, when [Jamaal Bowman](https://www.theroot.com/ny-congressional-candidate-jamaal-bowman-has-establishm-1844064401) toppled U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel and his 31-year tenure in the seat (and given New York’s liberal politics, Bowman is expected to win the seat outright in November). He was supported by political heavy hitters, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who upset [another establishment Democrat](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/nyregion/joseph-crowley-ocasio-cortez-democratic-primary.html) in 2018), but his haymaker was [an endorsement by former President Barack Obama](http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/aug/06/pres-barack-obama-endorses-jamaal-bowman-congress/), and his election is a big up to progressives in the House. “I’m a Black man raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress,” Bowman, a former teacher and middle school principal, wrote in his victory tweet following news of his June win. Powered by a platform that [reconstructs the distribution of power](https://www.bowmanforcongress.com/), his campaign centered the devastation of the COVID-19 crisis in his district, where the Bronx and New Rochelle were among the hardest-hit areas.

12. Beatrice Dixon

CEO and founder of The Honey Pot Co.

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Beatrice Dixon, founder and CEO of the brilliant plant-based feminine-care line The Honey Pot Co., was standing up for Black women long before [white people on the internet got wind](https://www.theroot.com/white-people-are-annoyingly-insufferable-and-that-s-wh-1842032073) of her desire to inspire Black girls and responded by trying to sabotage her business through bad online reviews. Before being featured in a benign Black History Month [commercial from Target](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23kUpB79cQk&feature=emb_title), which somehow prompted racist backlash, Dixon was already being recognized for her trailblazing entrepreneurship with the company, which she launched in 2014. She was [among the first 40 women of color](https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominiquefluker/2020/03/03/bea-dixon/#156b2fb916c7) to receive $1 million in venture capital funding, according to Forbes, and her all-natural feminine-care brand has [won her honors](https://www.worth.com/eventuser/beatrice-dixon/) from Essence, Entrepreneur magazine and Cosmetics Executive Women. The ancestors, who [Dixon says inspired her](https://thehoneypot.co/pages/about) successful herb-based remedies, must be smiling down at her. The Honey Pot Co.’s [earnings ended up increasing](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/honeypot-company-target-ad-racist-reviews) as a result of this year’s ill-intentioned controversy, showing that Dixon’s integrity and proud advocacy for Black women paid out dividends in the end.

13. Raquel Willis

Writer, activist, director of communications for the Ms. Foundation for Women

Website, Instagram, Twitter

In the same way that she empowers people with [her words as an accomplished writer](https://www.theroot.com/trans-women-are-women-this-isn-t-a-debate-1793202635), Raquel Willis moves folks to action with her activism. In June the multihyphenate transgender leader delivered [an electrifying speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq1w7glqwkU) in which she led an estimated crowd of 15,000 protesters in an “[I believe in Black trans power](https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/rally-black-trans-lives-draws-packed-crowd-brooklyn-museum-plaza-n1231040)” chant of solidarity at the Brooklyn Museum. Her career trajectory—from community strategist to founder of [Black Trans Circles](https://transgenderlawcenter.org/programs/black-trans-circles), a leadership and healing space for Black trans women— has been marked by a dedication to lifting marginalized people after another. In June it led her to her latest opportunity to serve, as director of communications for the [Ms. Foundation for Women](https://forwomen.org/), joining in the organization’s 47-year advocacy for gender equity and women of color-led movements. On the ground or in the office, her work is leading [the way forward to ensure that trans voices](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/raquel-willis-the-people-interview/) are heard.

14. Symone Sanders

Author, senior adviser to Joe Biden

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Symone Sanders is a master at balancing the mechanics of politics with the real-world expectations of real-world people, and that brilliance has been Joe Biden’s godsend since she [joined his campaign as a senior adviser](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/america-has-never-fully-lived-up-to-its-ideals-says-biden-adviser-symone-sanders/2020/06/05/970bdb78-9942-11ea-ac72-3841fcc9b35f_story.html) in 2019. When a protester suddenly rolled up on her boss—also the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee—[Sanders displayed Dora Milaje-like reflexes](https://www.theroot.com/the-root-exclusive-symone-sanders-is-part-of-the-dora-1842091984) to protect his safety, proving once again that she’s the head woman in charge in whatever situation should arise. In one of the most urgent and pivotal elections in American history, she works to connect Biden to essential voting blocs—and mediate his fractured relationship with influencers like Black women and young Black people—to make Nov. 3, 2020, victorious. A behind-the-scenes strategist with gobs of out-in-front personality, Sanders has also been as-seen-on-TV everywhere, especially this year: MSNBC, CNN, even an appearance on _The View_. In May she added “author” to her résumé of accomplishments after the release of her first book, [_No, You Shut Up_](https://www.harpercollins.com/products/no-you-shut-up-symone-d-sanders?variant=32206614757410)_: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America._

15. Yashica Robinson

Obstetrician and gynecologist

Website, Instagram

Dr. Yashica Robinson is engaged in a daily fight for [women’s agency over their bodies](https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2019/03/alabama-womens-center-personhood-fatherhood-wrongful-deathsuit-huntsville-alabama/) and lives. For more than 15 years, the veteran obstetrician and gynecologist has been delivering babies, offering exceptional care and [providing abortion services in Alabama](https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/16/opinions/alabama-abortion-ban-anger-fear-hope-robinson/index.html), the reddest of the red states, where she grew up and stayed to serve her community. After the governor [signed the most restrictive anti-abortion bill](https://www.npr.org/2019/05/14/723312937/alabama-lawmakers-passes-abortion-ban) in the country last year, banning nearly all related services and subjecting doctors who perform procedures to an abysmal felony charge and possible life in prison, Robinson [filed an emergency motion against the state](https://www.aclualabama.org/en/press-releases/aclu-and-abortion-providers-sue-ensure-people-alabama-can-get-critical-abortion-care). She was joined by the ACLU and three independent clinics, but as [the only individual physician named in the case](https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF14/20200212/110504/HHRG-116-IF14-Wstate-RobinsonY-20200212.pdf), she’s been harassed, received death threats and had to defend her hospital privileges to practice. Nevertheless, she persists, steadfast in her advocacy for women and her commitment to what’s right.

16. Kimberly Jones

Author, screenwriter, director, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Kimberly Jones’ [now-famous speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llci8MVh8J4) about Black people’s justified rage was filmed at the height of this year’s protests against police brutality, where, across the country, including in Atlanta—where she is based—the narrative had quickly started shifting from the causes of the riots to complaints about protesters’ violence. Using a brilliant Monopoly metaphor to place the riots firmly in the context of centuries of white violence that have kept Black Americans from keeping their share of the country’s wealth, Jones put one urgent question to those fixated on looting: “How can we win?” Her passion and fact-dropping struck a chord with many as the video made the rounds on the internet—racking up reposts on social media from big names like [LeBron James](https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1269089796422463488), [Madonna](https://twitter.com/kimlatricejones/status/1269264330312335360) and [Trevor Noah](https://twitter.com/kimlatricejones/status/1269733575374647303)—and reached the mainstream media. But Jones was riveting people through the power of her words long before 2020. An NAACP Image Award nominee, a screenwriter and a coauthor of _I’m Not Dying With You Tonight_—[a young-adult book](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S324J6M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) inspired by the 2015 Baltimore riots—Jones stood in front of a news camera [at the age of 6](https://www.kimjoneswrites.com/#about), according to her mom, to give her perspective on how then-President Reagan should resolve the Iran-Contra conflict. A book based on her viral speech is [slated to come out next spring](https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/author-kimberly-jones-writing-book-based-popular-video-71451746).

17. Jasmyn Lawson

Editorial and brand manager, Netflix’s Strong Black Lead

Website, Instagram, Twitter

When she’s not being [retweeted](https://twitter.com/JasmynBeKnowing/status/1240367610887147520?s=20) by famously rare Twitter user Beyoncé, Jasmyn Lawson is championing Black creatives and amplifying Black stories by way of television, film and social media. As [brand manager](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmyn-lawson/) for Netflix’s branded-editorial team, Lawson oversees the editorial efforts of [Strong Black Lead](https://www.theroot.com/tag/netflix-strong-black-leads)’s social channels and keeps it all the way real—and all the way Black—especially on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/strongblacklead) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/strongblacklead/), by curating conversations that allow our feelings and experiences to be centered and seen. In a 2019 interview with [Hypebae](https://hypebae.com/2019/9/jasmyn-lawson-netflix-career-interview-strong-black-lead-editorial-brand-manager-giphy), the former culture editor for Giphy shared that her time at alma mater Spelman College contributed to her crusade in highlighting the broad scope of the Black experience, noting, “We’re so unique, we’re so different, we’re not monolithic.”

18. Phillip Atiba Goff

Co-founder and CEO of the Center for Policing Equity

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Phillip Atiba Goff has been studying racism through the prism of social psychology for years, and his focus on figuring out how to combat it in American policing feels [more valuable than ever in 2020](https://www.ted.com/talks/dr_phillip_atiba_goff_the_bill_has_come_due_for_the_us_s_history_of_racism#t-386574). A graduate of Harvard College with a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford, Goff has pioneered a path of research built on the thesis that racism is about behaviors and their impact—rather than feelings and intent—and thus can be tackled with specific actions. In 2015, long before the world’s attention turned to the police force in Minneapolis this year as a result of George Floyd’s killing, Goff was already pushing the city to institute changes that could measurably address racial disparities in the way cops there carry out policing. As [co-founder and CEO](https://policingequity.org/about/executive-team/phillip-atiba-goff-phd) of the Center for Police Equity, he is all about untangling the data behind discrimination and identifying solutions to seemingly intractable problems. [A TED Talk](https://www.ted.com/talks/dr_phillip_atiba_goff_how_we_can_make_racism_a_solvable_problem_and_improve_policing) he delivered last year about his think tank’s approach to police reform has garnered more than 2 million views and counting; he was also part of then-President Barack Obama’s promising Task Force on 21st Century Policing, has been called on by Congress to present his insights and is prepping the next generation to carry on this critical work as a [professor at Yale University.](https://afamstudies.yale.edu/people/phillip-atiba-goff)

19. Angela Peoples

Director, Black Womxn For

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Instead of compromising for a seat at someone else’s table, Angela Peoples decided to build her own from the ground up. In 2017, when she first came to wide attention after [a photo of her at the Women’s March on Washington went viral](https://www.theroot.com/woman-in-viral-photo-from-women-s-march-to-white-female-1791524613), Peoples co-founded [The South](https://www.thisthesouth.com/work) with Kevin Banatte as a network where creative content, unapologetic Black culture, politics and social justice intersect. Birthed from The South, [Black Womxn For](https://www.blackwomxnfor.com/) started as a grassroots project to organize, connect and empower Black women around the country to be more politically involved. Black Womxn For, a [collective of](https://www.theroot.com/black-womxn-are-here-for-elizabeth-warren-as-president-1839714465) “leaders, activists, thought partners and political strategists,” aims to maximize each woman’s potential for progress and actionable change. It has rapidly become one of the most influential organizations during this election year and regularly hosts events to reinforce political action. The organization [endorsed Elizabeth Warren](https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/politics/elizabeth-warren-endorsement-black-women-activists/index.html) for president, and Peoples [co-wrote an op-ed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/15/biden-black-women-warren-running-mate/) in the Washington Post urging Biden to select Warren as his running mate because of her commitment to working to support Black lives. Peoples continues to uplift by acknowledging the organization’s commitment not only to cisgender Black women but also to Black trans women and gender-nonconforming individuals.

20. Chris Paul

NBA player

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul is steadily becoming known for more than just his above-average skills on the court, especially in his promotion of HBCUs. While he ironically [claims](https://theundefeated.com/features/chris-paul-talks-business-basketball-and-branding-at-north-carolina-at/) to be the only member of his family who _didn’t_ attend a historically black college or university, Paul is nonetheless a staunch advocate for HBCUs, [finding creative ways](https://www.slamonline.com/nba/chris-paul-interview/) to support these schools as well as their students’ stories and successes. In April, he [donated](https://www.wssu.edu/about/news/articles/2019/04/chris-paul-family-foundation-makes-50,000-donation-to-wssu-athletics-team-250.html) $50,000 to Winston-Salem State University’s (his father’s alma mater) athletic department through his [Chris Paul Family Foundation](https://growannenberg.org/grants/8117/chris-paul-family-foundation), with a goal of raising $250,000 over four months to help the department thrive. In addition, it was [announced](https://deadline.com/2020/07/nba-star-chris-paul-teams-with-roadside-entertainment-on-basketball-docu-series-set-at-historically-black-colleges-1202974551/) in July that Paul’s production company, Ohh Dip!!!, would be teaming up with Roadside Entertainment to present a docuseries on HBCU basketball programs. That same month, Paul teamed up with fellow NBA stars Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony to launch [the Social Change Fund](https://www.thesocialchangefund.org/index.html), formed with the goal of “[empowering communities of color and advocating for the rights of all Black lives](https://www.eifoundation.org/press-release/philanthropists-entrepreneurs-and-nba-superstars-carmelo-anthony-chris-paul-and-dwyane-wade-launch-social-change-fund/).”

21. Cameron Webb

Doctor, Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Healthcare accessibility and affordability continue to be urgent issues for everyday Americans, something Dr. Cameron Webb knows firsthand as a physician and as the director of health policy [at the University of Virginia](https://med.virginia.edu/phs/viewpoints/team/). [That experience](https://www.drcameronwebb.com/meet-cam), alongside his time in Washington, D.C., as a White House fellow under both the Obama and Trump administrations, pushed him to run for Congress this year. If successful in November, Webb would be the [first Black doctor](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/us/politics/cameron-webb-wins-virginia.html) to sit in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he [wants to work](https://twitter.com/DrCameronWebb/status/1298274940198813696) on stopping predatory health insurance companies and lowering the cost of medications. He’s facing a fight from his Republican opponent, who has [pushed racist ads](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/09/01/bob-good-campaign-ad/) framing Webb’s support of police reform and “Medicare for All” as scary policies. But as one of the only [5 percent of physicians in America who are Black](https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/workforce/interactive-data/figure-18-percentage-all-active-physicians-race/ethnicity-2018)—alongside his wife, an emergency room doctor—Webb is clearly no stranger to defying limitations and any attempts at marginalization.

22. Chiney Ogwumike

Radio co-host, WNBA player

Website, Instagram, Twitter

A sensation on the court as a forward for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and off the court in the studio, Chiney Ogwumike is changing the game. She was the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft in 2012 and is a two-time WNBA All-Star. Hailing from Texas, the Nigerian-American athlete was a starter on the USA Basketball U18 team and played internationally for China and Italy. Adding to her impressive background, Ogwumike became the first Black woman to co-host a national daily sports show with ESPN Radio in August (and there must be something in the genes, since her sister Nneka Ogwumike is an honoree on this year’s list as well). Her show, _Chiney and Golic Jr._, catapults her into the spotlight, but she also understands the responsibility that comes with the new opportunity. “To co-host a daily, national platform is a reflection of ESPN’s understanding that voices like mine matter,” Ogwumike told the [Bleacher Report.](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2899232-sparks-chiney-ogwumike-named-co-host-of-national-espn-radio-show) “I am thrilled to represent this rising generation alongside my new teammate Golic Jr., a close friend and exceptional talent.”

23. Misha Green

Co-creator, executive producer and showrunner, _Lovecraft Country_

Website, Instagram, Twitter

The WGN America series _Underground_, created and executive-produced by Misha Green (former staff writer for _Heroes_ and _Sons of Anarchy_), was a watershed moment in television, using deeply nuanced and humanizing portrayals to depict the horrific experiences of enslaved people in America for a contemporary audience. This year, Green centered the mid-20th century African-American experience in another type of horror, teaming up with Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams to present [_Lovecraft Country_](https://www.theroot.com/lovecraft-country-and-the-horror-story-of-america-1844726148)_,_ which received a [straight-to-series order](https://deadline.com/2017/05/jordan-peele-lovecraft-country-hbo-series-misha-green-1202095066/) from HBO in 2017. The horror-fantasy series, which stars Jonathan Majors, Michael Kenneth Williams, Jurnee Smollett and Courtney B. Vance, is based on Matt Ruff’s novel of the same name, putting a spin on the racist narratives of writer H.P. Lovecraft and [a subversive new spotlight](https://www.theroot.com/where-white-people-are-scarier-than-monsters-the-hidde-1845000536) on the monstrous history of race in America.

24. L.L. McKinney

Author

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Leave it to Black women to create a historic virtual book festival during times of isolation and uncertainty. Amid a year brimming with cancellations, fantasy author [Leatrice “Elle” McKinney](https://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/article218857050.html), aka L.L. McKinney, partnered with Saraciea Fennell to bring the [2020 Juneteenth Book Fest](https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/juneteenth-book-fest-interview-47559039) to fruition. The festival featured over 30 Black authors with the aim of bringing Black joy, Black talent, Black love and the complexity of Black stories to light. When she’s not writing and creating, McKinney continues to use her powers for good in the form of activism. In June, she made headlines after creating the viral hashtag #PublishingPaidMe, which added transparency to the inadequate pay that Black authors receive from publishing houses in comparison with non-Black authors. Heavy literary hitters such as Roxane Gay, Jesmyn Ward and N.K. Jemisin weighed in with their book advances, and the discrepancies in comparison with their white counterparts were stunning. “It’s honestly a little bit bigger than we expected, especially when it comes to seeing, like, N.K. Jemisin is a god in science fiction and fantasy. [She has won awards back-to-back](https://www.npr.org/2018/12/26/680201486/at-the-end-of-the-year-n-k-jemisin-ponders-the-end-of-the-world),” McKinney [told NPR](https://www.npr.org/2020/06/08/872470156/-publishingpaidme-authors-share-their-advances-to-expose-racial-disparities). “No one else has done this. And to see what she gets paid, or got paid, versus what somebody who we don’t know, who’s coming out, gets paid. It rocked a lot of people. We knew that the hole was there and we knew the hole was deep, but none of us knew it was that deep.”

25. Kyrie Irving

NBA player, philanthropist and social justice advocate

Website, Instagram, Twitter

In 2020, Kyrie Irving established himself as a bona fide leader, not only on the basketball court but also in the social and racial justice arenas. As the coronavirus threw into disarray the NBA’s plans for a normal season, the six-time All-Star emerged as a voice who was [reportedly advocating behind the scenes](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29304500/sources-kyrie-irving-play-key-role-friday-call-players) for his fellow professional ball players to leverage the opportunity (and their visibility) by opting out of games this year altogether—forcing their usual spectators to truly reckon with the problem of systemic racism in this country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and so many others. Though [Irving’s call wasn’t taken up en masse](https://www.theroot.com/once-teammates-now-kyrie-irving-and-lebron-james-repre-1844051094) by his fellow athletes [until late August](https://deadspin.com/kyrie-irving-tried-to-save-the-nba-from-this-moment-bu-1844860881), when yet another police shooting of a Black man caused the Milwaukee Bucks to launch a strike, the Brooklyn Nets point guard spent the summer putting his money where his mouth is. From [producing a TV special,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NKs707iH_w&feature=youtu.be) alongside Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), calling for justice for Breonna Taylor to [pledging $1.5 million in financial support for WNBA players](https://www.nba.com/article/2020/07/27/kyrie-irving-commits-1-million-wnba-players#:~:text=The%20Brooklyn%20Nets%20star%20is,Initiative%20that%20Irving%20launched%20Monday.) who chose to opt out of playing this year for health or social justice reasons, Irving continues to show that he isn’t afraid to stand up and stand out for what he believes in.

26. Patrisse Cullors

Co-founder of Black Lives Matter, author, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

For the past 20 years, Patrisse Cullors has devoted herself to criminal justice reform and the liberation of Black, impoverished, disabled, LGBTQ and other marginalized communities. As a co-founder of Black Lives Matter with Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza (who is also a **The Root 100** honoree this year), Cullors continued to build on her legacy of activism this year when, on July 4, she launched an aerial collaborative project, [_In Plain Sight_](https://www.wsj.com/articles/black-lives-matter-co-founder-patrisse-cullors-on-writing-messages-in-the-sky-11594215063), to combat and spread awareness about mass incarceration. “Care Not Cages” was written and flown across the sky, [embodying the initiative](https://xmap.us/artists/patrisse-cullors/) to “call for a world that prioritizes abolition.” A native of Los Angeles, she also founded [Dignity and Power Now,](http://dignityandpowernow.org/) an organization that provides health and wellness programs to incarcerated people in L.A., their families and surrounding communities. Cullors is also working on a countywide ballot with Reform L.A. Jails to allow the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Civilian Oversight Commission to have subpoena power. Often cast by [some on the right](https://twitter.com/AnthemRespect/status/1274117254943133697?s=20) as a Marxist bogeywoman [out to destroy America](https://www.theroot.com/watch-patrisse-khan-cullors-on-being-under-extreme-sur-1822048213), Cullors has turned that vitriol into fuel for her 2018 New York Times bestselling book on life, [_When They Call You a Terrorist:_](https://www.amazon.com/When-They-Call-You-Terrorist/dp/1250171083/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) _A Black Lives Matter Memoir._

27. Alicia Garza

Co-founder of Black Lives Matter and principal, Black Futures Lab

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Famous for being one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza continues her [trailblazing activism](https://www.theroot.com/black-lives-matter-co-founder-alicia-garza-on-how-to-or-1844085402) to empower the Black community as head of the [Black Futures Lab](https://blackfutureslab.org/about/), which “works with Black people to transform our communities, building Black political power and changing the way that power operates.” Earlier this year, the lab released [the Black Agenda](https://black2thefuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BlackAgenda2020.pdf), a point-by-point list urging political leaders to enact policies that will help destroy the barriers that have hindered Black prosperity and diminished our political power. This project comes on the heels of BFL’s 2018 [Black Census Project](https://blackcensus.org/), the largest survey of Black Americans in 155 years, which provided insights into the aspirations of Black people across all 50 states and will help inform another BFL initiative, the [Black to the Future Public Policy Institute](https://blackfutureslab.org/black-to-the-future-policy-institute-2/), a place for policy advocacy and leadership training. But Garza isn’t limiting her reach. She’s branching out into film as she joins [a star-studded cast](https://deadline.com/2020/08/between-the-world-and-me-oprah-winfrey-angela-bassett-courtney-b-vance-among-9-cast-in-hbo-special-1203012668/) that includes Oprah Winfrey, Angela Bassett, Courtney B. Vance and Phylicia Rashad in the film adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ New York Times bestseller, _Between the World and Me_, which is set to air on HBO. Garza is also set to release a book in October, [_The Purpose of Power_](https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/biography/the-purpose-of-power-how-to-build,alicia-garza-9780857527677)_: How to Build Movements for the 21st Century_, in which she delves into her experience fighting for Black lives, shares her knowledge about organizing and discusses racial history.

28. God-is Rivera

Global director of culture and community at Twitter

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Throughout her career, God-is Rivera has made inclusivity in the media industry her main priority. Her bold vision for better representation and stronger communities has catapulted the Bronx native to her current role as the global director of culture and community at Twitter. Her passion for giving a voice to the voiceless and creating impactful connections between people around the globe is constantly reflected in her work. Even though the pandemic may have postponed [a planned forum for Black Twitter](https://thegrio.com/2020/03/01/black-twitter-live-has-got-black-twitter-in-their-feelings-everything-we-know-about-the-event/), Rivera still showed out for her community by uplifting Black voices with a [national billboard campaign](https://www.adweek.com/creativity/twitter-launches-ads-about-racial-inequality-in-cities-that-have-been-hubs-of-protest/), which took Black Lives Matter tweets to the streets. The campaign, which launched in May in cities that have been hubs of protest, shared tweets of everyday users who posted messages that meaningfully contribute to the BLM dialogue. As a tribute to the treasured digital community of Black Twitter, Rivera has made the rounds discussing her presentation, “Woke, Lit & Ready: A Guide to Understanding Black Twitter.”

29. Angelica Ross

Actor, activist, entrepreneur

Website, Instagram, Twitter

She made television history as the first trans actor to have back-to-back series-regular roles—in Ryan Murphy’s Emmy-nominated _Pose_, followed by _American Horror Story: 1984_; has [served face](https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pose-star-angelica-ross-face-new-louis-vuitton-campaign-n1122426) for luxury brand Louis Vuitton; and was the first trans person to [host a national presidential candidate forum](https://www.theroot.com/pose-but-make-it-presidential-actress-activist-angeli-1838191331) on LGBTQ issues, making Angelica Ross a stunner in every sense of the word. As a growing presence on the political landscape, in 2020, Ross was one of the co-hosts for [the first-ever Black National Convention](https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/0828/First-Black-National-Convention-puts-reform-on-the-agenda) and signed [an overall development deal](https://deadline.com/2020/08/pose-angelica-ross-overall-development-deal-with-pigeon-production-company-1203001926/) with production company Pigeon, which is working with Joe Biden’s presidential campaign to produce the LGBTQ [Out for Biden](https://joebiden.com/lgbtq/) initiative. She dropped [a video](https://www.instagram.com/tv/CBQt2kkF3LM/) on Hilary Swank’s Instagram as part of the #[ShareTheMicNow](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-06-10/black-lives-matter-share-the-mic-now-instagram) campaign, in which Black activists, celebs and athletes took over white celebrities’ social accounts to talk about race in the wake of protests over George Floyd’s death. The staunch advocate for transgender rights also continues to use her platform to combat [violence](https://www.theroot.com/me-too-and-essence-to-host-the-black-women-and-girls-su-1844778746) and discrimination against her community, working diligently with her 6-year-old nonprofit, [TransTech Social Enterprises](https://www.transtechsocial.org/about-the-company/), to provide education, support and employment opportunities for the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQ community.

30. Brandon P. Fleming

Assistant debate coach at Harvard University, founder and CEO of the Harvard Diversity Project

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Brandon Fleming didn’t have the easiest childhood. Growing up around violence and drug use, [he says he found it difficult](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDB-uBEQYeI) to engage academically for most of his youth, leading him to eventually drop out of Liberty University when he was 23 to go work in a factory. But an attempt at suicide ended up being his lowest moment and a defining one. Fleming reenrolled in college, found out that he actually loved reading, and discovered a talent for debating and for tutoring youths of color who were struggling to find their way as he once was. News of his success reached Atlanta’s Ron Clark Academy, where he taught middle school students until he was recruited by Harvard University for its debate faculty at just 26 years old. In December 2019, Fleming was [named one of the Forbes “30 Under 30”](https://www.forbes.com/profile/brandon-fleming/#3926282b3644) for launching the impressive [Harvard Diversity Project](https://harvarddcdp.org/), which provides financial support to underserved Black youths from Atlanta so they can attend summer debate residencies at the Ivy League school. Under his tutelage, Black teens [earned a historic win to three-peat](https://www.ajc.com/news/local/all-black-atlanta-debate-teams-nails-victory-harvard/DCUnFjugztmvSmiURhzaeO/) their first time out and went on against debaters from all over the globe, while [others have gone on](https://harvarddcdp.org/home/about-us/) to be admitted to universities like Howard, Stanford and Harvard itself.

31. Arabia Mollette

Emergency physician

Website, Instagram, Twitter

When the COVID-19 outbreak ripped through the country, Dr. Arabia Mollette, an emergency room doctor at [St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y.,](https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2020-03-29/were-trying-to-keep-our-heads-above-water-us-healthcare-workers-fight-shortages-and-fear) and Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville, [described her emergency room as a “war zone.”](https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/us-coronavirus-update-04-23-20/h_9534a177e7709d2ae69e9f82036634b5) The pandemic exacerbated the disparities in health and wealth that she had already been seeing in her practice, and in [a heartbreakingly candid op-ed in the New York Daily News](https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-nyc-er-doctor-opinion-20200416-la7yngpo6jfxdpmtzfffbwrtpe-story.html), she described her grim daily reality on the front lines to save lives in a broken health care system. “Whenever I take a five-minute break, I use it to let out my tears,” she wrote. “Doctors are humans, too, and we sometimes get scared. For you, and for us.” As she’s been transparent about [the humanity on both sides of the COVID-19 battle,](https://news.yahoo.com/am-i-next-new-york-er-doctor-shares-how-she-lives-with-the-anxiety-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-224204347.html) the medical correspondent and self-described “lifestyle physician” has been actively evangelizing fact-based medical guidance [on local and national media platforms](https://www.essence.com/feature/dr-cadet-expert-coronavirus-covid-19-advice/) and on her podcast, [_The Visit With Dr. Arabia Mollette_](https://soundcloud.com/arabia-mollette).

32. Kendrick Sampson

Actor, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

When he’s not pursuing his craft as an actor—which has included portraying the [mysterious Nathan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njq_MrLB290) on HBO’s Emmy-nominated _Insecure_ and appearing in projects like _How to Get Away With Murder_ and _Miss Juneteenth_—Kendrick Sampson is devoting his life and career to social justice activism. A self-identified police abolitionist and outspoken advocate on issues ranging from [Me Too and Black mental health to indigenous rights and the Movement for Black Lives](https://www.gq.com/story/kendrick-sampson-juneteenth-profile), in June, the actor [wrote a letter](https://www.theroot.com/kendrick-sampson-pens-letter-to-hollywood-calling-for-p-1844146840) calling for Hollywood’s elite to demonstrate their commitment to racial justice by divesting from the police, garnering over 300 signatures from Black creatives. This came after Sampson was among several protesters hit by rubber bullets after police fired into a crowd during a Los Angeles protest, an experience that he detailed on his social media pages. Despite the trauma, the actor continues to fight tirelessly for [equality and justice](https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/-bad-fruit-actor-kendrick-sampson-calls-for-new-justice-system-89858629667) for the Black community both on- and offscreen, telling [GQ in a Juneteenth-themed interview](https://www.gq.com/story/kendrick-sampson-juneteenth-profile): “If you’re putting something out into the world, it should be utilized to help. What is your intention behind it? I think it should be for liberation.”

33. Kehinde Wiley

Artist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Kehinde Wiley, who was famously commissioned by President Barack Obama to [paint his official portrait](https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/obama-portraits-unveiled), unveiled in 2018, sees the majesty in everyday Black folks and has spent a career visually articulating us as heroes and royalty in his art. Even before protesters spray-painted Confederate statues and yanked them from their pedestals of overinflated importance this year in response to George Floyd’s death, the renowned artist had revealed [his new masterpiece,](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/kehinde-wileys-anti-confederate-memorial) _Rumors of War_, as a reimagination of an improvement on [the 1907 monument of Confederate Gen. Jeb Stuart](https://www.wsls.com/news/2020/07/14/descendant-of-jeb-stuart-wants-statue-at-his-birthplace/). Instead of a bearded white guy in a rebel uniform, Wiley postured a valiant young Black man in dreads and a hoodie on horseback. The bronze statue is a statement—a three-story, 30-ton statement—originally [unveiled in New York City’s Times Square](https://www.theroot.com/in-yo-face-like-a-can-of-mace-kehinde-wiley-unveils-b-1838565990) in September 2019 but now permanently installed in its new home outside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, just blocks away from the state capital’s collection of Confederate losers on Monument Avenue.

34. Diamond Stylz

Activist, podcaster, executive director of Black Transwomen Inc.

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Protecting Black trans women isn’t a slogan for Diamond Stylz—it’s her life’s work and passion. As a high schooler, [she successfully sued](https://diamondstylz.com/about-diamond-stylz/) Indianapolis Public Schools for the right to wear a gown to prom rather than a tuxedo and then went on to become the first openly trans woman to attend Jackson State University, an HBCU in Mississippi. Her experiences in college sadly [included being the target](https://www.theroot.com/marsha-s-plate-trans-podcast-wants-to-liberate-all-blac-1841067290) of the kind of bigoted violence that continues to kill [Black trans women in America at higher rates](https://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-against-the-trans-and-gender-non-conforming-community-in-2020) than other transgender and non-gender-conforming people. In response, Stylz doubled down on her activism and became the visible advocate for Black trans women that she is today. From producing the weekly podcast [_Marsha’s Plate_](https://diamondstylz.com/marshas-plate/), where she and her co-hosts help to unpack Black trans people’s experiences, to helming [Black Transwomen Inc](https://blacktranswomen.org/)[.](https://blacktranswomen.org/), a national nonprofit that supports Black trans women in need, Stylz is all about ensuring that this marginalized community isn’t left behind in the larger Movement for Black Lives.

35. Kimberly Drew

Art curator, writer, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Kimberly Drew knows a lot about art—and the art world rightfully knows her. Through her nearly decade-old Tumblr blog [Black Contemporary Art](https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/) and popular Instagram account [@museummammy](https://www.instagram.com/museummammy/), she pushed Black art, Black artists and the Black experience to the fore, exploring the intersection of artistry, racial justice and equality. Drew’s impeccable aesthetics and unapologetic approach landed her a [high-profile position](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/style/kimberly-drew-black-contemporary-art.html) as the social media manager for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which she left the fall of 2018 to refocus her creative talents on writing, launching her new career with an acclaimed feature on [Tina Knowles’ art collection for Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/08/tina-knowles-lawson-black-art-collection-beyonce-solange-creativity), immediately followed by a profile of Virgil Abloh. Simultaneously, she has curated programs [dedicated](https://news.artnet.com/art-world/the-mets-kimberly-drew-tells-us-the-art-world-she-wants-to-see-700547) to uplifting Black voices and has been an outspoken [advocate](https://www.thecut.com/2020/07/cut-chats-kimberly-drew.html) for police reform and social justice. The professional pivot paid off; Drew’s first book_,_ [_This Is What I Know About Art_](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612188/this-is-what-i-know-about-art-by-kimberly-drew-illustrated-by-ashley-lukashevsky/), debuted in June 2020; her second, [_Black Futures_](https://www.amazon.com/Black-Futures-Kimberly-Drew/dp/039918113X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Black+Futures&qid=1599529658&sr=8-1), co-authored with journalist Jenna Wortham, is scheduled for release later this year.

36. Tiffany D. Cross

Political analyst, author

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Tiffany D. Cross is a politico hybrid, an exemplar of a likable personality that draws us in with an astuteness that serves up current affairs for all news appetites. A [possible heir apparent](https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/msnbc-joy-reid-weekend-anchor-zerlina-maxwell-1234749287/) to Joy Reid’s former weekend morning MSNBC slot, the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics fellow is a [go-to for political perspectives](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0fhYjFpbD8), and this year in particular, as the Trump administration has been busy being incompetent, she’s been busy calling out that incompetence in appearances [everywhere from](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhC0CLJnPPc) [_The View_ exacted an applaudable verbal smackdown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhC0CLJnPPc) to C-SPAN to her own news desk, where she on the executive director of Trump’s “Diversity Coalition.” In July, [Cross released her first book](https://www.essence.com/feature/tiffany-d-cross-is-ready-to-say-it-louder/), _Say It Louder! Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy_, to do her part to push the equity conversation forward in her own essential voice.

37. Zerlina Maxwell

Political analyst, writer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Two years ago, when Zerlina Maxwell was on [a Politicon panel about liberalism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAAZunrTXZM), some home-training-less audience members broke out in booing and hissing, but she quickly got them together with substantiated facts. When she finished, an astute editor who’d been watching suggested that the go-to politico expand her ideas into book form. In July, Maxwell did that, releasing [_The End of White Politics_](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bea/article/83406-bookexpo-2020-zerlina-maxwell-looks-to-heal-the-liberal-divide.html)_: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide_ just in time for [one of the wildest election cycles](https://news.yahoo.com/zerlina-maxwell-trumps-incompetence-now-034800090.html) in American memory. Between offering her on-air insight as [an MSNBC political analyst](https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/zerlina-maxwell-despite-biden-s-lead-in-the-polls-we-can-take-nothing-for-granted-85889093716), writing for national publications and serving feminist-centered perspective as [co-host of _Signal Boost_ on SiriusXM](https://blog.siriusxm.com/siriusxm-progress-strengthens-programming-roster-in-build-up-to-2020-elections/), Maxwell is a beacon of light at [the intersections of policy, culture and race](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/03/why-republicans-are-desperate-to-keep-the-white-status-quo-as-it-disintegrates). And as America [rapidly becomes](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/census-shows-white-decline-nonwhite-majority-among-youngest-americans-n1232094) a majority-nonwhite country, her passion for reframing the way we center political issues and perspectives is changing the game and the way the players play.

38. Issa Rae

Writer, actor, showrunner, producer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Issa Rae’s Hollywood résumé just keeps growing. This year alone, the two-time Golden Globe nominee earned her second Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy nomination for _Insecure_—which had perhaps its strongest season yet in 2020, garnering an additional seven Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series. Rae was also an executive producer on the Emmy-nominated _Black Lady Sketch Show_ and helped diversify the big screen opposite Lakeith Stanfield in the romantic drama [_The Photograph_](https://www.theroot.com/the-photograph-we-love-black-ass-love-so-lets-play-bl-1841676478?_ga=2.21387963.1656367674.1597587967-1188040822.1585663230) and Kumail Nanjiani in the action comedy [_The Lovebirds_](https://www.theroot.com/sorry-lawrence-hive-issa-rae-would-exterminate-you-in-a-1843584092). The Senegalese-American powerhouse shows no signs of slowing, appearing in HBO’s star-studded, 2020-themed [_Coastal Elites_](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-09-11/hbo-coastal-elites-issa-rae-bette-midler-sarah-paulson-dan-levy-kaitlyn-dever) and [executive-producing](https://deadline.com/2020/08/hbo-documentary-black-television-issa-rae-1203004500/) [_Seen & Heard_](https://deadline.com/2020/08/hbo-documentary-black-television-issa-rae-1203004500/), a two-part documentary on the history of Black television. Also on deck is [_The Ghost in the Machine_](https://www.theroot.com/issa-rae-is-producing-a-film-about-tanya-smith-a-black-1844773448), the feature film adaptation of former white-collar criminal Tanya Smith’s upcoming memoir. As if that weren’t enough, Rae also launched her aptly named [Raedio record label](https://www.theroot.com/issa-rae-has-a-whole-record-label-named-raedio-announc-1839222610) with Atlantic Records and [helped reinvigorate NBA fans](https://www.theroot.com/issa-rae-stars-in-new-nba-campaign-to-encourage-fan-sup-1844469207) via a series of ads for the league.

39. Ritchie Torres

New York City councilman and Democratic candidate for New York’s 15th Congressional District

Website, Instagram, Twitter

A Bronx native who grew up [in what he describes as slum conditions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=195&v=otj_lAFlujA&feature=emb_title) in New York City’s public housing, Ritchie Torres made a name for himself at age 25 as the youngest person to be [elected to public office](https://council.nyc.gov/ritchie-torres/) in NYC and who has worked tirelessly on behalf of marginalized people in the city. Since then, the outspoken [Afro-Latino politician](https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/ritchie-torres-another-young-bronx-progressive-launches-a-run-for-congress) has gotten closer to his goal of elevating the needs of South Bronx residents by working to ensure that they have a visible and vocal advocate in Washington, D.C. He [secured a win](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/torres-scores-victory-for-progressives-in-new-york-primary) in the Democratic primary earlier this year for New York’s 15th Congressional District—which happens to be [one of the nation’s poorest](https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/new-york-state/ny-has-richest-poorest-smallest-most-unequal-congressional)—and is now on track to be part of the new guard of young leaders in Congress fighting for working-class communities like the ones they hail from. If Torres wins in November, he will also break another barrier by becoming one of the first openly gay Black members of Congress.

40. Jeremy Pope

Actor, singer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Jeremy Pope’s performance as Black aspiring screenwriter Archie Coleman in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix miniseries _Hollywood_ [earned him](https://www.emmys.com/bios/jeremy-pope) a coveted 2020 Emmy nomination. However, the accolade is simply Pope’s latest in a growing career: The actor and singer first came to national attention via the stage, starring in the original off-Broadway production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s _Choir Boy_. Pope originated the role of Black queer protagonist Pharus Jonathan Young, telling [Entertainment Weekly](https://ew.com/theater/2019/04/16/jeremy-pope-choir-boy-aint-too-proud-interview/), “I was grateful to be a part of a piece that started a conversation and presented Black men in a very strong way.” Pope reprised the role on Broadway for a limited run in 2018; [that same year, he portrayed Eddie Kendricks](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/194805/choir-boys-jeremy-pope-on-pulling-double-duty-in-aint-too-proud-his-dream-biscuits-butterbeer-diet-more/) in Dominique Morisseau’s Broadway musical _Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations._ In 2019, his standout performances in both roles helped Pope become the sixth actor in Tony Award history [to be nominated in two separate categories](https://ew.com/theater/2019/04/16/jeremy-pope-choir-boy-aint-too-proud-interview/) in the same year. Next, Pope will team up with Hollywood executive producer and director Janet Mock for the upcoming interracial-love drama _Scandalous!_

41. George M. Johnson

Author, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Upon its release in April 2020, George M. Johnson’s [_All Boys Aren’t Blue_](https://www.theroot.com/excerpt-george-m-johnsons-all-boys-arent-blue-is-a-bl-1843096998) brought a needed new voice to the young-adult book market, offering a series of deeply sensitive essays chronicling Johnson’s experiences growing up young, Black and nonbinary. The groundbreaking memoir instantly made several bestseller lists and caught the attention of Gabrielle Union, [who optioned Johnson’s “memoir-manifesto”](https://www.theroot.com/gabrielle-union-options-george-m-johnsons-all-boys-are-1843994677) in June for series development at Sony TV. A seasoned columnist whose writing on gender, identity, culture, health and sexuality has been featured in [_The Root_](https://www.theroot.com/black-genius-a-privilege-afforded-only-to-straight-bla-1825829527)[,](https://www.theroot.com/black-genius-a-privilege-afforded-only-to-straight-bla-1825829527) Essence, Teen Vogue and The Advocate, among other outlets, Johnson also serves as a New York state spokesperson for the [HIV Stops With Me](http://hivstopswithme.org/about/) campaign, aiming to raise awareness and reduce the spread of HIV while also diminishing stigma surrounding the virus.

42. Remoshay Nelson

U.S. Air Force captain

Twitter

Capt. Remoshay Nelson made history in 2020 as the first Black woman to [wear the emblem](https://www.acc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1866754/thunderbirds-announce-2020-officer-selections/) of the [Thunderbirds](https://www.instagram.com/afthunderbirds/?hl=en), an elite U.S. Air Force squadron that had only counted a total of [12 African Americans](https://blog.theveteranssite.greatergood.com/remoshay-nelson-thunderbirds/) in its numbers since it was established in 1953—all of them men. The Howard alumna and Delta Sigma Theta soror [says her experience at the HBCU](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/howard-university-graduate-makes-history-as-air-force-thunderbird/2304711/) helped imbue her with the confidence to break high ground as an African-American woman, to “walk into the world knowing where I come from and where my people come from, and where we can go.” That confidence—and eight years of mostly overseas service with the Air Force—propelled Nelson to her current rank as an officer of the gravity-defying Thunderbirds, known for their flyover jet demonstrations. While also serving as the Thunderbirds’ public affairs officer, she has joined them in [giving salutes from the sky](https://www.11alive.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/local-thunderbirds-pilot-atlanta-flyover/85-bae2c4f6-3bf9-4c20-a8f1-ece5ccfdbef5) to health care workers and everyday people across the country, continuing to spread hope and inspiration even during the coronavirus pandemic.

43. Brittney Cooper

Academic, author

Website, Instagram, Twitter

This year, when America came due for a racial reckoning, Brittney Cooper had the attention of a country mystified by peril of its own making. The Rutgers University professor and cultural critic has been [dissecting the urgency of Black fury](https://www.ted.com/talks/brittney_cooper_the_racial_politics_of_time) since the release of her [2018 book, _Eloquent Rage_](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250112576), and her expertise in racial politics added much-needed context to [the justice movement for Breonna Taylor](https://time.com/5847970/police-brutality-black-women-girls/), the reinvigorated push to [make Juneteenth a federal holiday](https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/brittney-cooper-juneteenth-absolutely-should-be-a-federal-holiday-84884549986) and the collective call for Joe Biden to choose a Black woman as his running mate. Fighting back is in Black folks’ genetic makeup, she said [in a New York Times interview](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/20IHW-black-lives-matter-protests-brittney-cooper-women.html), and Cooper is elevating the Black girls and women in particular who are leveraging society-changing leadership in organized protests, strategic unrest and, now, the call to hold the Democratic Party accountable to the nation of sisters who keep it alive and relevant.

44. Mondaire Jones

Democratic candidate for New York's 17th Congressional District

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Mondaire Jones has an [impressive track record](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LljE5ZhLw&feature=emb_title): A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, he worked as an attorney in Westchester County, N.Y., before spending time in the Department of Justice during the Obama administration. His future is looking even brighter. This year, Jones [bagged a win](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/mondaire-jones-house-primary.html) in the Democratic primary for New York’s 17th Congressional District, [collecting big-name endorsements](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/new-york-congress-endorsements.html) from progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and even the New York Times along the way. That victory all but guarantees that Jones will be voted into Congress on Election Day—and as one of its first openly gay Black members. This young champion of progressive policies is all about upending expectations and entering rooms once barred to people like him in America. Jones [has said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LljE5ZhLw&feature=emb_title) that his campaign for Congress was inspired by the hard-fought struggles of his own family to find the American dream—like his mother, who worked multiple jobs; his grandfather, who grew up in Jim Crow Virginia; and his grandmother, who cleaned homes for a living.

45. Joshua Green

Co-founder and co-CEO of Veriheal

Website, Instagram

A graduate of Florida A&M University, Joshua Green didn’t let denials from traditional investors dissuade him from establishing “cannatech” (cannabis technology) company Veriheal in 2017 with his business partner, Samuel Adetunji (also one of our honorees this year). [Describing those denials](https://www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/353002) as motivators for Adetunji and him to carve out a place for Black men like them in the booming marijuana business, Green is now on a mission to educate more people about the benefits of the green. The [telehealth platform](https://www.veriheal.com/) that he and Adetunji founded helps match patients across the country with doctors in their state who can certify them for medical marijuana, and Green is also [keen on engaging members of communities](https://www.skunkmagazine.com/joshua-green-is-an-innovative-leader-for-minority-owned-start-ups-in-cannabis/) that have historically been criminalized for selling and using weed. He develops culturally relevant content for Veriheal and other platforms, like [Greentrepeneur](https://www.greenentrepreneur.com/author/joshua-green), to help increase understanding of the long-maligned plant and invite more people of color into the business.

46. Samuel Adetunji

Co-founder and co-CEO of Veriheal

Website, Instagram

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Nigerian parents, Samuel Adetunji says that his eyes were opened to the vast benefits of cannabis after seeing his own father struggle with liver cancer and finding relief through the use of cannabis oil. Adetunji was working for a Fortune 500 company in Washington, D.C., when he and his business partner, Joshua Green (also honored on our list this year), tried to obtain medical marijuana cards in the District and found it a less-than-seamless process. [That inspired them](https://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenbobrow/2019/12/18/veriheal-a-highly-innovative-md-cannatech-platform/#8343f8550a8a) to create [Veriheal](https://www.veriheal.com/), a telehealth company that connects people all over the country with doctors in their state who can assess and recommend them for medical marijuana. Since 2017, the “cannatech” (cannabis technology) company has helped [more than 100,000](https://www.veriheal.com/press-mentions/) patients get their “puff puff pass” on, launched a scholarship to engage more [college students of color](https://hightimes.com/news/medical-marijuana-platform-offering-scholarships-cannabis-research/) in marijuana research, and established itself as a leader in cannabis innovation and entrepreneurship—no small accomplishment in an industry in which [only 4 percent](https://mjbizdaily.com/chart-19-cannabis-businesses-owned-founded-racial-minorities/) of businesses are Black-owned.

47. Garlin Gilchrist II

Lieutenant governor of Michigan

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Garlin Gilchrist II grew up in Detroit learning the ropes of public speaking in the church pulpit but turned to computer science as a teenager after his grandmother bought him his first PC. His talent at fixing computers led him to study computer engineering at the University of Michigan and then later to embark on a career as a software engineer for Microsoft. But [public service](https://www.gretchenwhitmer.com/about/garlin/) kept calling to him, driving him to work for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign and then to advocate for progressive policies with MoveOn.org as its national campaign director. In 2019, he was elected Michigan’s lieutenant governor—the first African American to hold the position—and soon made a name for himself [on the national stage](https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/democratic-debate-july-31-2019/h_ebed3bc61ecd8565ad47072a8c26d997) after delivering remarks at a Democratic debate and receiving a standing ovation. Gilchrist now heads up [Michigan’s Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities](https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/0,9309,7-387-90499_90705-526476–,00.html) and works to ensure that the state’s COVID-19 response is addressing the needs of those in it [most affected](https://www.npr.org/2020/04/12/832861818/lt-gov-garlin-gilchrist-on-coronavirus-racial-disparities) by the pandemic—Michigan’s Black population. He’s also a [vocal champion](https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/dehumanized-police-16-garlin-gilchrist-seeks-michigan-reforms) for police and carceral reform and is co-chair of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration.

48. LeBron James

Basketball player, entrepreneur, philanthropist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slid a new law onto the books earlier this year requiring people with felony convictions to satisfy all fines and fees related to their charges before their voting rights were restored, LeBron James smelled a setup that reeked of tactics used throughout history (please see: poll taxes). The move [keeps key residents disenfranchised](https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/us-supreme-court-sides-desantis-voting-rights-case) and unable to cast a ballot in this year’s upcoming election, when Black votes will absolutely matter. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar responded by [launching More Than a Vote](https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-06-10/lebron-james-forming-group-to-protect-black-voting-rights), a voting rights group that includes other NBA and WNBA superstars, like Draymond Green and Skylar Diggins-Smith, and works to help formerly incarcerated people [get financially cleared](https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892105780/supreme-court-deals-major-blow-to-ex-felons-right-to-vote-in-florida), increase African-American voter education and turnout, and [convert NBA arenas into mega polling sites](https://apnews.com/1137e832531afe4515a97335ebf65964) on Nov. 3. As much of a leader off the court as he is on it, the former Miami Heat player donated $100,000 to his newest philanthropic arm and will partner with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition to get folks lined up for action.

49. Moogega Cooper

Planetary protection engineer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Protecting planets is a big job. Who better than a Black woman to do it? Enter Moogega Cooper, who is [tasked with the very cool duty](https://planetaryprotection.jpl.nasa.gov/stricker-bio) of keeping Mars safe from Earth’s contaminants when the 2020 rover—[which launched this summer](https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/)—lands on the planet early next year. As a planetary protection engineer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cooper is integral to the ongoing mission to discern whether Mars could be habitable for humans: She is [ensuring that we don’t harm what already exists](https://www.good.is/articles/moogega-cooper-astrophysicist) there while researchers learn more about the planet. It’s a job she’s been [working up to](https://www.good.is/articles/moogega-cooper-astrophysicist) for most of her life; after graduating from high school at 16, Cooper studied physics as an undergraduate, received a master’s degree and went on to earn her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at 24 years old with a dissertation on spacecraft materials. She’s also passionate about introducing more people to the wonders of the STEM world, including by talking about her work [to boys and girls](https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/nasajpls-moogega-stricker-on-the-mars-2020-mission-and-girls-in-stem) from underrepresented communities and appearing on shows like [_Because Space_](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWTxVg44uPpnr0wzJOvoWp3J2iXLnjTlf) and _Bill Nye Saves the World._

50. Jaime Harrison

Democratic candidate for Senate, South Carolina

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Already someone to watch on the political scene, Jaime Harrison was named a __The Root 100__ honoree in 2019 for rising in the ranks of the Democratic Party in South Carolina and announcing his ambitious plans to run against Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham for his seat in the U.S. Senate. In 2020, Harrison has put his money where his mouth is, and so have the people supporting him. Ahead of what promises to be a watershed Election Day this November, his campaign has [twice broken fundraising records](https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article244044637.html)—bringing in more than $27 million in the first half of the year. The investment in his bid to be the first Democrat elected to the Senate from South Carolina [in over 20 years](https://cookpolitical.com/analysis/senate/south-carolina-senate/south-carolina-senate-moves-likely-lean-republican) already appears to be paying dividends, with polls showing Harrison [neck and neck](https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/2nd-poll-finds-graham-harrison-tied-in-scs-high-profile-us-senate-race/article_a9a18b1e-d80f-11ea-b2eb-c77dc3dc14ac.html) with Graham, and [election analysts](https://cookpolitical.com/analysis/senate/south-carolina-senate/south-carolina-senate-moves-likely-lean-republican) now saying that he poses an “incredibly strong challenge” to the Republican, who has held the seat since 2003.

51. Caroline Randall Williams

Poet, writer, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

The introductory lines of her New York Times op-ed, [“You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument,”](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opinion/confederate-monuments-racism.html) start with a literary gut punch. “I have rape-colored skin,” she writes. Everything thereafter in Caroline Randall Williams’ 935-word piece is a takedown of America’s obsession with memorializing racist history and the generational acts of sexual violence that permeate her bloodline. It was one of the Times’ most read, most honest, most compelling pieces of the year and launched [actual constructive and therapeutic conversation](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/opinion/letters/confederacy-black-descendants.html) across racial lines. In July, the Harvard grad, cookbook author and Vanderbilt University writer-in-residence signed a multimedia deal with global entertainment agency WME to continue her work at the intersection of art, business and scholarship, with plans to adapt her live-performance poetry for a 2021 national tour with the Nashville Ballet. Across mediums and ventures, Williams is a culture bridge builder and change-making truth teller.

52. Lauren Maillian

CEO, Digitalundivided

Website, Instagram, Twitter

A groundbreaking entrepreneur since launching Sugarleaf Vineyards at the age of 19, Lauren Maillian became the [first Black woman to begin an early-stage venture capital fund](https://www.laurenmaillian.com/about/#:~:text=A%20pioneer%20in%20the%20tech,over%20%24200%20million%20in%20revenue), launching [Gen Y Capital Partners](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/gen-y-capital-partners) in 2011. Nearly a decade later, the award-winning marketer and consumer-brand strategist prides herself on being a change agent committed to furthering diversity and inclusion efforts as the CEO of [Digitalundivided](https://www.digitalundivided.com/about-digitalundivided), where she and her team focus on providing resources to promote economic growth for female Black and Latinx tech entrepreneurs. (Maillian [took over as CEO](https://money.yahoo.com/digitalundivided-names-lauren-maillian-interim-210600905.html) from founder Kathryn Finney, [a 2016](https://onehundred.theroot.com/facewall/the-root-100-2016/index.html#kathryn-finney) and [2017](http://interactives.theroot.com/root-100-2017/#kathryn-finney) __The Root 100__ honoree.) Maillian is no rookie when it comes to working with tech startups; to date, she has "advised and invested in over 40 startups, which have generated over $200 million in revenue," [according to her website](https://www.laurenmaillian.com/about/). Outside of her business endeavors, Maillian is an in-demand speaker who has led conversations at higher education institutions and Fortune 500 companies. Her work has also been featured in publications such as [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/05/20/lauren-maillian-bias-cracking-the-female-entrepreneur-code/#2787622a14b0), [Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/1811381/serial-entrepreneurs-guide-reinvention) and [Entrepreneur](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/332250).

53. Janina Jeff

Human geneticist, creator and host of _In Those Genes_ podcast

Website, Instagram, Twitter

In an age when genetic tests are increasingly popular among Black Americans eager for insight into their ancestry, Janina Jeff is a crucial resource for contextualizing the stories and immense value that live in our genomes. After graduating from Spelman College and earning a Ph.D. in human genetics from Vanderbilt University—the first African American to do so—Jeff launched the podcast [_In Those Genes_](https://inthosegenes.com/) to help American descendants of enslaved Africans connect the dots of their history. Jeff [feels passionately](https://www.theroot.com/the-ancestry-trap-this-geneticist-wants-to-shift-the-f-1841911453) that Black people should “be the shareholders of their own DNA” and use the testing technology available today to build generational knowledge and wealth. Her culturally conversant podcast (check out the pun in the title) [won Spotify’s inaugural Sound Up Bootcamp](https://www.elle.com/culture/a22074514/spotify-sound-up-bootcamp-winners/) competition in 2018, and her focus on ensuring that African Americans are informed in the conversation around genetic research and its [targeted commercialization](https://www.theroot.com/46-chromosomes-and-a-mule-falsely-romanticizing-our-co-1834228049) led to her receiving [the American Society of Human Genetics](https://www.ashg.org/publications-news/press-releases/202007-advocacy-award/)’ Advocacy Award in 2020—making her [the first Black person](https://sites.spelman.edu/rise/2020/08/11/human-geneticist-janina-jeff-receives-ashgs-2020-advocacy-award/) and youngest geneticist to receive the honor.

54. Lindsay Peoples Wagner

Editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue

Website, Instagram

Since becoming editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue in 2018—and [the youngest editor-in-chief in the history of a Condé Nast publication](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/style/teen-vogue-lindsay-peoples-wagner-race.html)—Lindsay Peoples Wagner has used her platform and position to draw attention to issues of inclusivity in the fashion world. As she told [the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/style/teen-vogue-lindsay-peoples-wagner-race.html) at the close of her first year at the helm, one of her primary imperatives was to “[put] people in the publication that I felt like other publications were too scared to.” Through Teen Vogue’s [Generation Next initiative,](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teen-vogue-generation-next-nyfw) the editor and advocate continued that mission, inviting six diverse designers, including [Hanifa](https://www.instagram.com/hanifaofficial/) and [Tia Adeola](https://www.instagram.com/tiaadeola/), to showcase their lines at New York Fashion Week in September 2019. Peoples Wagner’s commitment to a more inclusive fashion world can be traced back to her ambitious and highly celebrated 2018 article, “[Everywhere and Nowhere: What It’s Really Like to Be Black and Work in Fashion](https://www.thecut.com/2018/08/what-its-really-like-to-be-black-and-work-in-fashion.html),” in which the then-fashion market editor of The Cut interviewed 100 insiders on their experiences of marginalization in the industry. This year, as the industry made statements of support in favor of Black Lives Matter, Peoples Wagner vowed to hold it accountable, partnering with consultant Sandrine Charles to launch the [Black in Fashion Council](https://www.theroot.com/the-newly-formed-black-in-fashion-council-will-gauge-in-1844166896).

55. Tre’vell Anderson

Journalist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Award-winning Tre’vell Anderson is one of the leading journalists contributing to the discourse of culture, LGBTQ issues, inclusivity and diversity. They have written about greats in the entertainment industry from Ava DuVernay to Regina King and, most recently, Billy Porter. The stunning [Essence cover story](https://www.essence.com/feature/july-august-cover-star-billy-porter-is-a-national-treasure/) featuring that national treasure discussed Porter’s ongoing fight for rights and equality that Anderson, too, identified with. Formerly director of culture and entertainment at Out magazine, they are currently [president](https://www.nabjla.com/aboutus) of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Los Angeles chapter and [director of NABJ’s Region IV](https://www.nabj.org/page/RegionIV) and have [been vocal](https://twitter.com/TrevellAnderson/status/1289645834980618242?s=20) in pushing the parent organization toward greater inclusivity of the LGBTQ community. Anderson is also a former film reporter for the Los Angeles Times, with a portfolio featuring the [brilliant Black and queer stories](https://tuskmagazine.org/2018/11/14/out-magazines-trevell-anderson-spills-the-tea-on-sex-and-gender/) of those who’ve been ignored by mainstream Hollywood. Whether it’s documenting a life story, unpacking the [grand finale of _Empire_](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-04-21/empire-series-finale-coronavirus-taraji-p-henson-fox) or covering a red-carpet event, one thing is undeniable: Anderson is gifted with the pen.

56. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Actor

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is becoming a force on both the big and small screens. Thanks to his work as “Cal Abar/Dr. Manhattan” on HBO’s _Watchmen_, the New Orleans-born actor garnered a 2020 [Emmy Award](https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2020/outstanding-supporting-actor-in-a-miniseries-or-a-movie) for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. For Abdul-Mateen’s next project, he will portray Bobby Seale in [*The Trial of the Chicago 7*](https://www.avclub.com/netflix-is-looking-to-pick-up-aaron-sorkins-star-studde-1844111351), which arrives at Netflix on Oct. 16, followed by the Nia DaCosta-helmed reimagining of the horror flick [*Candyman*](https://www.theroot.com/the-candyman-can-because-yes-gentrification-deserves-i-1841951107), which is due out next year, and then a yet-to-be-announced role in the next installment of The Matrix franchise. The [former San Francisco city planner](https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/watchmen-star-yahya-abdul-mateen-ii-recalls-his-time-as-an-sf-city-planner) and Yale School of Drama graduate also appeared in the 2019 season of Netflix’s _Black Mirror_, in the provocative episode “[Striking Vipers](https://www.theroot.com/black-mirrors-striking-vipers-summarized-and-i-oop-1835269462),” opposite Anthony Mackie.

57. Arisha Hatch

Vice president, chief of campaigns at Color of Change

Website, Instagram, Twitter

As head of campaigns at the news-making civil rights organization Color of Change, Arisha Hatch has been behind many of the group’s narrative-shifting actions to bring issues of social justice into the public&’s consciousness. With Hatch deftly working to connect Black people and concentrate their collective power, Color of Change has [ousted problematic prosecutors](https://www.yahoo.com/news/color-change-arisha-michelle-hatch-150025806.html) across the country and helped drive successful [efforts to #MuteRKelly](https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/color-of-change-is-fighting-to-mute-r-kelly) and [halt additional seasons](https://colorofchange.org/press_release/colorofchange-applauds-foxs-cancellation-cops-afte/) of the long-problematic TV show _Cops_; the organization even got Paypal and Mastercard to ban white supremacists from their platforms. Hatch’s ability to achieve such a laundry list of accomplishments can be traced to her [impressive credentials](https://colorofchange.org/our-team/). She attended Stanford University and holds a doctorate in law from Santa Clara University but left a legal career to support Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008. That taste of campaigning propelled her to work on overturning Proposition 8 in California, a win that led Hatch to advocate with Color of Change.

58. Jason Wright

President of the Washington Football Team

Twitter

Among the many positive changes made by the NFL team formerly known as the Washington Redskins, in mid-August, it was [announced](https://www.theroot.com/washington-football-team-hires-first-black-team-preside-1844750264) that former NFL running back Jason Wright would be the new president of the soon-to-be-renamed Washington Football Team. The history-making appointment makes him the first Black president in the league’s history, taking on the role at perhaps [the most challenging era](https://www.theroot.com/ok-so-maybe-the-washington-football-team-is-a-bigger-m-1844953677) of the team’s history. “What has me even more excited now is that there are problems and there are things we need to fix,” Wright told [the Richmond Times-Dispatch](https://richmond.com/sports/professional/mcelroy-jason-wright-is-ready-to-overhaul-the-washington-franchise/article_36e853db-7cbe-5805-82ed-aa641ea03656.html). According to [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29678773/washington-hires-jason-wright-nfl-first-black-president), Wright will be overseeing the business side in the areas of operations, marketing, sales and finance. This new venture combines two of Wright’s interests; not only did he play football for Northwestern University, but he also [graduated](https://www.chicagomaroon.com/2013/06/04/from-field-to-booth-former-arizona-cardinal-takes-on-next-challenge/) with an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with a degree in business and operations. During his time partnering with the management consulting firm [McKinsey & Co](https://www.facebook.com/reallifeatmckinsey/photos/a.497103130359017/3147286952007275/?type=1&theater). Wright also co-led the “global inclusion strategy and spearheaded global outreach to executives of color,” skills he will no doubt put to use in his new role.

59. Bozoma Saint John

Global chief marketing officer at Netflix

Website, Instagram, Twitter

The first week in [her new job at Netflix](https://www.fastcompany.com/90524645/netflix-is-missing-one-big-thing-it-just-added-it-with-its-new-superstar-hire), where she’s displaying her masterful ability to fuse marketing and pop culture, the indomitable Bozoma Saint John had to have emergency surgery. From her hospital bed the next day, she led [a virtual workshop](https://www.thebadassworkshop.com/the-work) in a beaded-collar nightshirt and a bonnet emblazoned with Chanel charms, because the brilliance must shine on. In case it’s not obvious why Netflix pulled her to create connectivity with their global base, Saint John has dedicated her career to working her signature magic on other brands, starting at Spike Lee’s advertising agency, Spike DDB, and moving on to Pepsi, Apple Music, Uber and, most recently, marketing and entertainment mega-agency Endeavor. As a force who was dedicated to diversity and inclusion before they became corporate buzzwords, she’s heartened by what the pandemic and protests of 2020 are doing to humanize big business. She’s also excited by [what she can do with those issues at Netflix](https://www.marketingweek.com/endeavor-bozoma-saint-john-covid-19-marketing-test/) and its expanding portfolio of films and TV series told by people of color with so much to say.

60. Brittney Griner

WNBA player

Website, Instagram, Twitter

As a six-time WNBA All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist, Brittney Griner has a basketball career that is decorated with titles and chart-topping records. Yet that did not deter the Phoenix Mercury center from taking a stance against the WNBA for its continued playing of “The Star Spangled Banner” before every game. “I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season,” Griner said in an interview with the [Arizona Republic](https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/wnba/mercury/2020/07/27/mercurys-brittney-griner-will-not-be-on-court-for-national-anthem-this-season/5518399002/?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&cid=twitter_azcsports). “I think we should take that much of a stand.” When the WNBA kicked off its season with a [tribute to Breonna Taylor](https://www.theroot.com/wnba-star-brittney-griner-wants-no-parts-of-the-nationa-1844530979), it signified a pivotal moment in basketball history, and for Griner it did not end there: Before her season was [cut short in August](https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/phoenix-mercury-announce-star-center-brittney-griner-has-left-wnbas-bubble-for-personal-reasons/), she had announced that she would not be on the floor when the national anthem was played. As the daughter of a former law enforcement officer and Vietnam veteran, her protest was rooted not in disrespect but in a desire to civilly protest for the rights overdue to marginalized communities.

61. Mariah Moore

Activist, co-director of House of Tulip, national organizer with the Transgender Law Center

Website, Instagram

One in 3 transgender or gender-nonconforming people in Louisiana have [experienced homelessness](https://www.transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTSLAStateReport%281017%29.pdf), and Mariah Moore was once counted in that number. She says that her lived experience as a Black trans woman—facing everything from violence to [housing discrimination](https://www.instagram.com/tv/CC2J65WDZG6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)—is what drives her to be a prominent voice advocating for safety and equity for the trans community, including by working with the Transgender Law Center as an organizer and serving on the mayor of New Orleans’ LGBTQ task force. This summer, [Moore and a collective](https://www.nola.com/news/article_708d7fb4-c797-11ea-8aa0-f742a2e5908d.html) of trans organizers launched a GoFundMe campaign to support trans and gender-nonconforming people who were being left economically and housing insecure by the coronavirus pandemic. That fundraising effort blossomed into [House of Tulip](https://houseoftulip.org/our-vision) (“Tulip” is short for Trans United Leading Intersectional Progress), a community land trust in New Orleans launched to ensure that trans people there can access safe and sustainable housing for as long as they need it and can even begin on a path to homeownership. Moore is co-director of the visionary project, which met its $400,000 goal for funding in just [two months](https://www.gofundme.com/f/housing-for-tgnc-people-experiencing-homelessness).

62. Ajón Crump

Founder of #NursesKeepGoing (formerly #NikesForNurse)

Website, Instagram, Twitter

When the coronavirus started making its way across America earlier this year, Ajón Crump spoke to a cousin of hers, a nurse in Florida, who said that her sneakers were wearing out because she was standing on her feet for hours while walking the floors of the hospital. It [sparked an idea in Crump](https://hellobeautiful.com/3119951/heroes-in-the-pandemic-meet-the-sista-behind-nikesfornurses/) to gift new kicks to nurses working hard in hospitals across the country in the fight against the coronavirus. In April, while still a student at SUNY Old Westbury, she launched the #NikesForNurses [fundraising campaign on GoFundMe](https://www.gofundme.com/f/nurseskeepgoing) (it’s now called #NursesKeepGoing) in hopes of treating about 20 nurses to brand-new shoes on their doorstep. By the end of July, the campaign had raised thousands—making it possible for Crump to deliver sneakers to [more than 200 nurses](https://www.nurseskeepgoing.com/), sometimes by hand. The Nurses Keep Going campaign is still going strong.

63. Muffy Mendoza

Executive director of Brown Mamas, author

Website, Instagram, Twitter

[Oprah once wrote](https://www.oprah.com/relationships/oprah-on-motherhood#:~:text=The%20world%20can%20only%20value,transform%20the%20perception%20of%20motherhood.), “The world can only value mothering to the extent that women everywhere stand and declare that it must be so.” Muffy Mendoza’s life’s work and vision are reflections of those words realized. Understanding the disparities that Black women face in health care, child care, education, housing and other systems, Mendoza knew that Black mothers deserved better. As the executive director of Brown Mamas, she believes that “making moms better moms makes dads better dads, children become better adults and [communities become better communities](https://brownmamas.com/meet-muffy/).” The mother of three and author of 2018’s _The Brown Mama Mindset_ conceived of the community she lovingly refers to as “the tribe” as a safe space for Black mothers to convene. The collective invites Black and brown mamas to share their joys, share their pains and gain guidance with the aid of educational resources. What originally started as a small group meeting hosted in member homes has rapidly grown to a network of nearly 5,000 members. Mendoza hosts the “[Brown Mama Monologues”](https://brownmamamonologues.com/) in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; the show presents the stories of 10 mothers who redefine the narrative of being an African-American mother.

64. Joan Smalls

Supermodel, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Joan Smalls began her modeling career after graduating with a psychology degree from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico in 2007. Fast-forward to 2020, and Smalls holds the status of international supermodel. She has graced magazine covers from Vogue to Harper’s Bazaar, and included on her runway résumé are the world’s top designers. [The Afro-Latinx stunner](https://remezcla.com/culture/joan-smalls-vogue-mexico-latinoamerica-cover-afrolatina-identity-fashion/) made headlines as [Estée Lauder’s first Latina model](https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/16/living/joan-smalls-fashion-week/index.html?iref=obnetwork=), but she is now harnessing her influence to back real change. In June, Small pledged to donate half her wages for the rest of the year in support of organizations committed to Black lives and [challenged other fashion-industry leaders](https://www.theroot.com/supermodel-joan-smalls-commits-half-her-salary-to-racia-1844117224) to go beyond performative displays of solidarity and do the same through the platform [Donate My Wage](https://www.donatemywage.org/). “I see all the agencies, magazines, brands posting black screens on their Instagram accounts. But what does that really mean? What is the fashion industry actually going to do about it? Is it just another trend?” Smalls [read](https://www.imgmodels.com/joansmalls#Portfolio) from her open letter. “An industry that profits from our Black and Brown bodies, our culture for constant inspiration, our music (that continues to glorify these brands), and our images for their visuals has tiptoed around the issue at hand,” [Smalls told Harper’s Bazaar.](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/models/a32827388/joan-smalls-statement-black-lives-matter-movement/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_har&utm_medium=email&date=061120&utm_campaign=nl20443258&tpcc=email_offer)

65. Heather Lowery

President and CEO of Femme It Forward, vice president of talent and touring at Live Nation Urban

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Heather Lowery is on a mission to highlight the brilliance of female musical performers. “I’m calling on every female creative in the entertainment industry,” [Lowery told Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/touring/8546112/heather-lowery-live-nation-joint-venture-femme-forward) in December 2019. “I want to put talk into action. It’s our time to shine.” With that declaration, Lowery lauched Femme It Forward, a concert series intended to bring Black female musical talent front and center. And although the pandemic forced the cancellation of the live concert series, that didn’t stop the Spelman grad from joining forces [with _Verzuz_](https://www.theroot.com/tag/verzuz), the Instagram music series created by superproducers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, to deliver two now-iconic battles: [Erykah Badu vs. Jill Scott](https://www.bet.com/music/2020/05/01/erykah-badu-jill-scott-verzuz-battle.html), the first all-female battle in the series, and [Brandy vs. Monica](https://www.livenation.com/music-news/84/femme-forward-verzuz-present-brandy-vs), which garnered [over 6 million viewers](https://twitter.com/verzuzonline/status/1300979825964875777), the largest in the series’ history. Being able to deftly navigate changing situations is nothing new for Lowery, who, as [VP of talent and touring at Live Nation Urban](https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8497830/live-nation-urban-vp-talent-touring-heather-lowery-interview), is responsible for ensuring that big concert events go off without a hitch. She’s [overseen mega-festivals](https://www.nylon.com/heather-lowery-interview) like the Roots Picnic and Washington, D.C.’s Broccoli City Festival, as well as RapCaviar Live in partnership with Spotify. As for Femme It Forward, [the joint partnership](https://www.theticketingbusiness.com/2019/12/13/live-nation-support-growth-femme-forward/) with Live Nation will allow the platform to continue to expand its reach beyond female-focused concerts and festivals into comedy shows, college events and philanthropic ventures.

66. Jessamyn Stanley

Yoga teacher, author, body-positivity advocate

Website, Instagram, Twitter

With nearly half a million followers on Instagram, Jessamyn Stanley is clearly a breath of fresh air in the yoga space—one she’s opened up by inviting every kind of body to partake in and reap the benefits of the ancient spiritual practice. Describing herself as Black, queer and [fat femme](https://www.fastcompany.com/40429705/how-this-fat-femme-yoga-instructor-is-reshaping-the-3-trillion-wellness-industry), Stanley says she approaches [yoga as a kind of social resistance](https://www.theroot.com/watch-jessamyn-stanley-the-fat-black-queer-femme-who-1794608460). It makes sense when you consider that the mainstream face of yoga in America—and even on social media—is usually a thin white woman. Stanley shot through that status quo by committing herself to attempting the difficult poses that frustrated her [when she first tried yoga](https://mynameisjessamyn.tumblr.com/post/66584551394/recently-ive-started-posting-photos-of-my-yoga), [photographing her efforts](https://www.instagram.com/mynameisjessamyn/?hl=en) and inspiring hundreds of thousands of people in the process. [Since she started](https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/07/13/every-body-yoga-jessamyn-stanley) sharing her yoga practice on Instagram in 2012, Stanley has continued to bring others along on the journey of loving their bodies and learning what their bodies can do. She launched a digital yoga studio, [The Underbelly](https://theunderbelly.com/), and has also [published a book](https://www.amazon.com/Every-Body-Yoga-Fear-Body/dp/0761193111/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=everybody+loves+yoga&qid=1572980332&sr=8-1) based on her philosophy of yoga for everybody, fittingly named _Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear, Get on the Mat, Love Your Body._

67. Philip V. McHarris

Ph.D. candidate at Yale University, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

After the death of George Floyd at the knee of a Minneapolis Police Department officer ignited an international outcry, Philip V. McHarris [co-authored](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/opinion/george-floyd-police-funding.html) a compelling argument for defunding the police and investing in social programs and community resources. The [Yale doctoral candidate](https://sociology.yale.edu/people/philip-v-mcharris) in sociology and African-American studies pushed for a clear distinction between responses to community issues and the brutality in the name of punishing crime, which often results in the deaths of Black people. His unwavering commitment to disrupting police violence has made him a [much-sought-after spokesman](https://twitter.com/philipvmcharris/status/1278106958457962496?s=20) to explain the concepts of [defunding the police](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUPeN66mbGQ&feature=emb_logo) to an audience that has been overwhelmed with misinformation and scare tactics from those who would rather continue to support blue lives over Black lives. In addition to the New York Times, his work has been published in the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/16/democrats-are-ignoring-key-piece-criminal-justice-reform-slicing-police-budgets/) and [Slate](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/police-punish-protesters.html?via=recirc_recent).

68. Erica Lovett

Director of inclusion and diversity at Condé Nast

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Well before Condé Nast Artistic Director Anna Wintour [publicly admitted](https://www.theroot.com/we-have-made-mistakes-too-anna-wintour-apologizes-for-1843982378) the media company’s failures in elevating Black talent, its director of inclusion and diversity, Erica Lovett, recognized that putting Black models on the pages of its imprints wasn’t enough. “[V]isibility alone is not the solution to advancing diversity and inclusion in fashion,” the then-manager of inclusion and community wrote in [a 2019 CFDA report](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cfda.f.mrhenry.be/2019/04/ID_Industry_Briefing_11.pdf). “The industry must recognize and prioritize efforts to support greater diversity on the business side.” With imprints like the New Yorker, Vogue, GQ, Glamour and Teen Vogue under the Condé Nast umbrella, Lovett has made it her mission to foster strong diversity efforts and improve company culture across brands, launching the Employee Resource Group (ERG) program, which includes NOIR, a much-needed network for Black employees. “I have always been clear with Condé Nast leadership that I work to amplify the voices of our underrepresented talent because that is the only way we’ll begin to see sustainable change,” she [wrote on behalf of the group](https://www.picuki.com/media/2326400000126426101) in a now-viral post, later adding, “because if we don’t show up for our community, who will?”

69. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

Singer, actor, entrepreneur, philanthropist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Perhaps she was made a queen for such a time as this. In July, when Black pain shape-shifted into fury, overwhelming grief and mourning that spilled out nationwide, [Beyoncé Knowles-Carter ascended beyond her own established greatness](https://www.theroot.com/beyonce-happened-1844569321) by dropping [_Black Is King_ on Disney+](https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/black-is-king/7daDvpFdBXPs) to exemplify that we, too, have always been great. The visual album—co-written, directed and produced by Beyoncé and based on the music and story of _The Lion King: The Gift_—was already completed before George Floyd’s death in May at the hands of police defined the summer. But the timing was perfect to release [an 85-minute statement of Black pride](https://www.npr.org/2020/08/04/898881279/beyonce-black-is-king-review-searches) and celebration of African-descended people, from its choreography to visual art to fashion to geographic location. Offscreen, Bey [donated more than $1 million](https://www.beyonce.com/article/black-owned-small-business-fund-naacp/) to the Black-Owned Small Business Impact Fund, in partnership with the NAACP, to help entrepreneurs affected by COVID-19, along with $6 million to [support Black folks’ mental and personal care](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a32253315/beyonce-beygood-covid-19-relief-donation/) during the pandemic. She is and remains our Black American royalty.

70. Annette Grotheer

Founder, The Shop Docs

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Well before COVID-19 reached our communities and highlighted the dangerous disparities in healthcare, Dr. Annette Grotheer understood the disproportionate risks that lack of access to preventive care can pose to our communities. While still a student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Grotheer launched The Shop Docs as her [Master of Public Health capstone project in 2016](https://news.miami.edu/stories/2019/10/shop-docs-bring-health-screenings-to-barbershops.html), bringing hypertension screenings into the trusted forum of the barbershop with the aim of improving the health outcomes of African-American men. In the years since, the program has grown into a national nonprofit organization with other program locations, including Philadelphia and Paterson, N.J., and more in development, as well as a screening site for HIV/AIDS. “We want to break down minority distrust of the healthcare community by partnering with the most trusted member of the black community, the local barber,” [Grotheer told her alma mater](https://news.miami.edu/grad/stories/2020/01/miller-school-student-named-to-forbes-30-under-30-list-for-program-addressing-health-disparities.html). “We need to start conversations about the importance of wellness and prevention so fewer patients will require chronic care for dangerous conditions.” For her efforts, the young doctor was named to [Forbes’ "30 Under 30" 2020 list](https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2020/healthcare/#2e102c927f75), the only African American in the health care category.

71. Renee Montgomery

WNBA player

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Like her colleague Maya Moore—who is also an honoree on this year’s **The Root 100** list—Renee Montgomery is a WNBA basketball player who announced that she would sit out the 2020 season to work on social justice causes. Her decision came on the [night of the initial George Floyd protests](https://www.nba.com/article/2020/09/10/qa-renee-montgomery-social-justice-hbcus), when she felt compelled to act. “I just feel the need to say something and do something,” she [told Deadspin](https://deadspin.com/renee-montgomery-opted-out-to-focus-on-activism-two-mo-1845015610). The two-time WNBA champion had already established the Renee Montgomery Foundation in 2019 with a focus on serving the community in Atlanta, where she plays point guard for the Dream, whose [co-owner](https://www.theroot.com/wnba-co-owner-sen-kelly-loeffler-s-anti-blm-remarks-we-1844957693) has been less than supportive of the Movement for Black Lives. To counter voter suppression in Georgia, Montgomery launched the [Remember the 3rd campaign](https://reneemontgomeryfoundation.org/remember-the-3rd/), which is designed to educate voters about their rights at the polls come Election Day on Nov. 3. She also teamed up with perennial **The Root 100** honoree LeBron James for [More Than a Vote](https://www.morethanavote.org/), his campaign to combat voter suppression. Beyond activism, the UConn grad is also breaking down barriers for women in sports as a co-host for two sports programs, [_TMZ Sports_ on Fox Sports 1 and NBA TV’s _WNBA Weekly_](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brendonkleen/2020/08/20/floodgates-opening-wnba-media-ecosystem-renee-montgomery-chiney-ogwumike/#85c79b47df18).

72. Nicole LaPointe Jameson

CEO of Evil Geniuses

Website, Instagram, Twitter

[Esports](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/311979#:~:text=In%20the%20greater%20business%20world,billion%20in%20revenue%20by%202020.)—[professional video gaming](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=box4SFtGvA0)—has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. As the mastermind behind Evil Geniuses, Nicole LaPointe Jameson has taken the esports company to new levels since being appointed CEO in May 2019. As the first Black woman to serve in that role, she is used to defying expectations. “I don’t come from esports. I don’t fit the mold of what you would expect,” LaPointe Jameson explained to the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/esports/2020/07/15/evil-geniuses-new-mastermind-must-reckon-with-past-chart-future-course/) about taking charge of the company. “I’m a name they’ve never heard of from a company they’ve never heard of.” LaPointe Jameson immediately took the reins at one of the oldest brands in esports by overseeing the company’s rebranding and instituting structural changes, including working to root out the sexism and racism that come with esports territory. Under her leadership, Evil Geniuses secured a [2019 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports championship title](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nicole-lapointe-jameson/?list=30under30-games#1d4b45c417da) and expanded its Seattle and Los Angeles locations. The company also returned to [League of Legends](https://evilgeniuses.gg/news/evil-geniuses-to-enter-league-of-legends-2020-na-lcs/), hired additional gaming staff and unveiled a new logo to signal the new era. Website URL: Facebook URL: Instagram URL:[](https://t.co/LRIaVLuOMl?amp=1)

73. Trymaine Lee

Journalist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

On his MSNBC podcast [_Into America_](https://link.chtbl.com/obvkRMCh?sid=igb), Emmy Award-winning journalist Trymaine Lee has candid conversations with the country’s biggest movers and shakers—as well as everyday people—about power, politics and policy. A former writer for the New York Times and HuffPost, Lee is no stranger to increasing awareness of race issues in his work. He is widely credited as one of the first reporters to bring the killing of [Trayvon Martin](https://web.archive.org/web/20120613223222/http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/making-sense-of-news/169323/how-pulitzer-winning-writer-moved-trayvon-martin-story-from-margins-to-mainstream/) to national attention, and his reporting on the horrors of Hurricane Katrina earned him both the [Emerging Reporter of the Year Award](https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nabj.org/resource/resmgr/NABJ_JournalArchives/NABJ_JournalSum06.pdf) from the National Association of Black Journalists and the [Pulitzer Prize for breaking-news reporting](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staff-63) as a member of the staff of the Times-Picayune of New Orleans in 2006.

74. Jermaine Johnson

Comedian, activist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

A comedian for the past 15 years and former hip-hop radio show host, Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson was more known locally for his “[How Bama Fans](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp7g8LL5RAuvi3KH5audwlQ)” videos. But on May 31, during a peaceful protest in Birmingham sparked by the death of George Floyd, Johnson’s words turned to serious matters as he [boldly spoke out](https://slate.com/culture/2020/06/alabama-football-comedian-funnymaine-confederate-statue-interview.html) against police brutality and questioned the idolization of Confederacy statues in the city—a city that didn’t [even exist during the Civil War](https://www.theroot.com/damn-that-statue-birmingham-proves-protests-work-by-1843889973). Johnson issued a call to action. “I’m not telling you that I’m going to be over there after this rally. That’s what I’m not telling you to do because the law says I can’t tell you to do that.” Then the crowd headed to Linn Park to tear down two monuments, including the 115-year-old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument. As the crowd grew more agitated in its attempt to tear down that “[Obelisk of Hate](https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2020/06/jermaine-funnymaine-johnson-should-be-celebrated-for-courage.html),” someone stepped forward with a solution: Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin (himself a [2018 __The Root 100__ honoree](http://interactives.theroot.com/root-100-2018/#randall-woodfin)). He vowed to remove the statue—in [defiance of 2017 Alabama law](https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2020/06/alabama-attorney-general-sues-birmingham-for-removing-confederate-monument.html)—in 24 hours if the crowd left peacefully. Johnson asked the crowd to give the mayor time, and Woodfin kept his word; the monument was removed by a team of engineers the next day. Later, [authorities issued a warrant](https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2020/06/jermaine-funnymaine-johnsons-inciting-riot-charge-dismissed.html) for Johnson’s arrest for “inciting a riot” and promoting damage, but the charges were dismissed after Black Lives Matter advocates rallied around him.

75. Devin Michael Lowe

Artist, producer, founder and executive director of the Black Trans Travel Fund

Website, Instagram, Twitter

As the number of Black trans women murdered each year continued to rise, Devin Michael Lowe decided to act. In June 2019, he founded the Black Trans Travel Fund “[out of direct response to the relentless and unacceptable violence](https://devinmichaellowe.com/black-trans-travel-fund)” against Black trangender women. The organization has [raised $60,000](https://www.blacktranstravelfund.com/our-mission) to ensure Black transgender women safe travel in the New York/New Jersey area, with plans to expand into other states. For his far-reaching work, the Jamaican American’s portrait was featured in the Caribbean Equality Project’s “Queer Caribbeans of NYC” retrospective, part of an exhibit last year that [marked the 50th anniversary of Stonewall](https://www.facebook.com/DevinMichaelLowe/posts/2986396051649533). Among Lowe’s other achievements is his work as associate producer of _The Garden Left Behind_, a film revolving around the life of a Latina trans woman. At its debut, it [made history as the winner](https://www.pride.com/movies/2019/1/17/trans-filmmakers-make-history-sxsw-garden-left-behind-premiere?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=movies) of the Audience Award at the 2019 SXSW Festival. Currently, Lowe is executive-producing _Redefining Masculinity_, a documentary that tells the story of [the Black trans masculine experience](https://devinmichaellowe.com/bio).

76. Hebru Brantley

Artist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Hebru Brantley made a name for himself by living outside the box and allowing his inspirations to take flight. On Chicago’s South Side, he created a dreamland installation titled [_Nevermore Park: Home of Flyboy_](https://www.theroot.com/for-flyboys-lil-mamas-and-us-hebru-brantleys-nevermor-1839367428). Brantley decked out the 6,000-square-foot space in the Pilsen neighborhood with imaginative and interactive designs centered on his main characters, Flyboy and Lil Mama. His work revolves around iconography inspired by his childhood growing up in Chicago, drawing on pop culture, nostalgia and hope. This summer, he launched the [Hebru Brantley x Bombay Sapphire Limited Edition](https://www.theroot.com/gin-and-juice-powered-by-black-celebs-and-causes-thes-1844241692) collaboration bottle for Bombay Sapphire’s first-ever artist collaboration. The iconic liquor brand described Brantley as “one of the preeminent Black artists at the forefront of culture” and noted that the bottle “embodies the brand’s mission to inspire and awaken creative potential within everyone.” The commemorative bottle benefits Black Lives Matters Chicago and is sold only by [Reserve Bar](https://www.reservebar.com/products/bombay-sapphire-hebru-brantley-limited-edition-bottle?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=hebru_brantley). “I want my existence to mean something,” [Brantley told Chicago magazine](http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/September-2020/Hebru-Brantley/). “Not just to my family or my immediate circle, but to generations to come.”

77. Kiley Reid

Author

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Kiley Reid’s debut novel, _Such a Fun Age_, [reached No. 3](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/books/review/inside-the-list-kiley-reid.html?auth=login-google) on the New York Times hardcover fiction list within weeks of its release in December of last year. The satirical story centers on Black protagonist Elmira Tucker, a 25-year-old recent college graduate uncertain of her career path, who lands a job as a babysitter for a white, upper-middle-class working mom. By July the novel, which [unpacks the dichotomies of race and class in America](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/books/kiley-reid-such-a-fun-age.html), had made its way onto the [Booker Dozen](https://thebookerprizes.com/booker-prize/news/2020-booker-prize-longlist-announced), a longlist from which the annual prize winner is selected in November. If those were not signs of unmitigated talent, Reese Witherspoon [selected Reid’s novel](https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/photo-gallery/46467234/image/47060676/Jan-2020-Such-Fun-Age-by-Kiley-Reid) for her book club, and [Lena Waithe](https://deadline.com/2018/08/lena-waithe-such-a-fun-age-kiley-reid-sight-unseen-coming-of-age-novel-1202454266/) has already secured the novel’s screen rights. Despite all the recent success, the Arizona native’s story is actually one of perseverance. Reid [spent six years](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2020/01/review-such-fun-age-kiley-reid/604552/) working as a babysitter in New York City, and despite early rejections from schools with Master of Fine Arts programs, she continued to work on what would eventually become the acclaimed page-turner, which she [started at age 24](https://www.elle.com/culture/books/a30296948/kiley-reid-such-a-fun-age-interview/). In 2019, Reid graduated from the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop as a recipient of the Truman Capote Literary Trust fellowship. She is currently [working on her second novel](https://www.elle.com/culture/books/a30296948/kiley-reid-such-a-fun-age-interview/).

78. Sasha Alexander

Artist, activist, founder and co-director of Black Trans Media

Website, Instagram, Twitter

In June, near the end of the peaceful [Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality](https://reclaimpridenyc.org/) in New York City’s Washington Square Park, marchers and the NYPD began to clash after police attempted to arrest someone they claimed was spraying graffitti. After the police started shoving and using pepper spray on the crowd, Sasha Alexander called on white allies [to form a protective barrier](https://www.thenation.com/article/society/queer-liberation-march-police-violence/) between Black and brown marchers. “We were just protecting each other,” the Black and South Asian artist and activist told [Gothamist](https://gothamist.com/news/photos-queer-liberation-march-2020), “and we felt protected by the work we were doing.” Protecting trans lives has been a priority for Alexander, a 20-year veteran of social justice and trans rights advocacy. In the wake of the 2013 murder of [Islan Nettles](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/04/the-islan-nettles-killing-what-the-trial-means-to-a-transgender-community-anxious-for-a-reckoning/)—[one of at least 19 transgender people killed that year, the majority of them Black women](https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/HRC-AntiTransgenderViolence-0519.pdf)—Alexander founded [Black Trans Media](https://blacktransmedia.wixsite.com/blacktransmedia). Using [the hashtag #BlackTransEverything](https://www.facebook.com/blacktransmedia/photos/a.262604187232485/262604197232484/?type=1&theater), Black Trans Media sought to reframe “the value and worth of Black trans peoples.” Through community building and storytelling, Alexander aims to [create a safe space](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/to-be-black-trans-brillia_1_b_6337530) for all trans and gender-nonconforming people while working to reverse the toxicity of transphobia and racism.

79. Andrew Berry

General manager and executive vice president of football operations, the Cleveland Browns

As the youngest GM to be appointed to the NFL, Andrew Berry immediately took charge to revitalize the Cleveland Browns by signing new talent, adding new staff and changing key roles. This past June, Berry launched the [#BeTheSolution](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=UU6e-z-8bMI&feature=emb_logo) campaign in response to the nationwide protests over racial injustices. In what began as an email sent to Brown employees, [he acknowledged](https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/how-an-email-to-browns-staff-from-andrew-berry-turned-into-something-much-bigger) the toll the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have had on the community. Berry also challenged recipients to engage in social activism initiatives, and in turn, he would respond by offering donations. In 24 hours, 50 employees accepted the challenge and shortly after, Browns fans joined the cause; the challenge [raised more than $185,000](https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/how-an-email-to-browns-staff-from-andrew-berry-turned-into-something-much-bigger) for 14 charities. Prior to joining the Browns, Berry was vice president of football operations for the Philadelphia Eagles. Understanding the outsized role the NFL has in communities across the country, Berry—who is one of only [two Black GMs](https://sports.yahoo.com/backgrounds-nfl-gms-185004493.html#:~:text=There%20are%20two%20black%20GMs,Everyone%20else%20is%20white.) in the league—believes in using that role as a force for change, saying, “NFL teams, in general, have such an influence on their communities that if we can’t be at the front of the pack on some of these issues that impact all of us, then shame on us.”

80. Kezia Williams

CEO of the Black upStart

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Kezia Williams is an economic justice advocate, constantly working to create business opportunities and improve financial literacy in Black communities. Williams founded [the Black upStart](https://www.theblackupstart.com/) to empower young Black entrepreneurs and build generational wealth. This year, she’s helping Black businesses survive with #MyBlackReceipt. During the pandemic, [40 percent](https://www.theroot.com/a-disproportionate-number-of-black-business-owners-are-1843684914) of Black business owners were out of work. Witnessing that economic shift along with the emerging protests across the country, Williams knew that she wanted to do something, so she launched #MyBlackRecipt. From Juneteenth to July 6, consumers were encouraged to spend solely with Black-owned businesses and upload receipts to the [#MyBlackReceipt site](https://myblackreceipt.com/upload-receipt/), leading up to [#BlackoutDay2020](https://www.theroot.com/blackoutday2020-why-theres-never-been-a-better-time-t-1844280149). The halt in spending on July 7 was meant to signal the economic power of the Black dollar and spread awareness about social justice issues. Williams also garnered the support of Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, when online-reviews site announced that it was teaming up with #MyBlackReceipt to [ramp up its support of the Black-owned businesses.](https://blog.yelp.com/2020/06/yelp-teams-up-with-my-black-receipt-to-support-black-owned-businesses)

81. Ashleigh Johnson

Team USA water polo goalkeeper

Website, Instagram, Twitter

As the first Black goalkeeper to play on the USA Olympic women’s team, Ashleigh Johnson is making waves in deep waters. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Johnson helped her team take home the gold, [becoming the first African American to win gold in the sport](https://www.teamusa.org/news/2020/august/06/history-of-pool-access-for-blacks-what-athletes-are-doing-to-get-more-kids-of-color-into-the-pool). “She plays the position of goalie unlike anyone who’s ever played this position before,” [said Adam Krikorian](https://time.com/4434068/meet-the-goalie-changing-the-face-of-usa-water-polo/), coach of the USA women’s water polo senior national team. The Florida native has stood apart from the competition, stacking title after title since her days competing at Princeton, where she was the all-time career saves leader. The 6-foot, 1-inch athlete is changing what the predominantly white sport looks like and [challenging the misconception](https://www.teamusa.org/news/2020/august/06/history-of-pool-access-for-blacks-what-athletes-are-doing-to-get-more-kids-of-color-into-the-pool) that swimming is a white sport. When Johnson was told as a youth that “[Black people don’t swim](https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/feature/water-polo-olympian-ashleigh-johnson-shifting-perspective-when-life-doesn-ncna1236966),” it was the byproduct of swimming pool discrimination that has existed for years, and yet she pressed on. Johnson is set to compete at the now-2021 Tokyo Olympics next summer, after the pandemic forced the postponement of the 2020 Games. With this added time, Johnson is [seizing](https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/feature/water-polo-olympian-ashleigh-johnson-shifting-perspective-when-life-doesn-ncna1236966) the moment to push herself to new limits, set goals and prioritize mental health.

82. Aisha Nyandoro

Anti-poverty advocate, CEO at Springboard to Opportunities

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Aisha Nyandoro is on a quest to help low-income Black women rewrite their story and chart a new path forward. As the CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, she walks in the legacy of her social activist grandmother [L.C.](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/lc-dorsey/)[Dorsey](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/lc-dorsey/), who devoted her life to transforming her community. “My granny’s imagination is my inheritance,” Nyandoro said [during her 2019 TEDx Talk](https://www.ted.com/talks/aisha_nyandoro_society_flourishes_when_we_invest_in_our_most_vulnerable). “It has made me rich with optimism because I know what is possible.” In 2019, she founded the Magnolia Mother’s Trust to lessen the financial burden of low-income Black women with grants of [$1,000 each month](https://mashable.com/article/basic-income-trust-people/) in guaranteed income for a year to use in whatever way they please. As an anti-poverty advocate, Nyandoro [rejects the notion of the mythicized welfare queen](https://www.thenation.com/article/society/black-lives-welfare-queen/) and envisions a Mississippi free of poverty. The trust is supported by several key investors, including [Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/magnolia-mothers-trust-facebook-cofounder-supports-free-cash-program.html). “When we invest in our most vulnerable, that is when society flourishes,” she said. The Magnolia Mother’s Trust is now in its [second round](https://twitter.com/SpringboardToOp/status/1227238175908749312?s=20) since launching its initial pilot program.

83. Naomi Beckwith

Art curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

A former associate curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem, Naomi Beckwith has kept African-American culture and identity at the center of her work as [senior curator](https://mcachicago.org/About/Who-We-Are/Staff/Naomi-Beckwith) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. [Since joining the curatorial staff in 2011](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/naomi-beckwith-promoted-senior-curator-mca-chicago-10779/), Beckwith has organized and curated several exhibitions, including the first and long-overdue retrospective of [Howardena Pindell](https://www.howardenapindell.org/), whose art focuses on the intersections of race and feminism. In addition, Beckwith has co-edited numerous exhibition catalogs, including Pindell’s, [Sanford Biggers](https://www.amazon.com/Sanford-Biggers-Naomi-Beckwith/dp/0997736402/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&qid=1599537235&refinements=p_27%3ANaomi+Beckwith&s=books&sr=1-4&text=Naomi+Beckwith)’, and 2015’s [_The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now_](https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Principle-Experiments-Music-1965/dp/0996211608/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&qid=1599537235&refinements=p_27%3ANaomi+Beckwith&s=books&sr=1-2&text=Naomi+Beckwith), which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the African-American-led [Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians](http://www.aacmchicago.org/about) (AACM), an offshoot of the 1960s Black Arts Movement. Most recently, Beckwith co-curated “[Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago](https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2020/Duro-Olowu-Seeing-Chicago),” [collaborating with the celebrated Nigerian-born British designer](https://www.theroot.com/artists-retreat-looking-for-a-safe-socially-distanced-1844566929) on an acclaimed multimedia exhibition reflecting the city’s diverse heritage and perspectives. Named one of Chicago magazine’s “[50 Most Powerful Women in Chicago](http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2020/Women-Power-50/)” in 2020, Beckwith is working on her next exhibition and co-editorial credit, [_Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America_](https://www.amazon.com/Grief-Grievance-Art-Mourning-America/dp/1838661298/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1599537235&refinements=p_27%3ANaomi+Beckwith&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Naomi+Beckwith). “A timely and urgent exploration into the ways artists have grappled with race and grief in modern America,” the catalog is due for release [in January](https://www.phaidon.com/store/art/grief-and-grievance-art-and-mourning-in-america-9781838661298/).

84. Ashley James

Associate curator, the Guggenheim Museum

Website, Instagram, Twitter

2019 __The Root 100__ honoree [Chaédria LaBouvier](https://interactives.theroot.com/root-100-2019/chaedria-labouvier) became the [first Black woman to curate an exhibition](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/ashley-james-curator-guggenheim-museum-13581/) at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and later that year, Ashley James was named full-time staff curator, the first Black woman to hold such a position in the museum’s history. (And as important as both of these achievements by Black women are, it should be noted that the museum is facing [its own reckoning with race and inclusivity](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/arts/design/guggenheim-curators-racism-sexism.html) at a time when the nation is experiencing the same.) Serving as the associate curator for contemporary art, James is credited with adding the works of Ed Clark, Arthur Jafa, Taryn Simon and others to the museum’s collection. Prior to her appointment, she was the assistant curator of contemporary art at the Brooklyn Museum, where James oversaw the curation of “[Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/arts/design/soul-of-a-nation-review-brooklyn-museum-black-power.html)” an exhibit that originated at London’s Tate Modern, curated by Zoe Whitley and Mark Godfrey; the [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/arts/design/guggenheim-black-curator.html) referred to James as “a moving force behind the acclaimed exhibition.” Her [expertise is grounded](https://hyperallergic.com/548773/meet-the-nyc-art-community-ashley-james-on-working-in-a-field-that-holds-infinite-possibility/) in the academic fields of English literature, African-American studies, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. After earning her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and Master of Arts from Yale, James [graduated with her Ph.D. this past spring](https://www.guggenheim.org/press-release/solomon-r-guggenheim-museum-appoints-ashley-james-associate-curator) with a dissertation examining Black representation. She has published essays and contributed research as a Mellon-Marron Research Consortium fellow and has also worked for the Museum of Modern Art. James is currently the co-curator for “John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance” at the Brooklyn Museum.

85. Kenneth Harris II

NASA engineer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Kenneth Harris II began his journey with NASA at the age of 16 as a member of its High School Internship Program; 12 years later, he serves as one of the agency’s senior satellite engineers, [working on](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/engineer-named-in-forbes-30-under-30) projects such as the [Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission](https://mms.gsfc.nasa.gov/) and the [Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission](https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GPM/main/index.html). In 2019, Harris was honored by [Thomas Insight](https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/making-history-integrating-10-billion-satellites-for-nasa-kenneth-harris-named-nextgen-for-industry/)’s NextGen for Industry, a program that recognizes the leaders of the industrial sector’s future. He also advocates for the importance of STEM education and is a mentor and ambassador for NASA’s education department. Right now he’s busy working on his fifth mission as lead database engineer for the [Joint Polar Satellite System](https://www.jpss.noaa.gov/), which launches in 2022.

86. Foluso Fakorede

Interventional cardiologist, endovascular specialist

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Raised in Nigeria and then New Jersey after migrating to America as a teenager, Dr. Foluso Fakorede is the [only cardiologist in Bolivar County, Miss.](https://features.propublica.org/diabetes-amputations/black-american-amputation-epidemic/) He decided to practice vascular medicine in the South after learning about the egregious disparities that exist in the Mississippi Delta, where African Americans suffer from diabetes and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease—and have their limbs amputated as a result—at a [higher rate than any other demographic](https://www.dartmouthatlas.org/downloads/reports/Diabetes_report_10_14_14.pdf). Calling this a “criminal” public health crisis with roots in American slavery, Fakorede set up a practice in central Mississippi in 2015 and started providing interventional vascular treatments to patients there who were previously being prescribed amputations as their only option. There’s since been [a whopping 88 percent](https://padadvocate.com/about/) decrease in amputations in Bolivar County, and Fakorede’s work has forced a national spotlight on the impact of vascular disease in underserved Black communities. His advocacy has led lawmakers to create [a Congressional PAD Caucus](https://payne.house.gov/pad-caucus) with the goal of preventing amputations for people at risk of developing peripheral artery disease and helped prompt the American Diabetes Association to [launch a campaign](https://www.propublica.org/article/black-diabetics-lose-limbs-at-triple-the-rate-of-others-heres-how-health-care-leaders-are-starting-to-act) this year around health equity for African-American patients.

87. Madeline Swegle

Tactical fighter pilot, U.S. Navy

On July 31, Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle [received the coveted Wings of Gold](https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/display-news/Article/2296877/us-navys-first-black-female-tactical-air-pilot-earns-wings-of-gold-in-texas/), making history as the Navy’s first Black female tactical aircraft pilot and telling [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/31/us/navy-black-female-pilot-wings-trnd/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twCNN&utm_content=2020-08-01T21%3A53%3A03&utm_term=link): “It would’ve been nice to see someone who looked like me in this role; I never intended to be the first. I hope it’s encouraging to other people.” Swegle follows in the footsteps of [Lt. Cmdr. Brenda E. Robinson](https://www.wai.org/pioneers/2016/lt-cmdr-brenda-e-robinson), the first African-American female pilot and flight instructor in U.S. Navy history and the first to earn Wings of Gold. A second-generation U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Swegle accomplished her latest feat after what is [reportedly](https://sofrep.com/fightersweep/earning-the-coveted-wings-of-gold/) a grueling academic, physical and tactical advanced military-jet training course, which includes landing and launching from an aircraft carrier and flying in formation with three other aircraft, performing maneuvers similar to those of the Blue Angels. Swegle’s historic achievement [earned praise](https://abcnews.go.com/US/madeline-swegle-makes-history-us-navys-1st-black/story?id=71732328) from all corners, including vice presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris, who congratulated her for “[paving the way for young girls everywhere](https://twitter.com/senkamalaharris/status/1281732891857362944?lang=en).”

88. Carter Brown

Founder and national director, Black Transmen Inc. and the National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition

Twitter

Carter Brown knows personally the dangers posed to the trans community; outed as transgender at work and subsequently harassed and fired, he became an activist and advocate, forming [Black Transmen Inc](https://blacktransmen.org/).to offer community and support to others like him. What began as a local Dallas-based organization soon went national, spawning [Black Transwomen Inc.](https://blacktranswomen.org/) and [Black Trans MX](https://www.facebook.com/blacktransmx/). Together, the groups form the [National Black Trans](https://blacktrans.org/about-us/)[Advocacy Coalition](https://blacktrans.org/about-us/) (BTAC), a 9-year-old national nonprofit focusing on the protection and advancement of Black trans people at large, aiming to improve their lives by alleviating the issues of disenfranchisement, violence and injustice that the community faces. As COVID-19 has proved to disproportionately affect Black communities in America, BTAC recognized the even higher risk posed to the trans community and stepped up; [the coalition began a program](https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/nonprofit-founder-provides-financial-support-black-trans-southerners-n1209251) to deliver emergency aid to Black trans youths in need of food, housing and financial support during the pandemic.

89. Kyndra Frazier

Clergywoman, former executive director of the H.O.P.E. Center

Twitter

In an era that has seen an exodus of people from the church, Kyndra Frazier is working to change it instead. A queer ordained Baptist clergywoman and associate pastor at [First Corinthian Baptist Church (FCBC) in Harlem](https://fcbcnyc.org/about/our-story)—one of the largest congregations and among the most historic Black churches in New York City—she formerly led the ministry of pastoral care and counseling at the H.O.P.E. Center, the first faith-based mental-wellness facility in Harlem (Dr. Lena Green took over as executive director in August). In 2016, she came out to the congregation, and since then, [her visibility and full execution of her calling](https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/street-level/2020/06/09/black-lgbtq-christians-find-a-home-in-a-harlem-house-of-worship) have helped make FCBC a growing church home to more than 10,000 beautifully inclusive members of all backgrounds, many of them LGBTQ. Every day she serves, Frazier is reconnecting and [healing the relationship between the Black church and queer people](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/well/mind/religion-trauma-lgbt-gay-depression-anxiety.html), women and other people who have felt unseen even in the house of God. The emerging filmmaker is working on her first documentary, [_A Love Supreme: Black, Queer and Christian in the South_](http://southerndocumentaryfund.org/projects/a-love-supreme-black-queer-and-christian-in-the-south/), as a healing tool for people who have experienced religious trauma.

90. Sarah M. Broom

Author

Website, Instagram, Twitter

“[Essential](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/books/review-yellow-house-sarah-broom.html)” is a word [repeatedly used](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/books/review/the-yellow-house-sarah-m-broom.html) to describe New Orleans native Sarah M. Broom’s first book, the poignant 2019 memoir _The Yellow House_, which chronicles Broom’s experiences growing up in the Crescent City as well as the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Before the accolades, Broom’s unfinished manuscript was hailed as a work that “could become a modern classic” when it earned a [Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant](https://www.whiting.org/content/sarah-m-broom#/) in 2016. That promise was fulfilled when _The Yellow House_ received the National Book Award for nonfiction and was praised as one of the best books of 2019 by publications such as the [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/books/review/best-books.html) and the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/entertainment/books/best-books-of-2019/). A writer and advocate who received her master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, Broom began her career as a newspaper journalist, later becoming an editor for [O, the Oprah Magazine](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/01/03/arts/where-sarah-m-broom-goes-books-go-too/), as well as executive director of the global nonprofit [Village Health Works](http://globalhealth.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Village-Health-Works-pdf.pdf).

91. Dario Calmese

Photographer, creative director

Website, Instagram

In 2020, Dario Calmese made history by becoming the [first Black photographer](https://www.theroot.com/viola-davis-opens-up-about-police-brutality-and-regrett-1844376011/amp) to shoot a Vanity Fair cover, an evocative portrait of Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis that sparked a cultural conversation with its homage to the 1863 photograph “The Scourged Back.” “I knew this was a moment to be, like, extra Black,” he [told the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/style/the-black-photographer-making-history-at-vanity-fair.html) ahead of the July/August 2020 cover’s release. Calmese’s creative work spans genres and mediums; he is also a [curator](http://www.dariocalmese.com/fashioning-the-black-body-1), [writer, director and brand consultant](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariothephotog/) who is currently on the advisory board of the Museum at FIT and a New York City Urban Design Forum fellow. His writing has appeared in HuffPost, the Business of Fashion and the Daily Beast andwill be featured in an upcoming book for the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Calmese also served as a behind-the-scenes photographer for [Beyoncé’s _Formation_ tour](http://www.dariocalmese.com/beyonce/piggqa756f9zn1afwg4pa9igw9co0p) and a [visual director](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariothephotog/) for menswear brand Public School NYC, and he has [directed](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/fashion/when-pyer-moss-brought-police-brutality-to-the-runway.amp.html) several of Pyer Moss’ [most acclaimed](https://www.theroot.com/wherever-you-came-from-don-t-fear-it-pyer-moss-has-a-1838008702) [New York Fashion Week presentations](http://www.dariocalmese.com/pyermoss).

92. Derecka Purnell

Human rights lawyer, writer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Everyone wants to feel safe in their neighborhood and home. That’s been impossible in overpoliced Black communities, and Derecka Purnell is working to help people [fully understand what “abolish the police” means](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/how-i-became-police-abolitionist/613540/) and looks like, particularly in neighborhoods that have been in the crosshairs of systemic abuses of power. This year, [the Harvard Law-educated lawyer](https://www.npr.org/2020/06/11/875311086/defunding-the-police-what-would-it-mean-for-the-u-s) and organizer [co-created the COVID19 Policing Project](https://communityresourcehub.org/covid19-policing/) to track pandemic-related police citations, arrests and enforcement and reimagine what public safety means in the coronavirus pandemic. Her [police-abolition advocacy](https://www.theroot.com/defund-the-police-explained-for-the-last-time-1844236393) has chipped at what she calls a "reliance on policing" and addresses the underlying issues at the root of 911 calls and police interventions in the first place. An advocate behind the dismissal of more than 3,000 cases founded on unconstitutional policing practices, Purnell—who is a [columnist at The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/derecka-purnell)—leads with a ferocious faith that an abolitionist framework is a community-changing answer.

93. Nicolette Louissaint

Executive director and president of Healthcare Ready

Twitter

Pretty much everyone found out at the same time that we were living in a pandemic, but when it became evident that her expertise would be an asset, Nicolette Louissaint stepped up to help. As executive director and president of [Healthcare Ready](https://healthcareready.org/), a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that responds to urgent supply-chain needs in catastrophes and natural disasters, she and her all-female staff use their skills to solve problems for the times like the one we’re in. Louissaint has been everywhere: [breaking down health care preparedness](https://www.c-span.org/video/?470912-4/washington-journal-nicolette-louissaint-discusses-us-coronavirus-response) on C-SPAN, giving tips on [how to safely run errands](https://fortune.com/2020/07/30/coronavirus-safety-running-errands-covid/) in Fortune magazine, talking about [pandemic burnout experienced by the experts](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/pandemic-experts-are-not-okay/613879/) themselves in The Atlantic. Because of her leadership, Healthcare Ready received more than $1 million in grants from donors like Daiichi Sankyo Inc. and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Five years ago, the clinical pharmacologist served as a senior adviser on Ebola at the U.S. State Department. Now she’s [laying the groundwork](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/08/the-path-out-united-states-coronavirus-mess-choose-to-take-it-cvd/) to get us over COVID-19.

94. J’Nai Bridges

Opera singer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

A [former](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/t-magazine/jnai-bridges.html) state champion basketball player and track star, Washington state native J’Nai Bridges traded in her sneakers for singing during her senior year of high school and never looked back. Since earning a graduate degree from Philadelphia’s esteemed Curtis Institute of Music, she has triumphed in singing roles, including Dalila in _Samson et Dalila_, the title role in _Carmen_ at the Dutch National Opera and Margret in _Wozzeck_, and she made her [Metropolitan Opera debut](https://www.metopera.org/discover/artists/mezzo-soprano/jnai-bridges/) in November 2019, singing the part of Nefertiti in a sold-out run of Philip Glass’ _Akhnaten_. The triumph occurred just [a few months](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/t-magazine/jnai-bridges.html) after the death of one of her idols, [Jessye Norman](https://www.theroot.com/jessye-norman-heralded-soprano-of-the-opera-world-die-1838647441); Bridges was a featured singer in the Met’s tribute to the famed diva in November and also participated in a star-studded tribute concert in September of this year in honor of what would have been Norman’s 75th birthday. And in a full-circle moment, the rising opera star returned to the basketball court this year to [perform](https://www.instagram.com/p/B9kWf7KBk2b/) the national anthem at a Washington Wizards game in March.

95. David Dennis Jr.

Writer, cultural critic

Twitter

Maybe you know him for his colorful sports commentary. Maybe you now know him as a writer of [hilariously over-the-top Bossip headlines](https://twitter.com/DavidDTSS/status/1299396996898455558). In the pantheon of Black thought provokers and [conversation starters](https://medium.com/@DavidDWrites), David Dennis Jr. has made sense of the omnipresent fray of the day with social criticism that sticks to our proverbial ribs. The year of carnage that is 2020 has given us an infinite supply of news items to call out, unpack and argue about, and the writer and Morehouse professor produced sagacious perspectives on race and culture for publications like [The Undefeated](https://theundefeated.com/contributors/david-dennis-jr/) and the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/14/democratic-primary-is-real-time-demonstration-hierarchy-oppression/). In spite of the vitriol that flies at him from the far corners of the Twitter badlands, his writing has been a voice of levity on [the disastrous administration](https://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks/videos/1156737438024920), [Drew Brees’ tone-deaf political stances](https://newsone.com/3953373/drew-brees-doesnt-care-about-black-people/) and how to [survive intra-pandemic life in quarantine](https://level.medium.com/marriage-wasnt-built-to-survive-quarantine-3128c87918f1), making him a people’s hero for being as honest as he is astute.

96. Kameelah Phillips

Obstetrician and gynecologist, founder of Calla Women's Health

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Dr. Kameelah Phillips is an obstetrician and gynecologist, so using speculums to treat patients is par for the course. Unfortunately, many tools of the trade were developed by Dr. James Marion Sims—a white man dubbed “[the father of modern gynecology](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/17/603163394/-father-of-gynecology-who-experimented-on-slaves-no-longer-on-pedestal-in-nyc)”—through the testing of his gynecological inventions [on enslaved Black women](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/james-marion-sims-problem-how-doctors-can-avoid-whitewashing-medicine-ncna880816), often without their consent and with no measures to mitigate their pain. That was exactly the case for the so-called Sims speculum, which, Phillips [learned about 10 years ago](https://www.today.com/health/racism-gynecology-dr-james-marion-sims-t185269), was used to operate on an 18-year-old Black woman named Lucy completely without anesthesia and in front of a room of observing doctors. That’s when Phillips decided that in her operating rooms, the tool would be [referred to as Lucy](https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/doctor-renames-surgical-tool-named-after-doctor-who-experimented-on-slaves) rather than Sims: She said she wasn’t going to give honor to a man whose instrument was “developed off the pain of women who looked like me.” Her stance has caught on in the medical community, and in 2020 it [inspired thousands](https://www.change.org/p/medical-instrument-and-device-manufacturers-rename-medical-devices-named-after-dr-marion-sims) to sign online [petitions](https://www.change.org/p/american-college-of-obstetricians-and-gynecologists-rename-sims-instruments-for-all-the-black-and-brown-women-he-experimented-on/sign) calling for all of Sims’ tools to be renamed for good “for all the Black and Brown women he experimented on.”

97. Domo

DJ, curator, illustrator

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Born and raised in the DMV, Dominique “Domo” Wells worked for the federal government in the Department of Energy until the arrival of the Trump administration [gave her the push](https://districtfray.com/articles/a-commanding-presence-dj-domo/) she needed to follow her creative calling as a DJ and curator with a special affinity for D.C.’s trademark go-go music. Her decision to bet on her passion for the culture that raised her has more than reaped rewards for Domo, who, [in just a few years](https://www.domo.world/), has spun records for former President Barack Obama, toured with Wiz Khalifa and worked with brands like Spotify, Nike, HBO and Apple. She’s also a force in the movement to protect D.C.’s Black culture from efforts to gentrify and erase it. In 2019, Domo [helped organize](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/thousands-rally-to-preserve-dcs-go-go-culture-as-gentrification-debate-continues-in-the-district/160751/) a hybrid protest and street concert as part of [#DontMuteDC](https://www.theroot.com/d-c-fights-back-against-colonizers-who-want-to-ban-go-1833913541) after residents of a new luxury apartment building attempted to stop a storefront from playing go-go music on the sidewalk, something its owners had been doing for years. She is also the co-founder of [GIRLAAA](https://www.domo.world/girlaaa), a D.C. artist collective powered by women of color that has executed events at the Hirshhorn Museum and the Kennedy Center.

98. Dana Scruggs

Photographer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Photographer Dana Scruggs’ breakthrough coincided with an industry first: In the spring of 2018, she became the first Black woman in the 10-year history of ESPN’s Body Issue to photograph one of its featured athletes—and was invited back [for the magazine’s 2019 edition](https://www.instagram.com/p/B2CZXu-gfC8/). But 2018 marked another major first for Scruggs because her Rolling Stone cover of rapper Travis Scott was the first by a Black photographer in the magazine’s half-century run, a milestone that [she acknowledged was “sweet and bittersweet.”](https://www.instagram.com/p/BrnFyJwA-mW/) Since then, her cover subjects have included Stacey Abrams, Janelle Monáe, Yara Shahidi and Mariah Carey—and Scruggs’ was among 15 artist portfolios featured in Antwaun Sargent’s acclaimed 2019 book, [_The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion_](https://www.amazon.com/New-Black-Vanguard-Photography-Between/dp/1597114685/ref=sr_1_2?crid=U1D03WUQJEHT&dchild=1&keywords=antwaun+sargent&qid=1599537657&s=books&sprefix=antw%2Cstripbooks%2C185&sr=1-2). In 2020, she proved as passionate about advocacy as about her artistry, bravely [leading a public callout of the Whitney Museum](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/arts/design/whitney-museum-exhibition-canceled.html) in August, which forced the revered museum to cancel an exhibition amid cries of exploitation after it purchased a series of works by Black photographers intended for the charitable initiative [See in Black](https://seeinblack.com/) at a mere fraction of the market rate.

99. Reva McPollom

Health and sexual education advocate, founder of Lessonbee

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Reva McPollom wants to make “coming of age” less confusing. Her own experience growing up queer highlighted inadequacies in the way topics like mental and sexual health and identity have traditionally been taught in schools. Now an educator and parent herself, she launched the [Lessonbee](https://lessonbee.com/) learning system to provide students from kindergarten through 12th grade with stronger and “culturally responsive” health education. An advocate for homeschooling, McPollom has developed an innovative curriculum that enables parents to bring age-appropriate handling of these sometimes sensitive topics into their homes, including [courses](https://health.lessonbee.com/) in mental health and illness, reproduction and pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS awareness. In addition, Lessonbee has been approved for use by the Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Student Health and Wellness, and McPollom is working with the New York City Department of Education on a mental health curriculum for the city’s public schools. “What it comes down to is providing access to truth and openness,” McPollom said in an interview with [Blood and Milk](https://www.bloodandmilk.com/self-taught-reva-mcpollom/) earlier this year.

100. Kirk A. Moore

Television writer

Website, Instagram, Twitter

Kirk A. Moore has worked as a writer on some of the most buzzed-about series on television, including _American Crime_, Marvel’s _Runaways_ and Netflix’s series _13 Reasons Why_, while also serving as a supervising producer for _Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan_ on Amazon. The multihyphenate is nowhere near finished placing his stamp on the industry; it was announced in July that Moore is working with Will Packer Media and Fox to [develop](https://deadline.com/2020/07/free-will-drama-kirk-a-moore-will-packer-development-fox-1202979589/) a family drama titled _Free Will_, which will focus on a Black family running a psychic business in New Orleans, no doubt drawing on Moore’s own stint [working the graveyard shift for a psychic company](https://2019austinfilmfestivalconfe.sched.com/speaker/kirk_a_moore.201lnygo) before his big break. Outside of his work, the Houston native, who broke into the television world as a member of NBC’s Writers on the Verge talent program, has been outspoken about the lack of diversity in television writers’ rooms, telling the [Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-06-24/black-writers-are-getting-hired-but-they-arent-getting-promoted), “People in my position are either not selling shows or not moving up in the room. If we are gonna talk about Black Lives Matter … then you actually have to let people of color run the room.”