Jan 9, 2019
100+ MAKERS AND MAVERICKS — 2018
Each year we compile a list of the one hundred+ people that got us to utter those words ‘I wish I had done that, made that, invented that, thought like that, changed that’. These are the people who have shone the brightest for us in 2018.
Maker Of The Year
Name: James Dyson
Title: Inventor
How many people would spend years in a shed making one improvement on their invention per day. A total of 5,126 iterations. Then you patent it. And, Hoover like your invention so much, they make a blatant copy of it.
Eventually, in the Court of Appeal, you take them to the cleaners. Dyson’s innovative technology is now found in hair-dryers, fans and hand-dryers. What next? Maybe a car? Watch out Elon. He’s our Maker of the year.
Maverick Of The Year
Name: Elon Musk
Co-Founder & CEO
In 2018 most of Wall Street bet against him. Most of the automotive industry hoped they were right. But people kept buying his vision of what a car needs to be if we are going to look after this planet. And then he turned a profit.
His critics haven’t gone away, but if the future of the car is electric, no other automotive company is ahead of him. Not one. His enemies want him to fail. His fans want him to get some sleep. He’s our Maverick of the year.
Tech
Pip Jamieson
CEO and Founder
The Dots
Pip who lives on a canal boat in Central London trained as an economist before launching her creative networking platform, The Dots. Her vision is ‘to kill LinkedIn’ by connecting freelancers and creatives with opportunities.
Tenzin Seldon
Co Founder & CEO
Kinstep
Kinstep matches pre-vetted immigrants with employment opportunities, an opportunity Tenzin knows very well, having been an immigrant herself and struggled to be taken seriously finding work.
Ludvig Berling
Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer
Karma
Following huge success in Sweden, the app that has rescued over 210 tonnes of food that would otherwise have ended up in the bin has just come to the UK, their next challenge is taking on supermarket waste.
Shane Reiley & Killane Stokes
Founders
Moyee
Shane & Killane met at the innovation academy in Dublin. Their coffee company is taking fair trade to the next level with a radically transparent sourcing chain that rewards every hand that touched the bean, using blockchain technology.
Tracey Young
Co- Founder
PlanGrid
One of few females in construction, Tracey is on a mission to support the industry by eliminating the need for blueprint plans meaning work can be faster, with plans being viewed and shared on a phone.
Alex Fefegha
Co- Founder & Head of Creative Technology
Comuzi
Alex is a creative technologist who renders emergent technologies like blockchain, AI, robotics and augmented reality into next generation products and services for positive human interaction.
Pavel Durov
Founder
VK & Telegram
Self-described ‘libertarian & vegetarian’, the founder of Russian social network VK and Telegram, an encrypted messaging service operating from Berlin. It currently has over 100 million users.
Tamas Kocsis
Web Developer & Founder
ZeroNet
This web developer was never motivated by highly paid jobs, instead, he is making his case for a decentralised internet and has founded ZeroNet, a company with a mission to share open, free and uncensorable websites.
Travis Vanderzanden
Founder
Bird
Dockless scooter sharing based in California now operates in over 100 cities worldwide. Former exec at Lyft and Uber before going on to launch ‘one of the most sought-after startups in the US’ according to Time Magazine this year.
Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss
Founders
Rent The Runway
At the epicenter of a trend tipped to be massive in 2019 for revolutionising the way we think about owning our goods. This company rents out designer dresses and accessories and is more like a logistics company than a fashion company.
Cindy Mi
Founder
VIPKID
Cindy has matched 30,000 North American teachers with 200,000 Chinese based students through her app that takes the stress away from teachers and lets them focus on doing their best work.
Laura Behrens Wu
Founder
Shippo
Used by some of the biggest direct to consumer brands globally, Lauren’s company is offering a way for small businesses to take on Amazon by connecting them with shipping providers worldwide.
Alice Bentinck
Co-Founder & General Partner
Entrepreneur First
Following her first role at McKinsey, Alice co-founded Entrepreneur First, the world’s leading talent investor. Since the beginning, EF have invested in more than 1000 individual technologists across six global locations.
Well-Being
Wim Hof
The Iceman
First, he ran a half marathon above the Arctic Circle in bare feet, then he developed the Wim Hof Method: a natural path to an optimal state of body and mind. Now he is making taking cold showers de rigueur.
Michelle Kennedy
Founder
Peanut
Peanut is like a dating app for expectant women and new mothers, Michelle is dedicated to finding your community and getting likeminded women together at what can be a lonely time. Over 300,000 mums have signed up.
Tom, Guy & Rob
Co-Founders
Tribe
The three friends started natural sports nutrition brand Tribe, following a 1,000 mile run with a mission to end human trafficking. As they’ve grown to supply Britains leading supermarkets, their mission has stayed true.
Gini & Eccie Newton
Co-Founders
Karma Cans & Karma Kitchens
The founders of the lunch delivery service that brings people together, because the best ideas happen at lunch. This year they launched Karma Kitchens, a co-working space for food brands to launch, grow and scale their businesses.
Hamish Grierson, Eliot Brooks & Tom Livesey & Annie Coleridge
Founders & Commercial Manager
Thriva
Encouraging the public to take health into their own hands. Their beautifully packaged mobile blood tests are sent to you by post, and following a quick prick of the finger your results will be with you within 48 hours.
Ingrid Fettell-Lee
Designer
The Aesthetics of Joy
IDEO fellow Ingrid saw a connection between our physical environments and our emotions and has written about her studies of joy to teach us how to find more of it around us. Changing your surroundings can change a lot.
Proffessor Julian Marchesi
Professor
Human Microbiome Research & Gut Health
Since 2001 Julian’s research has focused on understanding the microbiology of the gut, skin, lung and female reproductive system. He’s also looking at how the microbiome interacts with the diet to drive health.
Bryan Johnson
Founder
Kernel AI
Bryan’s self-funded company, Kernel is looking at ways to improve the understanding of human cognition for clinicians and researchers of neurological diseases and dysfunctions.
Michael Acton Smith
Co-Founder
Calm
Michael is dedicated to giving users 10 minutes of peace each day to rest their thoughts and undertake guided meditation, sleep exercises and activities to slow and rest the mind.
Money
Kristen Green
Founding Partner
Forerunner Ventures
Kristen is a founding partner at Forerunner Ventures, the VC firm behind the success of Warby Parker, Glossier, Hims, Outdoor Voices, and Dollar Shave Club, to name but a few.
Joseph Mason
Founder
Repost Network
Joseph’s company Repost Network works with thousands of artists even those without a record deal, placing them on major platforms, in exchange for a cut of streaming dollars.
Nicky Goulimis
Founder
Nova Credit
Nicky is a graduate of Y Combinator who’s looking at solutions for US immigrants to access personal financial plans, by sourcing their international history and making relevant for US-based decision makers.
Naval Ravikant
Founder & Investor
Angel List
Naval is a pioneering angel investor who has put his backing into dozens of companies in their infancy stages including Twitter, Uber, Yammer, Stack Overflow and Wanelo. If he calls you, take the call.
Jovin Conin Wilesmith, Milana Rabkin & Tim Luckow
Co-Founders
Stem
Stem is trying to simplify the payment of royalties for streaming music by collecting money earned YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, as well as splitting payments among collaborators.
Zooko Wilcox
Founder & CEO
Zcash
Zcash is a digital currency built on the original bitcoin. The big difference with zcash and other cryptocurrency’s is its level of privacy. So its code allows private transactions (and generally private data) in a public blockchain.
Jimmy Song
Bitcoin Educator
Coindesk
Jimmy is a programmer with 20 years of experience, the last 4 being in Bitcoin. His aim is to inform, educate and connect the global crypto and blockchain community through digital media, events and information.
Changpeng Zhao
Founder
Binance
Within seven months, Changpeng acquired 6 million users, and the capability to transact 1.4 million times-per-second, making Binance the world’s largest crypto-exchange. And getting bigger each day.
Elizabeth Stark
CEO & Co-Founder
Bitcoin’s Lightening Network
Elizabeth is trying to make Bitcoin faster, with Lightning, an open layer that leverages the power of blockchains and smart contracts to make cheap, fast, private transactions available to anyone around the world.
Gavin Andresen
Programmer
Blockch & Bitcoin
He wrote the code together with Satoshi Nakamoto, which makes him one of the most influential people in cryptocurrency, but what motivates him today is to contribute to the future of Blockchain.
Mike Novogratz
Founder
Galaxy Digital
Ex-Hedge Fund manager Mike runs Galaxy, a company trying to bridge the crypto and institutional worlds, to grow and advance the underlying ecosystem and technology behind digital assets and blockchain.
Brendan Blumer
CEO
Block.One
Using blockchain for security. Before they launched their product they raised $4 Billion, eclipsing the world’s biggest initial public offerings in 2018 and more than doubling the next biggest offering of that type.
Experience
Nate Mitchell
Co Founder + VP
Oculus
Oculus is redefining digital entertainment and 2019 looks to be their biggest opportunity to date. That’s because VR needs incredible content if it’s really going to take off, and Nate has some huge partnerships scheduled for the year ahead.
Priya Parker
Founder & Author
Thrive Labs & The Art of Gathering
In a world where connections are formed digitally rather than in person, Priya is determined to make physical gatherings memorable and transformative so she’s published a book about how we spend our time and why it matters.
Nick Jones
Founder & CEO
Soho House Group
Nick opened Soho House in 1995 as a private members destination for creatives. In 2018, they opened Soho House White City, Amsterdam and Mumbai, bringing their portfolio to 18 houses globally.
Charlie Brooker
Producer, Screen Writer, Presenter & Author
Black Mirror
Co-creator of Black Mirror, the series that shows the convergence of humanity and technology, giving us a glimpse into a not-so-distant dystopia. This year he’s published the book ‘Inside Black Mirror’ telling us how the show came to be.
Charlie & Caroline Gladstone
Serial Entrepreneurs
Pedlars, The Good Life Experience, Glen Dye & more
Founders of North Wales based festival The Good Life Experience, Charlie & Caroline have just opened Glen Dye, a collection of outdoor Cabins, Cottages & Hot Tubs in Scotland.
Miguel Mckelvey & Adam Neumann
Co-Founders
WeWork, WeLive, RiseByWe, WeGrow, Meetup + Flatiron School
First they redefined the workplace and now they’re looking at the way we inhabit cities and come together outside of the 9–5. This year they also acquired Meetup, connecting individuals with shared interests across the world.
Henry Cookson
Founder
Cooksoon Adventures
Henry is taking experience to a whole new level. He left working in finance to became a record setting polar explorer and has built a multi million dollar business taking people on truly world first experiences.
Alyssa Ravasio
Founder
Hipcamp
Alyssa is making it possible to pitch up your tent on ranches, farms, vineyards, nature preserves & public sites across the U.S.connecting campers with spots of land that were out of reach before.
Diqui James
Director
Fuerzabruta
The mastermind behind ultimate live experience Fuezra Bruta, a world touring event where the audience stands and moves around between and beneath the ever-changing sets during the performance.
Food
Anja Dunk
Chef, Co-Founder & Author
Our Two Tables & Strudles, Noodles & Dumplings
Anja was born in Wales to a German mother and a Welsh father. This year, the multi-talented Anja published Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings, her beautiful cookbook that champions the new taste of German cooking.
Hugh Thomas
Co-Founder
Ugly Drinks
Hugh moved out to America in 2018. He has taken Ugly’s sugar-free canned drinks across the pond as he tries to bring transparency into the fizzy drinks trade. It’s a good battle that he is fighting.
Claire Ptak
Founder
Violet Bakery
This baker began her journey selling cakes as a side project on Broadway Market, cupcake by cupcake she’s self-funded her way to opening a cafe in Hackney and in 2018, she was invited to make the royal wedding cake. Boom.
James Hennebry & Mathew Russell
Co-Founders
Rosslyn Coffee
The new opening in the City of London, serves specialty coffee on a rotating program championing the best of global independent roasters. Despite being open less than a year, they’ve been named within the 8 best new cafes in the world.
Gareth Ward
Founder
Ynyshir
Gareth’s Michelin starred restaurant is based on the coast of Mid Wales, near the Snowdonia National Park. Ynyshire means long island in Welsh. Denmark has Noma.Wales has Ynyshir.
Davide Caranchini
Chef
Materia
Davide cut his teeth at Noma and has since returned to his hometown to open his own restaurant, Materia, where he grows produce on site and wants to turn fine dining on it’s head.
Irving Fain
Co-Founder & CEO
Bowery
Using his background in tech for good, Irving is making farming 100x+ more productive while using 0 pesticides and 95% less water. He’s striving for pesticide-free farming to be the norm.
Giles Coren
Chef & Author
Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery
This year Giles pubically championed the worlds most ethical and sustainable restaurants in a new publication, Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery, they have big plans for 2019.
Chantalle Nicholson
Chef & Author
Tredwells
Author of Planted and chef-patron of Tredwells, Chantalle is a multi award-winning champion of plant-based cooking and a vocal ambassador for the food waste movement.
Lee Jaszcuk
Founder
The Custodial Pie Corp
Lee is pulling prisoners together to make phenomenal pies, bringing a sense of worth and focus for prisoners coming to the end of their time. The aim of the pie corp is rehabilitating prisoners to break the reoffending cycle.
Tim aka Clerkenwell Boy
Author & Social Entrepreneur
Cook For Syria
Influencer don’t always get a good press. But Tim is a ‘food influencer’ who has used his power for good, Tim is the guy behind Cook For Syria, a global movement in a time of humanitarian crisis.
Sommer Carroll
Co-Founder and CDO
Dirty Lemon Beverages
Sommer’s company delivers drinks on a text-to-order platform, since launching in 2015, they have processed more than a million message-based orders. You text. You drink. Simple.
Daniel Honig
Founder
Happy Valley Meat
The founder of Happy Valley Meat wants to address the communication breakdowns between farmers, buyers, and restaurants that stops paying customers from knowing where their food is coming from.
Ted Rosner
Founder
Redemption Roasters
A UK based coffee roaster with a very strong point of difference. Ted’s business exists to reduce reoffending, by giving inmates a practical outlet and a sense of purpose through creation.
Platforms Of Influence
Emily Weiss
Founder
Glossier Inc
The D2C skincare brand revolutionizing a market traditionally impossible to break into. With everything stacked against her, Emily’s attitude saw her from product creation to running the worlds biggest community around beauty.
Tyler Brûlé
Founder
Monocle
Tyler is a Maverick. When every magazine was going digital, he went print. His idea of Social Media is a room full of smart people and a glass of wine. He has built a global community around his values of good design and higher standards.
Maria Raga
CEO
Depop
Taking the helm of a business that had grown faster than it’s people, Maria was brought in to take direction of Depop after the founder had left. The first thing she did? She hired back the founder, and she won the heart of the whole company.
Will Hudson
Co-Founder
The HudsonBec Group
Co-Founder of It’s Nice That, Anyways & most recently, Lecture In Progress, bringing advice, insight, and inspiration for the next generation of creatives to demystify their perception of the working world.
Matthew Johnson
Chief Technology Officer
1414 Degrees
Matter’s team is looking at how energy is stored, so they can reduce how much energy is wasted in transport. Right now, they are under-going their first commercial pilots of molten silicon energy storage systems.
Sharmadean Reid
Founder & CEO
WAH Nails, Beauty Stack & Future Girl Corp
A serial entrepreneur and mother with an impactful side project, Future Girl Corp, equipping women of all ages to start out in business and to manage their personal finances.
Tobias Lütke
Founder
Shopify
CEO by day, Dad in the evening, hacker at night. Tobias’ team came to Cardigan in the Spring to film our factory move at Hiut. His e-commerce technology has allowed the small makers take on the status quo.
Twitter + Website + Our Shopify Studios documentary
Kristin Hallenga
Founder
CoppaFeel
Following a late breast cancer diagnosis in 2009 at 23 years old, Kris and her sister Maren founded CoppaFeel with a simple aim to get the world to know their boobs. Kris spoke about life at The Do Lectures, you can watch her talk below.
Instagram + Website + Kris’s Do Lectures talk
Kike Oniwinde
Founder
BYP Network
Ex British Javelin athlete Kike has this year launched the BYP network aka the Black Young Professionals network. Her plan is to change patterns of access into work for young people of colour.
Patrick Grant
Designer, Factory Owner & Entrepreneur
Owner of a factory, menswear tailor or Saville Row, Ready to Wear menswear label E Tautz, Community Clothing and his own factory in the North of England. Patrick is on a mission to try and change the cycle of cheap fast fashion.
Kate Ryder
Founder
Maven
No one likes going to the doctors. So Kate started Maven to offer an alternative to visiting the doctor, by providing video connection and private messaging facilities focused on female health.
David Katz
Founder & CEO
Plasticbank
By enabling the exchange of plastic for money, items or Blockchain secured digital tokens, David’s team reveals the value in plastic, empowering recycling ecosystems around the world to stop the flow of plastic into our oceans.
Rebekka Bay
Creative Director
Uniqlo
Rebekka’s lead the product team at transparent retailer Everlane. In her new role at Uniqlo, we hope she’ll bring the style and substance to bricks & mortar powerhouse Uniqlo.
Claire Tomkins
Founder
Future Family
Many founders say they going to change the world, but Claire will for sure. She is bringing an easy and affordable subscription-based fertility program enabling families to save for IVF or egg freezing.
Amy Chang
Founder
Acompany
Amy is on a mission to build a platform and a community to take on LinkedIn and Google as the best spot for finding up to date information about people so they can network more effectively.
Purpose Driven
Meghan Markle
Duchess Of Sussex
Bono said there was no point having fame if you couldn't use it to do some good. So thank you for using it Meghan, you’ve made a huge impact on our town and other independent brands globally this year.
Ali Parsa
Founder
Babylon Health
Ali wants Babylon to be the Google of Healthcare, offering affordable and accessible options for everyone on earth. He has recruited a team from over 60 different countries and is using AI to make his dream happen.
Alice Zhang
Founder
Verge Genenomics
Alice’s company uses artificial intelligence for drug discovery to treat neurological diseases. Verge discovered a way to map out the hundreds of genes that cause disease, and then find drugs that target all the genes at once.
Bob Iger
CEO
Walt Disney
On Bob’s watch, Disney has released five of the top 10 grossing global hit movies of all time, selling a cumulative $8.4 billion worth of movie tickets. He has recently reworked the entire company’s bonus structure, including his own.
Jack Graham
Founder
Year Here
A social innovation incubator where young people build solutions for society’s toughest problems in London. Fellows learn from, and design with, people at the frontline of inequality — in care homes, hostels and youth services across London.
Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon
Founder
Stemettes
Dr Anne is the founder of an award-winning social enterprise aimed at inspiring the next generation of females into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) roles via a series of prestigious events and opportunities.
Loujain Hathloul, Wajeha Al-Huwaider & Manal Al-Sharief
Activisits
Saudi Arabia
It’s not easy to do brave things. But these are the women to thank for the eventual passing of a law allowing women to drive in Saudi Arabia. (pictured: Loujian Hathloul).
Erik Hersman
Founder
BRCK
The man leading BRCK, a team of dedicated individuals trying to connect Africa to the internet. BRCK is a rugged wireless WiFi device designed and engineered in Kenya for use throughout the emerging markets.
Eli Pollak & Earl St Sauver
Co-Founders
Apollo Agriculture
They are bringing modern farming technology to the 50 million small hold farmers of Africa. They use agronomic machine learning, remote sensing, and mobile phones for soil data, farmer behaviour data and crop yield models.
Jamie Feilden
Founder
Jamie’s Farm
History Teacher turned social innovator, Jamie’s team is re-engaging children by getting them outside and onto the farm, aiming to change perspectives and enable disadvantaged young people to thrive academically, socially and emotionally.
Dame Tessa Jowell
Former Labour Cabinet Minister
Dame Tessa played a major role in the Olympics 2012 and this year campaigned for new cancer treatments to be made available through the NHS while she was herself battling brain cancer. She past away last May.
Rob Solomon
CEO
Go Fund Me
A platform that exists so the public can collectively fund projects that matter to them. Everyday, 10,000 new projects are added and to date, Go Fund Me has raised $5 Billion.
Luis Von Ahn & Severin Hacker
Co-Founders
Duolingo
The pair behind language learning app, Duolingo that has 300 million users across the world. Whatever way suits you best to learn, Luis & Severin’s aim is to make language learning fun and intuitive.
Creativity
Agnes Varda
Photographer
90 year old photographer and documentarian, Agnes made a trip around France with artist JR to create Faces Places, a beautiful documentary about chance happenings and the people that make the places we travel to.
Christopher Raeburn
Fashion Designer
Innovation & responsibility are integral to Christopher Raeburn’s REMADE studio where he and his team use surplus fabrics to create new pieces.He uses his work to get us to think about the environmental implications of waste.
Andy Gent
Head Puppet Master
Isle of Dogs
Right-hand man to Wes Anderson since Fantastic Mr Fox, Andy has since worked as a key part of the crew on the Grand Budapest Hotel and this year, Isle of Dogs where he headed up the whole puppet department.
Algy Batten
Founder
The Art of Ping Pong
Combining a love of Art and Ping Pong, Algy has created a brand with huge impact and fun at it’s heart. In his latest project, Algy has created a series of wall mounted ping pong tables, for every 21 he sells, a table is gifted to a care home.
Rowan Minkley & Robert Nicoll
Founders
Chip[s]
Turning what was food waste into something new altogether, Rowan & Robert, founders of Chip[s] have made a ‘chipboard’ entirely from potato peelings, using readily disposable materials instead of fabricating new.
Rachel Rossin
Artist
Rachel uses paint and photography to seamlessly explore what gets lost in translation between physical and virtual spaces. Her pieces can be amplified by seeing them through the added layer of the Oculus Rift headset.
Isabel Farchy
Founder & CEO
Creative Mentor Network
Founder of the Creative Mentor Network tackling the lack of diversity in the creative industries through mentorship schemes setting up creative professionals with diverse young talent.
James Victore
Artist
James is a firestarter. And the fire he wants to start is in you. He’s an artist and designer whose aim is to help you find your voice, doing wow work and building a life that inspires will devastate your limits. And show you how to win.
Richard Beavan
Editorial & Documentary Photographer
Before the US election, Richard visited homes and workplaces of Trump supporters to understand their perspective. One year later, he returned to the same locations and asked Trump voters to grade the progress of their president.
Banksy
Artist
Granted a certificate by Pest Control, Banksy’s authentication body, this artwork by Banksy made us question art and it’s value this year following it’s unexpected shredding at Sotheby’s this year. Going. Going. Gone.
Jake Carpenter
Founder
Burton
This man didn’t just create a company, he created a whole new sport. Together with his wife who is the CEO of Burton, they won a lifetime achievement award this year at the Outdoor Inspiration awards.
Words That Matter
Joh Su-Yong
Publisher & Serial Entrepreneur
Magazine B & Kakao
Ad-free magazine interrogating everything good about a brand, why they matter and why they make you feel something. He’s also the Co-CEO of Kakao, one of South Korea’s most disruptive tech companies.
Carole Cadwalladr
Journalist
Carole is a self-proclaimed ‘middle-aged woman who isn’t’ very technical’. Despite that, she is the journalist who led the Cambridge Analytica investigation this year despite all the barriers she had to face.
Otegha Uwagba
Founder & Author
Women Who
Founder of Women Who and author of a series of tool-kit books to educate women on how to own their careers, understand the potential of their earnings and how to cope with the freelance world of working.
Martin Usborne and Ann Waldvogel
Co-Founders
Hoxton Mini Press
A husband & wife team proving print is far from dead. Together they have just reached a milestone of 50,000 copies of their art and photography books from London based studio Hoxton Mini Press.
Anisa Kisliuk
Human Rights Activist
Anisa is just 21 years old. She is skillfully combatting unlawful police practices and working hard to popularize the ideas of human rights in her home, Belarus. Wow. Kudos to her.
Lucy Yeomans
Editor-In-Chief
Porter Magazine & Net A Porter
Lucy is a savvy wordsmith who isn’t afraid to publically make the connection between content and commerce. She launched Porter Digital, a platform updated daily in 4 languages to serve loyalty, engagement, customer acquisition & sales.
Sean Dagan Wood
Editor-In-Chief & Co-Founder
Positive News & Constructive Journalism Project
A media innovator with a passion for personal and social transformation. As the editor-in-chief of Positive News and co-founder of the Constructive Journalism Project, Sean’s vision is media that informs, inspires and empowers.
Preethi Kasireddy
Founder & CEO
TruStory
The brains behind the platform designed to bring truth to online research and validate claims that people make online, whether in a blog post, white paper, website or social media post.
Jeff Taylor
Founder & Editor In Chief
Courier Magazine
Jeff heads up Courier, reporting on modern business and start-up culture around the world. He also heads up their events, bringing business leaders together for interesting and challenging conversations to broaden the minds of their audience.
Kim Scott
Author
Radical Candour
Kim has drawn on experience at Apple, Google and various start ups to write Radical Candour, a book about How to be a kick ass boss and a better colleague without losing your humanity.
Shonda Rhimes
Screen Writer, Producer & Author
A prolific producer, screenwriter and author, Shonda published her own books, ‘The year of Yes’ and many more. Last year, Shonda made an agreement with Netflix for all her future productions to be made into a Netflix original series.
Music
Loyle Carner
Screen Writer, Producer & Author
Arguably a breakthrough act of 2018, Loyle Carner is a charismatic rap artist who’s talents extend into the kitchen too. He’s been teaching kids to took, and his latest song is named after Ottolenghi.
Allen Hughes
Director
Defiant Ones
Allen’s Netflix exclusive documentary traces the rise of music legends Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. He chronicles their groundbreaking partnership that went on to form Beats Partnerships. It is one of the best docs I have ever seen.
Josh Lloyd-Watson & Tom McFarland
Co-Founders
Jungle
Modern soul collective founded by Jay & Tom, best friends at school. Jungle enlist a diverse collective of artists to broaden their sound and challenge themselves to resist the temptation to reproduce the popular sounds of their first album.
Anna Calvi
Singer
Anna’s quiet speaking voice is but a distant memory when she graces the stage with her but huge presence and fearsome guitar. The subject of her new album is sexuality the tiredness she feels of ‘performing to her gender’.
Drew Silverstein
Founder
Amper Music
Drew’s tool uses artificial intelligence to create unique tones tailored to various types of content, to relieve content marketers spending hours trawling for stock music that fits the bill.
Jorja Smith
Singer & Songwriter
Her effortless voice was scouted via Youtube and she started writing for Maverick Sabre while she was still at school. Jorja worked in a coffee shop to support her music, three years later she is a Mercury award nominee.
Sam Fender
Singer
Sam is a natural born storyteller through music, his track Dead Boys is one of the most impactful tracks of the year tackling male suicide head-on. He was named one of the BBC’s Sound of 2018 alongside other emerging artists.
James Rhodes
Pianist & Author
Instrumental
James is a world acclaimed Pianist who has also published a raw account of the abuse he suffered as a young child. To be allowed to publish, he had to hail supreme court permission to lift an injunction barring it’s publication.
Slowthai
UK Rapper
One of the most exciting rappers in the UK right now, with a similar vibe to Dizzee Rascal. His track, Rainbows, confronts racism straight on. His live shows are high energy, a spectacle of sweat and skin.
Sport
Sorrell Walsh
Founder & Ultra Runner
WMN Run
‘Championing Female Endurance’ is Sorrell’s mission, a softly spoken writer and long distance runner who brought women together to run 50km or 100km in a bid to even the 80:20 male:female split in long distance running.
Mark Gainy
Co-Founder
Strava
Gainy’s social fitness network brings strangers together with virtual challenges on popular local routes. Rather than charging users for the service, Mark decided to charge city planners for the rich information they gather about routes.
Brian Moore
COO
Tracksmith
A company built for runners, by runners. The community values and beautiful product by Tracksmith are shaking up the playing field of performance led brands in Track and Field.
Rachel Atherton
Downhill Mountain Biker
This year was another standout year for Rachel, claiming both the World Cup title and her fifth World Championship — her sixth including her junior title in 2005. She began riding BMX at the age of 8.
Alex Honnold
Climber
Alex is the only person in the world to have free climbed El-Cap nothing but chalk and his rubber-soled rock shoes. He has achieved the impossible. More people have stepped on the moon.
Crew of Exxpedition
Crew
A crew sailing the globe to find solutions for environmental and health impacts of single-use plastics and toxins in the world’s oceans. Since departure crew members have included lobbyists and social media experts to spread the word.
Alexander Zverev
Tennis Player
This 21 year old German Tennis player made big moves up the ranks this year, right now he’s ranked 4th in the world, having won the ATP Finals taking on legends Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Marit Bjorgen
Skiier
Marit is a cross country skiier from Norway, she’s also ranked the top athlete of any gender to win the most medals in the Winter Olympics history, this year she took home 8 golds, 4 silvers and 3 bronze medals in Pyeongchang.
Billy Monger
Formula 3 Driver
Winner of Helen Rollason Sports Personality of the Year award this year following his return to motorsport having had both of his legs amputated following a crash during a Formula 4 race at last year.
Product
Tim Little
Owner & Creative Director
Grenson
Tim was an ad-man who dreamt of being a part of all aspects of a business, so he started his own, and revived British shoemakers, Grenson. He has struck the perfect balance between tradition and modernity. Inspiring.
Robby Stein
Director of Product
Robby’s career started at Google, and now he’s the Director of Product Management at Instagram where he leads the consumer product team for sharing, which includes Stories, Feed, Live and Direct Messaging.
Molly Goddard & Joel Jeffery
Co-Founders
Desmond & Dempsey
Husband and Wife team who came together from opposite sides of the world and founded Desmond & Dempsey, a London based pajama brand who hand paint all of their designs in London.
Asad Hamir
Founder
Nolii, Kite Eyewear
The 28th member of his family to get into the glasses business, Asas is now working on a new project trying to combat daily tech frustrations with a beautiful collection of useful products.
Gideon Day
Founder
Kame Bags
Gideon has seen more factories than we will ever see, he’s designed for Paul Smith, Howies and here at Hiut. So when he came across a Japanese bag factory making the best bags he’d ever seen, he decided to start a bag company.
Jen Rubio
Co-Founder & Creative Director
Away
In the ‘year or D2C’ Jen, founder of Direct To Consumer suitcase company Away doesn’t just want to shake up the suitcase industry, she wants to shake up the whole travel industry.
Chris Morton
Founder
Lyst
Chris is the maker behind Lyst, an inventory-free fashion company, using aggregation and discovery with universal checkout to offer ultimate choice to the customer. Is this the future of the shop?
John Zimmer & Logan Green
Co-Founders
Lyft
An Uber alternative matching drivers and riders. Right now, they’re celebrating the Lyftie awards, a list of the top to’s and from’s of users rides with Lyft globally. This is their mantra: Be yourself. Uplift others. Make it happen.
Shane Curran
Founder
qCrypt
This 19 year old has spoken on cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, and technology at OECD Forum, Web Summit & the European Union ICT Conference. Since 16, he has worked on qCrypt, looking at next-gen security solutions for businesses.
Ross Bailey
Founder
AppearHere
Appear Here connects empty spaces owned by a landlord as a potential location available for brand takeover from 1 day to a few months. The digital product has a wider impact, aiming to transform the high street one shop at a time.
Podcasts
Guy Raz
Host
How I Built This
Guy prods & probes into the world best companies, asking direct questions to get to the heart of who’s behind them and how it all came to be. His podcast does exactly what it says on the tin.
Imran Ahmed MBE
Founder, CEO & Podcast host
Business of Fashion & BoF Podcast
Harvard Graduate & ex-McKinsey consultant, Imran is one of the most powerful men in fashion. His podcasts cover all aspects of running a modern fashion business, featuring founders, CEOs and strategists.
Brian Clark
Host
UnEmployable Podcast
Using learnings from eight successful businesses of his own, Brian’s podcasts offers actionable strategies for ambitious freelancers and creative entrepreneurs. So you can build your dream, rather than someone elses.
Rachel Hollis
Host
Rise & Rise Together Podcast
Rachel is host to two podcasts and a serial entrepreneur. Rise, is a talk show with fellow business leaders, while Rise Together is a chat hosted together with her husband, about successful relationships and growing together.
Felix Thea
Host
Shopify Masters
Rotating business leaders are interviews about the journey of their venture and how they use Shopify, a podcast with tangible takeaways, inspirational and actionable insights for listeners.
Yotam Ottolenghi
Host
Simple Pleasures
Food brings people together in a way nothing else can. In his podcast, Yotam cooks for guests in his home, whilst discussing culture, travel, food and life’s simple pleasures. Like his food, it is simple but with lots of surprises.
Jad Abumrad
Host
Radio Lab
Radio Lab’s aim is to investigate ‘our strange world’. Topics include philosophy and science, touching on life’s big questions as well as more light-hearted listening.
Dolly Alderton & Pandora Forsyth
Hosts
The High Low
A weekly chat between journalists and friends Dolly & Pandora, covering high brow and low brow culture setting you up with varied opinion and insight for the week ahead.
Jessie Ware
Host
Table Manners
Jessie hosts a podcast about food, family, and the art of good conversation, from her dinner table. With a bit of help from her chef extraordinaire mum Lennie, each week guests from the worlds of music, culture and politics drop by for a chat.
Indi Davies
Host
Creative Lives
Interviewing creatives about their 9–5, how they got there and what they actually do. This none intimidating podcast is like a desert island disks for those just starting out, demystifying career options for grads and young people.
Shane Parrish
Host
The Knowledge Project by Farnham Street
Love this website and podcast. Shane’s plan is to ‘help you master the best of what other people have already figured out’. Recent interviews and conversations feature world-leading surgeons and global business leaders.
Brave New Wales
Geraint Howell Thomas
Cyclist
Winner of Tour De France
Geraint gained the yellow jersey at stage 11, and retained the lead for the remainder of the event becoming the first Welshman to win the tour, and went on to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.
Catrin Parry-Jones + Osian Wyn Jones
Co-Founders
Crwst
Crwst serve a great quality, great tasting all day brunch menu that has quickly become a new favourite of ours at Hiut and The Do Lectures. Its opening has given our small town a real confidence that good things are happening.
Huw Tomos Griffiths
Writer & Photographer
Wander Wonder
Huw was always asked for recommendations for walks around his home in North East Wales. As a photographer, writer and dad to Athur & Wilf, Huw started Wander Wonder to share the way he sees the outdoors with his family.
Jessica Leigh Jones
Electrician & Astrophysicist
Sony
26 year old engineer and astrophysicist from Cardiff was the first woman to win Young Engineer of the Year award in 2012 and now she’s working on building Sony’s factory of the future.
Jess Lea-Wilson
Writer, Author & Brand Manager
An independent marketer, designer & writer who works with forward-thinking conscious food brands from Anna Jones to Halen Mon. She’s also on the brink of publishing Do Salt, a book about the magic of seasoning.
Andy Middleton
Founder
Twr Y Felin
Andy is a Maverick. He’s helping to pioneer the Million Minds platform that is being built by progressive educators and activists in businesses and community to find and share the best resources imaginable to help those future leaders grow.
Olly Davey
Director
Heartwood Saunas
Saunas 100% handmade in Machynlleth, West Wales, with sustainably sourced Welsh wood. Every detail of their work is carefully thought out and designed to last in the UK weather. Saunas have never been so cool.
Jen Goss
Co-Founder & Chef
Our Two Tables & The Do Lectures
Jen is a talent. She is one-half of travelling kitchen concept ‘Our Two Tables’ with Anja Dunk. Throughout the year, you will find her at Bara Menyn, here in Cardigan. Then, come the summer, she heads up the kitchen at The Do Lectures.
Walter May
Founder, Business Consultant, MBA Lecturer & Coach
Global Welsh
The word diaspora describes a group of people living “away from an established or ancestral homeland”. Walter is on a mission to create the Welsh diaspora. A global network of Welsh friends who could all help to make a difference for Wales.
Chris Loyn
Founder
Loyn Architects
To Chris, it’s important that people are central to design. His ethos is that buildings are built to be lived in and enjoyed and that they don’t come to life until they’re inhabited.
Eifion & Amanda
Partners
Melin Tregwynt
A Woolen Mill producing woven Welsh fabrics and has been kept running by the same family since 1912. But Melin Tregwynt has taken designs from yesteryear and updated with a modern twist. And built a global brand along the way.
Founders
T Samways
It’s a big thing when you buy the old established butcher in your small town that you have been working in, and then start building your own high quality reputation with each day that passes.
Phew.
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