Meet Adweek's 2020 Young Influentials

The impact of this year's class of Young Influentials—leaders in media, marketing and tech who have yet to hit their 40s—can be felt from the way we shop for cool clothes, the shows we binge and the gin we drink to how we think about race. Our cover subjects, teen TikTok superstars and siblings Charli and Dixie D'Amelio, meanwhile, have captured the imaginations of millions (and a host of brand partnerships) by posting videos of themselves dancing and singing. At the ages of 16 and 18, respectively, they've got their whole lives ahead of them but the world seemingly in the palms of their hands. Oh, to be young and influential. —Kristina Feliciano Charli and Dixie D'AmelioInfluencers [kickout id="1" label="DAMELIO"] In just over a year, sisters Charli and Dixie D’Amelio have become two of TikTok’s most talked-about names. Trained dancer Charli, 16, shares videos of herself dancing, earning herself nearly 75 million followers (she’s the platform’s most-followed user). And budding musician Dixie’s new tune, “Be Happy,” just knocked Kanye West out of the top trending spot on YouTube. Together the siblings, who hail from Norwalk, Conn., have 100 million TikTok followers and millions more on Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. Naturally, brand opportunities have followed. In February, Charli appeared in her first commercial—Sabra’s Super Bowl ad—and at the start of the pandemic, she fronted P&G’s #DistanceDance campaign, which spawned over a billion copycat videos. Last month, the siblings announced partnerships with retailer Hollister, a brand ambassadorship for makeup brand Morphe and, just a few days ago, a collaboration with nail polish line Orosa. “Brands really want to reach Gen Z’s ears,” says Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Influence Central. “They represent the epitome of that.” —Diana Pearl (Read our interview with Charli and Dixie here.) Amber Venz BoxCo-founder, president, rewardStyle [kickout id="2" label="Amber-Venz-300"] Venz Box founded rewardStyle in 2011 to adapt the concept of personal shoppers to leverage the power of influencers. When an influencer recommends an item to a follower who then completes a purchase, a tracked link enables them to receive a cut of the sale. "We're bringing that boutique shopping experience to customers everywhere from their homes,” says Venz Box. Today, the company is one of the world's most prominent influencer-monetization platforms, with offices on four continents. In 2017, as mobile-first shopping experiences became increasingly important, rewardStyle launched its LikeToKnow.it app, which allows users to directly shop the products featured in an influencer's photo. LikeToKnow.it is "a consumer shopping app where you can shop in the context of real people's lives,” says Venz Box. Notably, nearly 10 years on from the company's founding, Venz Box is still an influencer herself, with nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram. —D.P. Daniel LevyActor, writer, producer, director [kickout id="3" label="dan levy"] Superfans wept this spring when Schitt’s Creek ended its six-season run on Pop TV with a heart-tugging, same-sex wedding, and showrunner/star Levy says he shed his own tears about calling it quits, telling Adweek it was “an incredibly difficult decision, but I never questioned it was the right one. I’ve always advocated for quality over quantity, and I would have hated for our show to have overstayed its welcome.” Levy, who co-created the series with his father, comedy icon Eugene Levy, took a simple premise—an ultra-wealthy family loses its money and ends up in a rural town—and turned it into a wacky and compassionate journey of self-discovery. The former VJ for MTV Canada, who says he leaves his ego out of career choices, signed a three-year deal with Disney’s ABC Studios as his follow-up. There’s also a feature, Happiest Season, and an HBO special, Coastal Elites, in his near future. And Levy could wind up with an armload of Emmys come fall, with Schitt’s Creek recently picking up 15 nominations, including outstanding comedy and personal nods for his directing, writing and supporting actor roles. —T.L. Stanley Neil PatelCo-founder, Neil Patel Digital [kickout id="4" label="Neil-Patel-300"] Patel has worked in marketing since the age of 16, and advised some of the world’s most powerful brands, including Amazon, General Motors, Google, HP, NBC and Viacom. Now he’s shifting gears with Neil Patel Digital, advising businesses of all sizes in an effort to make large-scale marketing efforts accessible and affordable for everyone—not just industry giants with multimillion- or billion-dollar budgets. Neil Patel Digital comprises a blog, podcast and a slew of free resources for companies, as well as offers paid services aiding in growth hacking and creative marketing that don’t require large spending. Soon, the company is launching a 100% free email service. “My goal is to give away as much for free as we can, help people build their businesses and, if we make money in the end, then great,” he says. “If not, at least we helped other people succeed.” —Kaila Mathis Adam OrnelasSocial media and influencer strategist, Chipotle [kickout id="5" label="Adam-Ornelas-300"] In his role, Ornelas—who joined the fast-casual chain last October—helps manage the relationship between Chipotle and its influencers and celebrity fans. That includes working with sports stars such as Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and YouTube star David Dobrik, who hosted a virtual prom after-party sponsored by Chipotle, during which he announced the winner of a $25,000 scholarship from a pool of 51,000 applicants to an audience of 25,000. “We want to move fast, we want to be first and we want to keep it real,” Ornelas says of Chipotle’s social media approach. Indeed, Chipotle was one of the first brands to livestream events during the pandemic. Center stage of the company’s programming was “Chipotle Together,” a livestream entertainment series featuring, among others, electronic music artist Kaskade, whose performance attracted some 39,000 viewers. Notes Ornelas, “We want to be on the forefront of culture and innovation.” —Richard Collings Nate NicholsFounder, creative director, Palette Group; co-founder, Allyship & Action Summit [kickout id="6" label="Nate-Nichols-300"] When the ad industry finally began having its much-needed conversation about race this year, Nichols decided to direct his energy at a vital but polarizing aspect of the discussion: allyship. He quickly launched the Allyship & Action Summit to discuss how white professionals can work to effect change alongside people of color. The resulting conversations were unfiltered, emotional and incredibly popular. Nichols, along with his partner in business and life, Steffi Behringer, attracted thousands of viewers and became key figures in the industry's diversity discussions. Nichols' road to prominence was a challenging one, including a period when he slept on a mattress in a warehouse, and those experiences have informed his activism. “I never felt like there was an easy path for me,” says Nichols, who founded his creative strategy agency, Palette Group, in 2012. “And my story is a metaphor for allyship—a community of people who are trying to figure out their paths and how to be better stewards for community, culture, antiracism and dignity.” —Doug Zanger Jenny BurkeSvp, advertising sales strategy, NBCUniversal [kickout id="7" label="jenny burke"] Burke has never met a challenge she doesn’t like. And at NBCU, she has been tasked with a big one: determining the best way for the entertainment giant to find a foothold in the future of ad-supported television. Burke has been developing a new ad experience for the company’s fledgling streaming service, Peacock, that can serve advertisers and keep consumers happy, while building NBCUniversal’s global advertising partnership with U.K. broadcaster Sky, its Comcast sibling, to help shepherd international opportunities. “I love to tackle new, never-been-done initiatives,” says Burke, who explains that her brainstorming begins with consumer research. “That really excites me and gets me going.” —Kelsey Sutton Ziwe FumudohComedian [kickout id="8" label="Ziwe-Fumudoh-300"] Most people are uncomfortable talking about race. Not Fumudoh. She’s willing to go there in order to bring attention to systemic disparities and injustices. Fumudoh recently began an Instagram Live comedy show—a spin on Baited, a video series she launched in 2017 to lure her non-Black friends and co-workers to answer difficult questions about race—where she interviews guests such as Alison Roman, The New York Times cooking columnist who drew ire for comments about Chrissy Teigen’s and Marie Kondo's respective product lines, and Alyssa Milano, who tweeted she was a member of several marginalized groups after being asked if she was transgender last year. Fumudoh asks questions like, “What do you qualitatively like about Black people?” and “Name five Black people.” But because she’s a comedian, she does it all with humor, bringing a smiling awkwardness that’s both refreshing and appealing. “During those interviews, you're watching me, as a Black woman, reposition myself as someone with complete agency,” explains Fumudoh, who says she’d love to ask the authority figures in her life some of these questions. “It feels radical and empowering.” —Tiffany Moustakas Ryan BrownHead of content strategy and creative innovation, Twitter [kickout id="9" label="Ryan-Brown-300"] Brown, who as a student dreamed of one day working at Twitter, has been an influential figure at the social platform for years, starting with leading the design and strategy of what he calls the company’s “IPO narrative” in 2013. A recent focus is bringing tweets to life, as when Twitter had a selection of them printed on the confetti that rained down on the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. The stunt was one of his “favorite moments” of the last year, he says. (“However, my [San Francisco] 49ers losing was one of my least favorite moments,” he concedes.) With the pandemic driving even more users to Twitter—the user base soared to 186 million monetizable daily active users in the second quarter of 2020—Twitter launched a pair of activations aimed at lightening the mood: an #NBATwitter Watch Party pegged to the premiere of the Michael Jordan documentary, The Last Dance, and a daylong dedication of the company’s own Twitter account that centered on getting a haircut. As he puts it, “I help people love and use Twitter even more.” —Scott Nover Nick KennerFounder, CEO, Just Salad [kickout id="10" label="Nick-Kenner-300"] Serving salad in reusable bowls, Kenner made sustainability the heart of his company’s culture when he founded it in 2006, long before zero waste and sustainability became buzzwords. In 2019, he went even further and committed to eliminating single-use plastic by 2022 and hiring Sandra Noonan, founder of ZeroWasteNYC, as chief sustainability officer to lead those efforts. Being ahead of the curve has paid off: Just Salad’s sales approached $100 million in 2019. For Kenner, that success translates into an opportunity to support his eco-minded business ethics. “If we don’t have great product and a profitable business,” he notes, “then we don’t have a platform to make a difference on sustainability.” —R.C. Janelle ShaneAuthor, AI Weirdness blog [kickout id="11" label="Janelle-Shane-300"] Whether tapping neural networks to produce stomach-churning chili recipes or nightmarish cat pics, Shane always manages to find an entertaining and accessible way to experiment with the latest technology artificial-intelligence research has to offer. "So many people use AI, but relatively few people understand what it can and can't do,” she says. In a field often bogged down by technical jargon or vague buzzwords, Shane's recently published book, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You, is a funny and accessible primer on the quirks and foibles of machine learning. And her talk at TED 2019 makes a compelling case for the underlying importance of this absurdist fun: The dangers of AI are actually much stranger than science fiction might have you believe. "I hope that people learn from my work when to be skeptical about AI claims," Shane tells Adweek. "Even today's biggest new AI systems can produce really unfortunate results without human supervision.” —Patrick Kulp Ronnie StewartChief diversity officer, Publicis Groupe [kickout id="12" label="Ronnie-Dickerson-Stewart-300"] Stewart knew she was in for a challenge when she took on the role of chief diversity officer for Publicis Groupe at the beginning of the year. “Then here comes a global pandemic, then multiple waves of cultural crisis and injustice,” she says. “It’s been really important for me to stay centered on people, letting that connection with people guide every step.” After George Floyd’s murder, she hosted a series of conversations about race through “Brave Spaces,” a program she helped launch in 2017. On June 17, Stewart led Publicis Groupe’s "Pausing for Action," an event attended by over 18,000 employees dedicated to discussing new ways for the holding company to tackle the issue of systemic racism in advertising and find new ways to foster a culture of diversity and inclusion. At the beginning of July, Publicis Groupe outlined seven actions that arose from the conversations, including releasing its EEOC diversity data. “I’m encouraged about what has happened to this point and more encouraged about how we move forward,” Stewart says, “with inclusion and equity at the center.” —Erik Oster Adrian MolinaSenior brand manager, Aviation American Gin at Davos Brands [kickout id="13" label="Adrian-Molina-300"] Molina began in social media by marketing his fraternity through Facebook in college. That student pastime blossomed into a career in social media at Davos Brands, where he advanced to senior brand manager at Aviation Gin, one of the fastest-growing gins in the industry and the winner of the 2019 March Adness Trophy. The brand prides itself on its unique advertising, shifting away from typical gin brand marketing and utilizing the sarcasm of its owner, actor Ryan Reynolds—a snarky tone that Molina says resonates with his own sense of humor. The marketing expert wants every piece of content the company releases to feel like a DM from a friend, and thinks that’s what earns Aviation what he calls “the best fans on Earth.” Molina, who got an Aviation Gin tattoo, says he’s committed to helping this brand grow into an industry staple for years to come. “I’m just a boy from the Bronx, and I’m happy to be here,” he says. —K.M. Katie SturinoInfluencer and founder, Megababe [kickout id="14" label="Katie-Sturino-300"] Frustrated with the lack of effective, unembarrassing items on the market to alleviate thigh chafe, Sturino launched her personal care brand, Megababe, in 2017—and her Thigh Rescue product sold out within a week. Since then, Megababe has added new products to its lineup, like Happy Pits deodorant and Le Tush, a mask for butt acne. The assortment, Sturino says, is inspired by "checking off needs for my own bathroom." When the brand found itself facing unprecedented demand for its hand sanitizer at the onset of the pandemic, Megababe rolled out Megababe Cares, a program that donated Squeaky Clean sanitizer to front-line workers. Megababe tells only part of Sturino's story, however: She's also an influencer—with over half a million Instagram followers and an ongoing clothing collaboration with Stitch Fix—who challenges brands to expand their sizing with her #MakeMySize initiative on Instagram. "They're separate but intertwined," Sturino says of her two ventures. "It allows me more access to customers.” —D.P. Maitreyi RamakrishnanActor, Never Have I Ever [kickout id="15" label="Maitreyi-Ramakrishnan-300"] Not many people land their dream job right out of high school, but Ramakrishnan, one of the breakout stars of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, did just that after responding to an open casting call on Instagram from executive producer Mindy Kaling. The 18-year-old Office fan says Kaling was a huge draw—as was the opportunity to play a first-generation Asian girl on screen. “For a lot of people of color and the South Asian community … we’re so used to being sidekicks, we’re so used to being comedic relief,” she told Variety in May. “… And when you do relate to a character, they’re usually Caucasian and then you realize you’re living your life in the shadows as a person of color and you’re only able to see yourself through white characters, which is not totally OK either.” Premiering in April 2020 meant no red-carpet events for her first major role, but Ramakrishnan says that matters less than people actually being able to see the show—and getting a Season 2. After 40 million households tuned in during the first four weeks, that’s precisely what’s in store. —Lisa Lacy Becky BrinkerhoffCopywriter, Arnold Worldwide [kickout id="16" label="Becky-Brinkerhoff-300"] Imagine being a copywriter in the highly competitive (and cluttered) insurance category, where humor reigns supreme. It’s hard to break through, but Progressive is one of the incumbent brands that consistently delivers—thanks in large part to Brinkerhoff. The 26-year-old Alabama native, a copywriter at Arnold Worldwide in Boston, pulls from her education at Emerson College, where she majored in theater studies with a marketing minor, which is where she discovered copywriting. Outside of brand work, Brinkerhoff, who identifies as bisexual, leads an agency pro bono effort for the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth, which describes itself as "the oldest continuously running, independent LGBTQ youth organization in the country." “I feel like it’s my responsibility to speak up when I see something that’s not created respectfully,” says Brinkerhoff. “And I love doing what I can to get deserving talent in the door.” —D.Z. Joe RootCEO, Permutive [kickout id="17" label="Joe-Root-300"] After studying computer science at Imperial College London and then the University of Oxford, Root took his first entrepreneurial steps via the equally illustrious Y Combinator accelerator program. It was here that he reshaped his business plan for Permutive before securing Series A funding. His company’s mission is simple: to reset advertising as privacy reshapes the ad industry at the expense of third-party data. For instance, when Apple started to make changes to Safari, Root built a platform that doesn’t rely on third-party cookies so publishers can understand and target all their users—which isn’t possible with other solutions. And now, as Google prepares to make similar changes to its Chrome browser by 2022, publishers will need to build new revenue streams to survive—an issue that’s only been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our mission is to build a new data ecosystem with user privacy at its core that delivers incredible value to publishers and advertisers,” the Londoner tells Adweek. —Ronan Shields Kelsey DavisFounder and CEO, Cllctve [kickout id="18" label="Kelsey-Davis_300"] Davis launched her freelance video-creation career while attending Syracuse University, and quickly began working for high-profile brands like Coca-Cola, Condé Nast and Puma. As she brought more students onto her team, she noticed a need for Gen Z-focused brands to source talent reflective of the ages they’re trying to reach, so she founded Cllctve, a platform that connects college creators with marketers. “You see progress and scalability when you actually meet the needs of the market,” she says. "What you’re building needs to be representative of that market.” As the business expands, Davis is focused on fostering a diverse and inclusive environment and democratizing the content marketplace for all creators, regardless of race, sexuality, location or resources. —K.M. Michael SchneiderVp, brand marketing, Hulu [kickout id="19" label="Michael-Schneider-300"] When football fans saw a cryptic photo of quarterback Tom Brady ahead of Super Bowl weekend, the rumor mill began to churn at top speed. That was the point, says Schneider, who helped orchestrate Hulu’s surprise Super Bowl spot featuring Brady, who confirmed he wasn’t retiring while pitching the streamer’s live sports offering as part of its "Sellouts" campaign. “It was so powerful for a brand in one year to go from people not realizing it carried sports to being on the front page of ESPN.com after creating a national stir over Tom Brady’s future,” says Schneider. Hulu’s Live TV service has grown 65% from March 2019, but Schneider looks for other signs to know his projects landed. He offers a case in point: “Around the same time as the Super Bowl, two TSA agents, after seeing my Hulu backpack, asked if I knew that Hulu had live sports!” —K.S. Aurora JamesFounder, 15 Percent Pledge and Brother Vellies [kickout id="20" label="Aurora-James-getty-300"] 2020 forced a lot of people to shift unexpectedly, but for this Brooklyn-based luxury accessories designer, it was less of a pivot and more of a reckoning. The fashion influencer had already launched the shop Brother Vellies with an eye toward sustainability and creating opportunities for artisans in Africa. So when the pandemic crushed employment in the Black community here at home, James focused her sights on holding U.S. corporations accountable for lack of supplier diversity. 15 Percent Pledge was born in June, asking major retailers to increase the number of Black-owned brands they carry to at least 15%. Sephora quickly signed on, followed by Rent the Runway and West Elm. Within the space of weeks, James had ensured millions in sustainable profits for Black-owned American businesses. “Many Black people choose to spend their money with these retailers. They are set up in our communities, and their sponsored posts are targeted to us,” James told Adweek in June. “If they value our money, it is time to value us as well and show us that we are represented.” —Mary Emily O’Hara Kristen ColonnaChief strategy officer, OMD North America [kickout id="21" label="Kristen-Colonna-300"] Omnicom Media Group’s OMD has undergone a radical transformation since 2017, going from the bottom of COMvergence’s new business rankings to back-to-back Adweek Global Media Agency of the Year honors, and Colonna has played a crucial role at every step. The chief strategy officer was part of the core team that developed OMD Design, which modernized the agency’s media planning process by utilizing Omnicom data platform Omni to implement its “Better Decisions Faster” philosophy (she also played an active role in training OMD’s media planning teams in the use of Omni). This evolution, Colonna explains, allowed OMD to work closely with client-side marketers and ultimately “helped set us up for the unanticipated challenges of Covid-19.” With its new approach firmly in place, Colonna and OMD are looking ahead and preparing to help clients as life settles into a “new reset.” “We’re seeing success in new business and with existing clients,” she says. “2021 will be the year of mentorship to make sure our way of working comes to life as richly as possible.” —E.O. Steph LoffredoAssociate director of social media, Huge; creator, Hooha [kickout id="22" label="Steph-Loffredo_300"] Loffredo has a busy day job at Huge’s D.C. office, where she helps direct social media campaigns for clients of all stripes, but the role by no means defines her. “Huge is the first place I’ve worked where I didn’t feel boxed in by my role, and I’ve had a really creatively liberating experience here,” she says. In fact, Loffredo is also an entrepreneur who is currently working to get Hooha off the ground. What’s Hooha, you ask? A smart tampon dispenser that Loffredo debuted at SXSW last year to replace the rusty, coin-operated vending machines that are a fixture of public bathrooms. Plans to mass produce Hooha have been postponed due to the pandemic, but the virus has also made the need for such technology even more urgent. (The Hooha team is working on a pitch deck to attract venture capital.) “One of the big benefits of Hooha is its text-to-dispense feature, which makes it touchless and more hygienic as we emerge from isolation,” says Loffredo. —Minda Smiley Weijia JiangWhite House correspondent, CBS News [kickout id="23" label="Weijia-Jiang-300"] Jiang is well respected in political media circles for her probing questions at White House press briefings—most notably, in June, asking White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany about President Trump’s use of “racist phrases like ‘kung flu.’” Jiang says the last thing she’s worried about is if Trump will lash out at her (as he did during an April briefing, berating her “nasty tone”), because her job is to hold him to account. “Now more than ever, we have to be able to almost fact-check in real time and not allow these statements to just go unchecked,” she says. Amid both the pandemic and the nationwide racial justice movement, “I feel more responsibility than ever with my job to make sure I'm getting as much information, the newest information, the best information to people, because so much is at stake,” says Jiang. "Literally, lives are at stake.” —A.J. Katz Tiffany HawthorneDirector of original series, drama, Netflix [kickout id="24" label="Tiffany-Hawthorne-300"] Hawthorne thought she wanted to act on stage before she realized that developing stories—not starring in them—was better suited to her Type-A personality. Now Hawthorne is overseeing some of the world’s most widely distributed stories at Netflix. The California native has collaborated closely with the Obamas’ Higher Ground Production on scripted series and is working on projects like The Girls on the Bus, which follows four women reporting from the campaign trail. The pandemic-driven surge in content consumption, paired with ongoing civil unrest, has renewed Hawthorne’s passion for bringing new storytellers to the service. “Right now, this work feels incredibly prescient, and it feels like the purpose is even more necessary,” she says. “Television has had the ability to influence people and make people proud of who they are as individuals, and the ability to do that work is an honor.” —K.S. Ronald HarrisonSenior associate brand manager, Mars [kickout id="25" label="RonaldHarrison-300"] An interest in better understanding why humans do what they do has propelled Harrison into his current position at Mars, where he’s helped introduce two two-in-one product innovations: Starburst Duos (a pair of flavors in one fruit chew) and Starburst Swirlers (two flavors in “fruit stick” form). To promote the latter, the brand debuted the company’s first mobile-only vertical ad campaign, featuring people in a hair salon attempting to go about their afternoon while existing in an environment that’s been flipped on its side. Aware that shoppers are increasingly on their smartphones, he says the strategy was to make the content play with the format. “You have to meet consumers where they are,” says Harrison, who believes you can’t make an idea stick through force. Since he joined Starburst two years ago, the brand has climbed from second place in the fruity confectionery category to the top spot. —Paul Hiebert Angela BrownSenior social strategist, GSD&M [kickout id="26" label="Angela-Brown-300"] It might seem like ages ago, but it was only last summer that Popeyes succinctly tweeted “… Ya’ll good?” in response to a salty post by rival Chick-fil-A, kicking off the so-called chicken sandwich wars. Brown was one of the masterminds behind the tweet, which went viral and helped drive a surge in sales for Popeyes. “We had a feeling it would pop in one way, but I’m proud to say my expectations were shattered and it just solidified, yet again, the power of a community like Black Twitter,” she says. Brown—with thousands of Twitter followers herself—is a vocal advocate for Black talent in the industry, taking part in events like the Allyship & Action virtual summit. “There is a very real damage and lack of wealth because of lost job opportunities for Black people due to nepotism, racism and sexism,” she explains. Brown wants to see “less talk” from agencies on the issue and more proof that they’re actually doing the work. —M.S. Taylor LorenzTechnology reporter, The New York Times [kickout id="27" label="taylor lorenz"] With her writing, Lorenz—who joined the Times not yet a year ago after writing for The Atlantic and The Daily Beast—contextualizes the internet as we live it. When in-person interaction was replaced with virtual meetings and hangouts, she wrote about Zoom fatigue. In early July, when it became a trend to cut into an object and reveal that it was actually made of cake, she explored the meme. And when women began to post black-and-white selfies to express their support of each other, she wrote about that too. For the Gray Lady, Lorenz also serves as an ambassador of sorts for youthful voices, keeping readers up to date with internet trends and the apps teens use, often before they go mainstream. “I receive a ton [of] emails and messages from kids with feedback and thoughts about my stories,” she noted in a recent Q&A with fellow editors at The Times. “I want young people to feel represented by this global news organization.” —Sara Jerde Helena Price HambrechtCo-founder, co-CEO, Haus [kickout id="28" label="HELENA_PORTRAIT-300"] If you and your friends have discussed apéritifs lately, there’s a good chance that conversation involved Haus, the all-natural DTC alcohol brand that, well, people can’t seem to stop talking about. Hambrecht founded the brand one year ago with husband and third-generation winemaker Woody Hambrecht, pushing Haus through a known loophole in American liquor laws that date back to Prohibition, allowing the startup to sell its low-ABV beverage online. “Every single person we met in traditional alcohol told us this was the stupidest idea they've ever heard,” says Hambrecht, whose background is in branding for Silicon Valley giants such as Airbnb and Facebook. Now that Haus has grown over 600% since January, the idea not only doesn’t seem stupid—it looks obvious. Even the brand’s main mode of marketing goes against the grain: good old-fashioned word of mouth. —P.H. Mona GonzalezManaging director, Pereira O’Dell New York [kickout id="29" label="MonaGonzalez-300"] To say Gonzalez has had quite the year would be an understatement. Since being promoted to managing director of Pereira O’Dell’s New York office last year, she’s helped the agency grow existing business while winning new clients (like Intel) all while navigating the independent shop through a pandemic. “We just won a large portfolio business that was pitched from March through June, literally through the roller coaster of it all,” she says. “It forced us to quickly figure out how to make remote pitching work on what happened to be a complex and grueling assignment. The focus paid off.” On top of it all, she also spearheaded an initiative called “Save the Internships” at the start of summer to encourage agencies to hire students from City University of New York’s (CUNY) colleges, many of whom work full time or part time and come from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the industry. A total of 15 interns have been hired as a result of the push. —M.S.

Young Influentials

Meet Adweek's 2020 Young Influentials Who Are Shaping Media, Marketing and Tech

From teen TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D'Amelio to the vp who scored big for Hulu

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