Innovator
Ann Makosinski is an 18 year-old student, innovator and entrepreneur. Her first toy was a box of transistors. From there, her interest in science and creating arose. One of her friends in the Philippines got a failing grade because she didn't have any electricity or light to study with at night. As a potential solution, Ann invented a flashlight that ran off the heat of the human hand - the Hollow Flashlight. The invention won her age category at the 2013 Google Science Fair, as well as numerous awards at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair. She appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and was named one of TIMES 30 Under 30. Ann hopes to manufacture her flashlight, bringing the invention to developing countries and including them in emergency kits. Ann also invented the eDrink - a coffee mug that harvests the excess heat of your hot drink and converts it into electricity to charge a phone. Ann debuted the eDrink this October on her second appearance on the Tonight Show.
Scientist
Ciara Judge is an 18 year-old scientist and entrepreneur from Kinsale, Ireland. Over the past three years, she has won the BT Young Scientist, the European Union Contest for Young Scientists and the Google Global Science Fair with her teammates for their research on the work of rhizobium with cereal crops. In September 2014, Time Magazine named Ciara as one of the 25 most influential teens worldwide, and she has been pegged as a 'rising star' and 'one to watch' by several national and international news outlets. She is now co-director of her first company, Germinaid Innovations, with Emer Hickey. Last summer, she began work on her second startup PurchaseMate, while studying at MIT, Boston. Ciara is currently working with a global team on a new not-for-profit youth outreach platform called Project Zilkr to provide an online structured program that inspires young entrepreneurs. Ciara's entrepreneurial exploits, along with her philanthropic efforts with the Chernobyl Children's Project,
Experimental Learning
Connor Grooms has built a life, and his education, by breaking limits. At only 20, Grooms is location independent, traveling and living around the world as he runs his business online, from Saigon to Barcelona to his new homebase in Medellín. In November 2014, he gained 26 pounds of muscle in a month after a lifetime of being skinny, and wrote the book "Eating for Mass" on how to replicate his results. His book was endorsed by Dan John, one of the biggest names in strength training, as the "missing link".This past June, he achieved conversational level of Spanish in a single month and self-produced the film, "Spanish in a Month: A Language Learning Documentary" about the experience, which has been featured in outlets like Forbes. Grooms has nothing to prove - he does it because he knows that education and lifestyle are your responsibilities.
Filmmaker
Kash is a dancer, host, filmmaker and co-founder of YAK Films. He has been traveling the world filming street dance, studying new dance styles and hosting the "Yak Like You Know" show (YLYK) which features new dancers, original styles, fresh music and epic events. YAK Films is a media crew that covers street dance events worldwide, founded in East Oakland, California in 2008. The original crew met at the Youth UpRising Community Center, where they began working with a local street dance crew called the Turf Feinz. It started when one of their videos commemorating the loss of a dancer's brother went viral online. They then went looking for other street dance styles and events where dancers would battle each other for money, respect and glory. YAK is dedicated to bringing together quality local visuals, up and coming music artists and the best street dance talent to serve a growing global audience.
Konstantin Avdienko
Sustainable Technologist
Konstantin's name comes from a Latin word for "standfast". He is a mechanical engineering and computer science double major at the University of San Diego, interested in sustainable technology. He has started a recycling movement in his native country of Russia, which became the largest electronics-recycling center in Moscow. Upon moving to California, he became interested in solving the problem of water drought. Konstantin invented a device that could solve the pressing issue of the scarcity of pure water. After success building a working prototype, he is working on implementing an entire system of sustainable and renewable water supply systems. As Vice President of an Engineers Without Borders chapter, he often travels to third world countries to work on engineering projects that benefit people living there.
Musician
Introducing Mahalia, the beguiling voice behind Rudimental's brilliant track 'We The Generation'. Signed to Asylum Records (Ed Sheeran, Rudimental and Charli XCX) at only 17, Mahalia is already turning heads through supporting Ibeyi and Leon Bridges, and joining Rudimental during their shows throughout the summer at Lovebox, Boardmasters and their homecoming show at Hackney Empire. An incredible musician in her own right, she's been hosting her own 'Mahalia Presents' nights in Leicester over the past few years, curating shows with acts such as Martin Luke Brown, Saint Raymond and JP Cooper. She is featured on, and co-writer of 'We The Generation', and this autumn sees Mahalia taking centre stage with her own EP and string of live dates planned for the rest of the year. She is currently working on her debut album with producers 1985 (Drake, Nicki Minaj) Supa Dups (Bruno Mars, Mary J Blige) and Steve Fitzmaurice (Sam Smith, Aloe Blacc), among others.
Mariah Idrissi
Model
Mariah recently became the world's first Muslim model in hijab for H&M, earning her worldwide attention. She has appeared on CNN, BBC News, ITV, CNN and NBC, and been featured in the New York Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Evening Standard and the Khaleej Times. She has been interviewed by BBC5 Live, BBC Asian Network, BBC1, as well as other radio stations worldwide, to discuss the issues around Muslims appearing in Western fashion. Mariah has continued to cause a stir in the fashion world, breaking the “Western ideals” of fashion. With appearances in Harper’s Bazaar, Dazed and Grazia, she has helped to change the modern perception of beauty. Mariah is not just concerned with making a name for herself in fashion. She wishes to inspire women all over the world with her message of equality.
Meltem Avcil
Human Rights Activist
Meltem is a former child detainee. She was woken up at 6:00am by eight immigration officers who rushed into her house and occupied every room on the 27th of August, 2007. She was put in a caged van and taken to the police station, and from there, to the B-class prison Yarlswood Detention Centre in Bedfordshire. Now, Meltem is a 22 year-old award-winning human rights activist.
She started her first campaign while still in prison to stop children's detention. She is currently campaigning with Natasha Walter to #SETHERFREE. Her first award was the Liberty Human Rights Award. She went onto receive the Christie Jackson Young Person of the Year Award in 2014 and Cosmopolitan Ultimate Campaigner of the Year in 2015. Meltem currently lives, works and studies Psychology at the University of Goldsmiths in London. She is an amateur author, poet and scriptwriter. Her essay was published by Virago books in 'I Call Myself a Feminist.'
Filmmaker
Mukunda Angulo is an artist and filmmaker from New York City. He is one of the six brothers featured in the critically acclaimed, Sundance Grand Jury prize-winning documentary, "The Wolfpack".The film focuses on Mukunda and his brothers, raised in a New York public housing apartment isolated from society by their paranoid, overbearing father. Movies became their only view of the outside world and led them to create elaborate homemade costumes to emulate the films that they watched obsessively. At 15, Mukunda decided to leave the apartment for the first time on his own, setting off a chain of events to liberate him and his brothers from his father's lock down.
Adventurer and Environmental Activist
Rob is an adventurer, activist, and dude making a difference. His purpose is to inspire health, happiness, and freedom on Earth and he’s dedicated his life to this mission. He has cycled across the United States, twice, on a bamboo bicycle, went 1,000 days without showering, and has dove into thousands of dumpsters across America, all to inspire positive social and environmental change. When not out adventuring he lives off the grid in a fifty-square-foot tiny home in San Diego. His extreme adventures and activism campaigns may appear unattainable at first glance but within them are an abundance of simple lessons and tips that can be adapted into any life to live with more happiness, health, and freedom.
Musicians
Throughout the 70s, Sly & The Family Stone and George Clinton's Parliament / Funkadelic made uplifting, utopian, funky rock and soul music that refused to be drawn along lines of race or genre. Four decades later, four friends from London have brought that collective spirit back while also capturing the realities of 21st century British life. The result is We The Generation by Rudimental. We The Generation is an album for 2015, from the gospel-tinged I Will For Love, to the reggae-meets-drum'n'bass sparkle of Love Ain't Just A Word, to the soulful balladry of Ed Sheeran collaborations Bloodstream and Lay It All On Me. Guests include Rudimental favorites Ella Eyre and MNEK, 70s legends George Clinton, Max Romeo, the late Bobby Womack and Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, alongside new discoveries including sweet-voiced Essex singer Anne-Marie and energetic soul boy Will Heard.
Poet
In Safeerah's 16 years, she has accomplished far more with her writing than she ever imagined. Receiving an invitation to 10 Downing Street was a defining moment for her and an awe-inspiring experience that she will never forget. She thought it would end there, but then a year later, she continued to achieve what she never imagined possible. That's what words do; overcome the impossible. She recently won the Key Stage Four short story and poetry competitions within the Young Muslim Writers Awards and had the pleasure of meeting the esteemed judges and hearing their feedback. Safeerah loves all stories, whether in prose or poetry, and can be found reading authors from Rumi and Hafiz one day to Khalid Hosseini and Derek Landy the next. Safeerah is inspired by the contrasting landscapes of her heritage - the breathtaking Yorkshire scenery of rolling valleys and breathtaking moors, the aroma of wet earth and flowers, Pakistan's baked earth and spice, and the shouts of vendors selling the
Public Safety Technologist
Scott is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mark43, a New York-based startup that's reinventing public safety through next-generation software. Scott and his team work on the streets with police officers across the United States to rethink how officers collect, manage, share and analyze data. Their mission is clear - to help reduce violent crime, make our communities safer and better protect first responders. Scott has been named in Forbes 30 Under 30, Enterprise Tech, Inc. Magazine's 35 Under 35 and Goldman Sachs's 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2014 and 2015. Scott graduated from Harvard University in 2013 with a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering.
Dancer
Ange-Michael Mboumbou, also known as Shaadow Sefiroth, started dancing in 2009. His first dance style was "electro dance", that he approached while in France. It was only in the year of 2010/2011 that he began to practice hip-hop. Later on, Shaadow moved to London to study. He created a way to understand the dance through martial arts, science and philosophy, all other subjects he enjoyed. These elements allowed him to combine the rigor and dedication of martial arts, the critical thinking, precision and factual nature of science, along with the constant questioning of philosophy. He has a wide-ranging dance vocabulary that allows him to truly capture music. He embodies the emotion and energy of music and then transmits it into a physical form. Shaadow has certainly mastered the art of hard work and perseverance, teaching himself other art forms such as drawing, singing, music production and his most recent venture, designing clothes.
Musician
Introducing North London soul sensation Zak Abel who, at the tender age of 20, has some of the most in-demand producers clamouring to work with him. He is quickly becoming the musicians' musician, his incredible flair for a melody marrying perfectly with the organic musical alliances Zak is creating across the world. Collaborations with Tom Misch and Kaytranada have both hit the top of the Hype Machine chart on release and, with strong support across BBC 1Xtra and publications such as The Independent, i-D, Noisey, Complex, Clash and more, the future is looking very bright for this incredible talent. In autumn 2015, Zak headed out on the road with the incredible Kwabs throughout the UK, including a night at London's Roundhouse. He also recently played a sold-out headline show at London's Notting Hill Arts Club. With Zak's debut album coming in 2016, and more live news to follow, this is a space to watch!