Most Influential People
Most Influential, Business: James Wong
Prolific developer wants ‘to do more good for the community’
James Wong is one of Seattle’s 25 most influential people reshaping our region. #mostinfluential James Wong grew up across the street from Beacon Hill Elementary School with blue-collar parents. His father was a cook at iconic Chinatown International District restaurants Ocean City and House of Hong. His mother was a seamstress. Instead of simply crossing…
Most Influential, Food & Drink: Emily Kim and Heather Hodge
Using their dessert-making skills for the greater social good
Emily Kim and Heather Hodge are among Seattle’s 25 most influential people reshaping our region. #mostinfluential When Emily Kim and Heather Hodge, founders of the Pastry Project, went out for drinks one evening in 2019, starting a business together was the last thing on their minds. The two women, who both worked for Molly Moon’s…
Most Influential, Business: Ebony Welborn and Savannah Smith
They saw that few in the maritime sector looked like them. They're out to change that.
Ebony Welborn and Savannah Smith are among Seattle’s 25 most influential people reshaping our region. #mostinfluential A fascination with the ocean brought Ebony Welborn and Savannah Smith together. A mission to create BIPOC representation in the maritime industry keeps them going. Welborn and Smith are the cofounders of Seattle-based Sea Potential LLC, a company they…
Most Influential, Education: Kate Starbird
Kate Starbird spends her career studying and combating falsehoods
Kate Starbird is one of Seattle’s 25 most influential people reshaping our region. #mostinfluential Kate Starbird sometimes wishes her research focused on happier topics. If she didn’t spend her days devoted to tracking disinformation [false information deliberately spread to deceive people], she wouldn’t witness attempts to unravel democratic elections. She and her colleagues at the…
Most Influential, Politics: Debra Lekanoff
‘I just knew that it was always going to be in my walk in life to give back to communities.’
Debra Lekanoff is one of Seattle’s 25 most influential people reshaping our region. #mostinfluential Her tribal name comes first: Xixch’I See. That’s where Debra Lekanoff’s story starts. With her name, which is passed down through the women’s bloodlines in the matrilineal society of her Tlingit community. To invoke her tribal name before her English name…
Most Influential, Equity: Pearl Jam
The band’s charitable work is just as impressive as its musical output
Pearl Jam is among Seattle’s 25 most influential changemakers reshaping our region. #mostinfluential The Vitalogy Foundation, Pearl Jam’s charitable arm, has an organic approach to giving, with all band members supporting their chosen projects as well as collectively deciding which organizations and causes to fund. So, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a woman’s right…
Most Influential, Arts: Stevie Shao
The Seattle muralist and illustrator understands the power of public art
Stevie Shao is one of Seattle’s 25 most influential people reshaping our region. #mostinfluential When the Covid-19 pandemic started, Stevie Shao had never painted a mural. By the time Washington state lifted its lockdown order 15 months later, Shao had become one of the most in-demand public artists and illustrators in Seattle. What started as…
Seattle magazine’s Most Influential People of 2021
These innovators took bold actions and big risks during a trying year. From the arts to civic engagement to business, here's a look at those who made a measurable difference across the state in 2021.
Linda Derschang; Black Coffee Northwest owners Erwin and Darnesha Weary; Jon Scholes; Michael Greer; Pallavi Mehta Wahi; Seena Mortazavi; Susanna Ryan; John Tomkowiak; Vivian Hua
Movers & Shakers: Seattle’s Most Influential People of the Year 2019
Meet this year’s class of our Most Influential People: 35 Seattleites who are altering the fabric of our city
This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. We are the crane capital of the country, and that means we are still growing at an astonishing—and sometimes unnerving—rate. With exceptional growth come exceptional people, and we celebrate them here. These luminaries help elevate…
Seattle’s Most Influential People 2019: ‘Seattle Times’ Reporter, Dominic Gates
As a reporter on the aerospace beat, Gates extensively covers the Boeing 737 MAX crisis
This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. Where were you when Boeing’s bad news—that the corporation had ignored flaws in its 737 Max system, which resulted in two international plane crashes in five months—broke this year? It’s likely that many of those…
Seattle’s Most Influential People 2019: Gov. Jay Inslee, US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Judge James Robart, Ryan Vancil
From climate change to police accountability, these four public officials are bring important issues to the spotlight
This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. As the first major presidential candidate from Washington state since Scoop Jackson ran in 1976, Governor Jay Inslee took his seat on the national stage, while the state basked in reflected glory. Although he dropped…
Seattle’s Most Influential People 2019: Recompose Founder, Katrina Spade
Spade's company will be doing the composting work once the Washington state human composting law goes into effect in May 2020
This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. People across the country did a collective double take when Governor Jay Inslee signed legislation in May that would make Washington state the first in the country to allow human composting, effective starting in May…
Seattle’s Most Influential People 2019: Singer-songwriter, Brandi Carlile
On top of her Grammy wins, Carlile is the cofounder of the Looking Out Foundation, which funds humanitarian causes
This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe. The six Grammy nominations and three wins Brandi Carlile earned for 2018’s By the Way, I Forgive You proved that, finally, the rest of the country loves the Ravensdale native as much as we Washingtonians…
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