Category: 30 Under 30


Michael Luwoye

Michael Luwoye

For most, being cast in a Broadway musical would be hard enough. Landing the lead? Practically impossible. But for Michael Luwoye, the star of the most-expensive and sought-after ticket in Broadway history, becoming Hamilton’s Hamilton was almost an accident. “I started out auditioning for the roles of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison,” Luwoye said. “I never thought of playing Hamilton. That was never in my mind.” Hamilton: An American Musical is a Tony Award-Winning hip-hop/rap sensation that relies on a […]

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Mary Harmon Young

Mary Harmon Young has quickly become one of the rising stars in real estate throughout the nation.

Mary Harmon Young has quickly become one of the most influential and established realtors in the nation, thanks to her creative genes and desire to help her Tuscaloosa community. Recently, she was honored with state and national awards including a spot on the National Realtors Association 30 Under 30 list, something she calls a “coveted honor.” “The best thing about this job is that I get to help people,” Young said. “It may be something as simple as helping them […]

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Lara Dean

Lara Dean

Looking at speech pathologist Lara Dean’s schedule, you might wonder if she has any free time. Dean works full time for the Birmingham City Schools identifying children with autism, speech or language impairment, or other health impairments; she co-owns her own private practice where she conducts individual sessions with students; and she works with KultureCity to develop and roll out their Sensory Initiative Program across the country. KultureCity’s Sensory Initiative Program trains public venues such as zoos and sports arenas, […]

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Laci Jordan

Laci Jordan

As a creative director and curator of her own brand, Laci Jordan is the epitome of success. The graphic design superstar originally set out to be an FBI agent—receiving her first degree in criminal justice in 2010—but now she is hailed by the likes of Essence and Forbes magazines as “the definition of black girl magic” and a dynamic woman who “has an undeniable pulse on what’s relevant for millennials.” Jordan has worked for Disney Imagineering, ABC, and as a […]

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Koushik Kasanagottu

Koushik Kasanagottu

As the conversation on healthcare continues to heat up on national and local scales, innovative minds like Koushik Kasanagottu are dedicated to entering the primary care field and changing the narrative of healthcare infrastructure and availability in the United States. Kasanagottu’s medical career is dedicated to focusing on rural areas with inadequate healthcare providers, and finding innovative solutions to instill preventative healthcare and eradicate common preventable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. “The number one cause of death in the […]

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Kayleb Candrilli

Kayleb Candrilli

Kayleb Candrilli is an award-winning poet and author with more than 100 published works, many of which have won such prizes as the Britany Noakes Poetry Award and the Pamet River Prize. Mostly recently, however, Candrilli was selected from among thousands of applicants as a 2017 Lambda Literary finalist for What Runs Over, a poetry collection and memoir about life in rural Pennsylvania as a young transgender boy. Lambda Literary is the nation’s oldest and largest literary arts organization advancing […]

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Joy Spears

Joy Spears

If you were to name any top Billboard music artist in the last 10 years, there would be a good chance that 2011 alumna Joy Spears danced with them in a music video or concert. She’s taken the stage with Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Pink, Christina Aguilera, DJ Havana Brown, Paula Abdul, Pharrell, Kenny Chesney, and the list goes on and on. “I’ve lived out a lot of jobs that far exceeded my dreams,” Spears said. “But it is definitely […]

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Joshua Williams

Joshua Williams won first place in the International Horn Competition of America in 2017.

In seventh grade, Tuscaloosa-native Joshua Williams was told that he needed to wait a year to play football so he could participate in spring training. Instead, he forged his own path and joined his school’s band, where he picked up a French horn. Now, he’s one of the best horn players in the world. As an undergraduate and now doctoral candidate at UA, Williams practiced constantly to achieve success. But the hours of rehearsals paid off after his performance at […]

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Jessica Procter

Jessica Procter placed in the top seven in the 2017 Miss America pageant, where she presented her food insecurity platform Fifth Quarter.

Listening to Miss America contestants say that they want to solve world hunger seems so cliché that it verges on trite. But for UA senior Jessica Procter, also known as Miss Alabama, fighting against food insecurity is more than a winning platform—it’s a passion project that, most recently, has been helping campuses across the nation to save and bring thousands of pounds of food to needy families each week. For the project, known as Fifth Quarter, members of Alpha Gamma […]

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Ian Sams

Ian Sams

Behind every Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Tim Kaine is a less well-known Brian Fallon, Hope Hicks, and Ian Sams. The former have a reputation to maintain and a political platform to promote, and the latter spend every waking moment making it happen. As the current communications director for Senator Tim Kaine, Ian Sams, a 2011 alumnus, says his is an all-in industry. “The news cycle is 24 hours and therefore your job is 24 hours,” Sams said. “But I […]

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