Makers + shakers, 30ish + under

There are so many young people making an impact on our city – we could never cover every. single. one. of y’all who are leaving a mark on Soda City. And we’re not going to try.

We know this is just the tip of the iceberg, but here are six young professionals (30ish + younger) that we’ve noticed are doing cool things for Cola. 👇 We think you should watch them thrive, too.

👤 Kassy Alia | 30 | 💼 Founder, Heroes in Blue | 💪 After her husband was killed in the line of duty, she started a nonprofit that sheds light on the positive actions of law enforcement in S.C. and encourages positive community-police relations. With the Compassionate Acts Program team, she’s co-planning a Daddy and Me 5K that will raise money for the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition. | 📲 Follow her

👤 Colin Griffin | 30 | 💼 Chief Software Engineer, Krumware | 💪 Launched in 2016, Krumware is already one of the fastest-growing member companies in SOCO. Their team of six designs + builds large-scale, progressive web applications for businesses. | 📲 Follow him

👤 Carl Heyward Jr. | 23 | 💼 Freelance photographer | 💪 Educates and inspires with storytelling through photos + videos, highlighting brands doing cool things across Cola. You’ll often see him snapping + chatting at a COR event. | 📲 Follow him

👤 Ashleigh Lancaster | 28 | 💼 Office Manager, One Columbia | 💪 As a representative for One Columbia, she’s helping advocate for the arts in our community. She’s also a founding organizer of Girls Rock Columbia, a nonprofit rock camp for young girls + trans youth. | 📲 Follow her

👤 Ore Oluwole | 23 | 💼 Director of Alumni Relations, UofSC | 💪 A 2016 UofSC grad, he communicates as MyCarolina + other UofSC alumni brands to ~300,000 alumni. You’ll often see him on his phone at those fancy alumni events. | 📲 Follow him

👤 Erin Curtis | 32 | 💼 Operations Director, Soda City | 💪 She oversees operations for the every-Saturday, rain-or-shine Soda City market on Main St. (with 3 city blocks of vendors) and the Gervais St. Bridge Dinners, in which all proceeds go to nonprofits helping make Cola’s rivers accessible, safe + more livable. | 📲 Follow her

We know we’re opening a can of worms here (trust us, this list was really hard to narrow down), but let us know who (else) we should keep on our radar. Aside from the obvious, like CRBR’s Women of Influence + Free Times’ Power Issue. (You people rock, too.)

– Sam

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