Announcing The 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 Local List

Nominations close on May 11th, 2025.

Wanted: The top young founders and leaders in Columbus, Ohio.

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ore than a decade after Forbes launched the 30 Under 30 franchise, we debuted our inaugural 30 Under 30 Local list in 2023 to highlight 300 changemakers in 10 local communities, including Atlanta, Boston and Puerto Rico. Then, in 2024, we spotted the 30 top young leaders in Cincinnati. Now we’ve selected a new creative metropolis for our 2025 30 Under 30 Local list: Columbus.

Do you know someone in Columbus, Ohio reinventing the worlds of tech, business, art & culture, food, retail, entertainment and impact? Nominate them (or yourself) today.

NOMINATION GUIDELINES

• Nominees must be 29 or younger on May 29, 2025, and have never appeared on an Under 30 list before.

• Nominees must reside in or have their business based in Columbus, Ohio.

• Those who appear on the final Under 30 Local Lists are still eligible for future Forbes lists, including the Forbes 30 Under 30 U.S., Europe and Asia lists.

• The deadline for nominations is 11:59 p.m. ET on May 11, 2025.

• To source candidates for the list, Forbes editors comb through online submissions, as well as tap industry sources and list alumni for recommendations. Candidates are evaluated by Forbes reporters and a panel of independent, expert judges on a variety of factors, including (but not limited to) funding, revenue, social impact, scale, inventiveness and potential. For more on how we make the 30 Under 30 lists, check out our full methodology here.

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