In partnership with Shannon Sparks
The power of influence no matter what industry you are in or audience you are trying to target has a long-reaching effect ― those with true influence have the ability to not only innovate, but to impact their organizations, shoppers and their industry as a whole. But amassing this kind of influence in whatever field it is doesn’t happen overnight, as it can take decades of strategy building, networking, innovation and trial and error to reach the ultimate status and make it onto our list.
Whether it be here in Los Angeles or around America as a whole, our country is known as a melting pot of nationalities and cultures, and it has quickly become one of the most innovative nations to date. With driven natural-born citizens and immigrants, America is one of the most successful countries in terms of entrepreneurship.
These Top 15 Innovative American Entrepreneurial Movers & Shakers To Watch Out For, for the rest of 2023 and beyond may not fully be household names just yet, but you most likely have seen their impact/products, and were each chosen for their contribution to their respective industries that have helped to shape the general population’s minds in some shape and/or form.
- Lionel Mora is the man and CEO behind Neoplants. Neoplants has created a genetically modified houseplant to produce new enzymes that can metabolize air pollutants. The plant, named NEO P1, involves genetically engineered pothos plants and a microbiome located in the soil near the plant roots. It is designed to fight chemicals commonly found within houses such as formaldehyde, benzene, VOCs, and paint.
- Chance Welton has garnered over $50,000,000 in high ticket sales in 2.5 years from cold traffic alone through his company Chance & Abdul, who stepped out and cracked the paid traffic code through their innovative platform.
- Noubar Afeyan is the founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. “Moderna” became a name brand in 2021, thanks to its success in creating one of the first mRNA-based vaccines. Less well known is that Moderna was birthed out of a company named Flagship Pioneering, and it has been the starter for a slew of biological science companies in the last two decades.
- Nolin Veillard’s passion for the outdoors has spanned his entire life which led him to creating the world’s top “bring it anywhere with you” kayak, TRAK. He led a core group that refined a hand-built prototype into the TRAK 2.0 Ultimate Touring Kayak that can now be found across the globe.
- Molly Wilson came from humble beginnings in The Midwest and built herself up to be a seven-time successful entrepreneur with three active companies at the moment: BEST of Show, molly&you, and Lacsnac which have innovated and changed the industries each are in.
- Dr. Selene Castrejohn is a dedicated philanthropist and accomplished physician. Born to Mexican immigrant parents and inspired by her humble beginnings, she has always been driven to serve the underserved, a passion that led her to establish Be You Medical as a non-profit, with proceeds funding plastic surgeries in third-world countries.
- Jen Gottlieb is a former Broadway actor, VH1 host, and now an entrepreneur who co-founded the online training and education company, Super Connector Media. Her award-winning company helps entrepreneurs reach more people and grow their businesses by leveraging social media.
- Luis Manta is a former Division 1 soccer player, who started a beverage company called Seoul Juice in his dorm room while studying at Saint Louis University. Since then, he has transformed it into a multi-million dollar company. In addition to founding Seoul Juice, Luis has launched Eva Longoria, Tasty Buzzfeed, and Chef John Howie’s CPG lines in national retailers.
- Nick Witherill played college basketball at Washington State University and Grand Canyon University. As a natural born competitor he knew that entrepreneurship was the only route for him after college and that’s when he started Binho Board, a sports flicking tabletop game inspired by soccer which has taken the nation by storm and turned into one of the hottest growing games nationwide.
- Clifton D. Cooper & Greg Middleton are the co-founders of Pocial, a technology and advertising firm that gives small to medium sized businesses independence from big box plugins. In 2013, Clifton and Greg recognized a gap in the advertising and marketing industry where SMBs were under leveraging the data available to them through their direct to consumer relationships. As a result, Pocial shifted its focus to creating customized solutions that optimize zero-party data capture experiences for a diverse range of industries. With this same vision Pocial is now set to launch their own marketing AI that will significantly reduce costs and increase effectiveness when launching new ad campaigns.
- Justin Kamine and his company Do Good Foods is focused on solving large scale environmental problems, and Kamine has been pioneering industries. His company is a revolutionary climate-forward business best known for offering the first carbon-reduced chicken with an on package equation that quantifies how much carbon is saved with each purchase. The business collects surplus grocery food, after donations can occur, and upcycles it into healthy chicken feed at its $170M facility pioneered by Kamine and his family. The final product is fed to chickens, which means that each Do Good Chicken saves 4 pounds of surplus grocery food from going to waste, thus reducing 3 pounds of greenhouse gasses. Sold at over 500+ retail locations and growing each day, Kamine’s brand is focused on empowering consumers to do good for their plate and their planet.
- Brian M Conley of Conley Entertainment Group has parlayed his success in the energy sector into a $100 million matching equity fund which has produced six feature films to date, has six scripted television series and two reality series in development, and just won an Emmy Award. In addition to being the founder and CEO of Cardinal Energy Company, Conley is an award winning novelist and screenwriter who announced plans last month to up CEG’s feature film production to three films per year spanning the horror/thriller, action and drama categories. Rarely has Hollywood seen a bigger splash or larger commitment from someone who had no industry ties until he sold his first film, The Basement, to Netflix just before the pandemic.
- Teal Swan is an international speaker and best-selling author who is a survivor of severe childhood abuse. Today, having integrated her own harrowing life experience, she inspires millions of people around the world towards truth, authenticity, freedom, and joy. As a renowned author, speaker and conscious media star, she has found different methods and ways to connect with people on a personal level to change their lives. She travels the world teaching self-development and teaching people how to transform their emotional, mental, physical and spiritual pain so that they too can innovate and be the best version of themselves.
- Dan Fleyshman is a highly accomplished entrepreneur who has made a name for himself in a variety of industries. At the age of 19, he became the youngest founder of a publicly traded company in history when he licensed his apparel for $9.5 million dollars. He went on to scale his energy drink products into 55,000 retail stores, making him a successful businessman at a young age.
- Josh Richards over just the last few months launched a production company with Mark Wahlberg, formed a $15 million venture capital fund, became an N.H.L advisor, formed a marketing agency and developed the most popular new podcast of the year.
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