The Maker’s List also recognizes pioneers in religion and spirituality whose worldly contributions have set precedents for the season of giving.
UNIONDALE, N.Y., Dec. 8, 2021 Marquis Who’s Who (MWW), the world’s leading biographical publisher, is proud to announce the honorees selected for its December Maker’s List, celebrating Thought Leaders and Influencers of Tomorrow. The Maker’s Lists are curated by a selection committee and compiled by Maker’s List administrator Lisa Diamond, and aim to recognize both established and emerging leaders in their respective fields.
“Media has always been at the forefront of modern society. Having an academic background in communications, I understand the importance of media and journalism in today’s times,” said Lisa Diamond, the administrator of the Maker’s List. “Now, with the evolving presence of social media, the distribution of information across the world has never been more accessible and educational.” Diamond continued, “In this month’s Maker’s List, we endeavor to highlight media personalities, social media influencers and commentators who have redefined how we ingest and disseminate the press.”
The MWW Maker’s List series began in January 2021 with Thought Leaders and progressed to include African American Catalysts for Change, Women Luminaries, Business and Finance Leaders, and Influencers in STEM and AAPI. The MWW Maker’s Lists have also recognized LGBTQ+ Catalysts for Change, Attorneys, Activists and Agents of Change, Latin American Leaders, Arts, Culture, Sports and Entertainment Moguls, and World Leaders of Esteem. MWW Maker’s Lists are curated by a selection committee to bring into focus outstanding thought leaders and change-makers across industries. Members of the selection committee hail from diverse professional backgrounds in publishing, entertainment, business, journalism, marketing, graphic design, public relations and print media.
The Thought Leaders and Influencers of Tomorrow list includes:
- Anderson Cooper: Cooper is a political commentator, broadcast journalist and “the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television,” as described by The New York Times. Serving as the anchor of “Anderson Cooper 360˚” on CNN since 2003 and a correspondent for “60 Minutes” on CBS News since 2007, he has developed a strong reputation for his hands-on reporting of breaking news, including his reports on Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which rose him to prominence. Following his in-depth coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Cooper received a National Order of Honour and Merit, the highest honor from the Haitian government. Over the course of his 30-year career, he has won 18 Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards, as well as the 2011 Edward Murrow Award. In 2006, Cooper published a memoir, “Dispatches from the Edge,” which detailed his work in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana and was a New York Times’ bestseller. Cooper has been widely recognized by the LGBTQ+ rights organization GLAAD for his coverage of LGBTQ+ events and, in 2016, became the first openly gay individual to moderate a presidential debate.
- Howard Stern: Stern is a radio and television personality, comedian and author who is best known for “The Howard Stern Show,” a nationally syndicated radio show that aired at WXRK in New York City from 1986 to 2005. At its peak, his morning show attracted 20 million listeners. Following a series of fines and escalating audience complaints about his controversial broadcasts, Stern signed a five-year deal with Sirius XM Satellite Radio, which was exempt from the Federal Communications Commission’s broadcast regulations. Since 2006, Stern has broadcasted through Sirius, a move widely regarded as “the start of a new era of radio.” Outside of radio, Stern published the books “Private Parts” and “Miss America” in 1993 and 1995, respectively, which entered The New York Times’ bestsellers list at number one and sold more than one million copies. He also served as a judge on the reality television series “America’s Got Talent” between 2012 and 2015. For his radio success, Stern was named Billboard’s Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year eight consecutive times.
- Lisa Remillard: Remillard is a two-time Emmy nominated broadcast journalist who has served as the co-founder of BeondTV and co-host of the Los Angeles-based television show “Carlos and Lisa.” Desiring to become a reporter since the age of 4, she spent nearly two decades in the journalism industry, during which time she traveled across the nation covering groundbreaking news events, interviewing prominent industry leaders, and being featured on such media outlets as CNN and TMZ. Alongside her current positions, Remillard is the driving force behind ProMedia Coaching, through which she leverages her reporting talents and on-camera expertise to educate aspiring journalists and entrepreneurs on how to tell their own stories, boost self-confidence and explore communication skills. In addition, she is an active media personality on the social media platform TikTok as “The News Girl.” Accruing 1.5 million followers, she hosts “Fast Facts,” which are 60-second posts that cover political news. In 2021, she was named the Best TikTok Explainer by the American Journalism Online Awards committee.
- Tabitha Brown: Brown is an actress, social media influencer, restauranteur and motivational speaker who has been described as “America’s Mom” by HuffPost. While struggling as a new actress in the early stages of her career, Brown developed health conditions that prevented her from pursuing future roles. She was subsequently introduced to veganism, which aided her recovery and allowed her to branch out to develop her own cooking styles. Rising to prominence in early March 2020 upon creating a TikTok account, Brown amassed two million followers in only five weeks due to her warm demeanor, honest and comedic vegan food reviews, and uplifting content. In the present day, Brown has garnered 4.9 million TikTok followers and is a brand ambassador for Whole Foods Market Plant-Based Living. She has since been featured on film and television, including on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Will & Grace,” “Switched at Birth” and “The Talk,” among others. She was recognized in 2020 with a Streamy Award in the food category and Veggie Award for Favorite Vegan Social Media Personality, as well as in 2021 with an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Social Media Personality.
- Zahra Sahebzada: Sahebzada is a special events manager for Tory Burch and social media influencer whose claim to fame stems from her unique makeup tutorials that she has uploaded to her YouTube channel since 2009. Initially beginning her journey into cosmetics as a hobby, Sahebzada quickly became a recognized content creator. However, as a speaker of five languages – English, Farsi, German, Hindi and Urdu – she desired to connect more intimately with her native language Farsi and, by extension, her roots in Afghanistan. To this end, she began creating makeup tutorials in Farsi, and 80% of her followers have been Afghan women who announce renewed hope in themselves due to Sahebzada’s confidence-building videos. As of November 2021, she has amassed over 54,000 followers on Instagram. As her influence grew, she was invited to become a regular Sunday morning segment at Tolo TV in 2020, one of the largest television broadcasters in Afghanistan. However, as the Taliban regained control of the country, she was forced to withdraw in summer 2021. Sahebzada was recently interviewed by The New York Times in November 2021 for her trailblazing influence across the globe.
The full Thought Leaders and Influencers of Tomorrow list is organized alphabetically below, by first name:
- Addison Rae
- Amber Tamblyn
- Anderson Cooper
- Andrew Jarecki
- Andrew Lehren
- Arianna Huffington
- Bailey Sarian
- Beyoncé Knowles
- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
- Brené Brown
- Bretman Rock
- Brian M. Rosenthal
- Cenk Uygur
- Chris Stuckmann
- Dean Obeidallah
- Dwayne Johnson
- Ethan Nestor (“CrankGameplays”)
- Hank Green
- Howard Stern
- Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky
- Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson
- Joe Rogan
- Karen X. Cheng
- Kim Kardashian
- Kristen Welker
- Lester Holt
- Lindsay Peoples Wagner
- Lisa Remillard
- Marques Brownlee
- Marshall Goldsmith
- Meghan McCain
- Mike Rowe
- Nate Silver
- Officer Tommy Norman
- Paola Ramos
- Paul Steiger
- Robin Roberts
- Ronan Farrow
- Sarah Koenig
- Selena Gomez
- Simon Sinek
- Sreenath “Sree” Sreenivasan
- Sy Gunter
- Tabitha Brown
- Taylor Swift
- Thomas Boni
- Tommy Marcus (“Quentin Quarantino“)
- Tucker Carlson
- Yamiche Alcindor
- Zahra Sahebzada
Marquis Who’s Who has also announced the release of its supplemental Maker’s List for December: Contemporary Religious and Spiritual Leaders. The list recognizes American religious and spiritual pioneers whose impact on the world has set precedents for the season of giving.
The Contemporary Religious and Spiritual Leaders list includes:
- Dr. Bernice King: King is the youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr., as well as an orator, attorney, peace advocate and minister. Following her father’s assassination in 1968 when she was 5 years old and watching a documentary on his life in her teenage years, King endeavored to enter the ministry. She subsequently earned a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Jurisprudence from Emory University in 1990, at which time she became the second woman to be ordained by Ebenezer Baptist Church – the church of her father and grandfather. After several years of working for the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, King published a collection of her addresses in 1996, titled “Hard Questions, Heart Answers: Sermons and Speeches.” Currently, she serves as the chief executive officer of Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, through which she continues her parents’ legacies of Kingian Nonviolence, which King rebranded as Nonviolence365™. For her unwavering dedication to her community, King was named among Ebony magazine’s Ten of Tomorrow future leaders and, in 2013, she received the Legend Award as a tribute to her father’s legacy.
- Farhana Khera: Khera is the former inaugural executive director of Muslim Advocates, a civil rights organization that, under her leadership, achieved historic wins for the American Muslim community and advocated for ending former President Trump’s Muslim ban on the first day of the Biden administration. During her tenure with Muslim Advocates, Khera called upon Congress to pass the No Ban Act to ensure that a religious litmus test can never again be placed on the nation’s immigration system. Notably, Khera has testified at and supported congressional hearings on American Muslim civil rights issues, secured passage of the first-ever Muslim civil rights bill, and facilitated a groundbreaking meeting between former President Obama and Muslim leaders. Earlier in her career, Khera served the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee during a critical period following the 9/11 terrorist attacks when the American Muslim community faced extreme scrutiny and discrimination. She was honored by the Auburn Theological Seminary with its Lives of Commitment Award, as well as by Islamica Magazine as among the 10 Young Muslim Visionaries.
- Rabbi Sharon Brous: Brous is the senior rabbi and co-founder of IKAR (“essence”), a post-denominational Jewish congregation and community in Los Angeles that was established in 2004. Each year since its founding, IKAR has been recognized as among the country’s 50 most innovative Jewish nonprofit organizations by the Slingshot Fund Guide. In 2001, Brous was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary and has since been honored by a myriad of media outlets. In 2013, The Daily Beast named her number one on its list of America’s most influential rabbis, citing IKAR’s influence on the Los Angeles Jewish population during a time when synagogues faced declining membership. Additionally, Brous was featured on the cover of TIME magazine in 2018. Notably, she blessed President Biden and Vice President Harris and led the White House Passover Seder in March 2021. Her 2016 TED talk, “Reclaiming Religion,” has been watched by over 1.4 million viewers and translated into 23 different languages.
- Sunita Viswanath: Viswanath is a member of the executive board and a co-founder of Sadhana, an organization dedicated to connecting the Hindu faith with social justice and human rights. Through Sadhana, she places emphasis on upholding the Hindu principles of ekatva (“oneness”), ahimsa (“non-violence”) and sadhana (“faith in action”). Raised in an Andhra Hindu household, she found that there were few Hindu voices in social movements and sought to seek justice. For her work with Sadhana, Viswanath was honored as a “Champion of Change” by former President Obama at The White House in 2015. Additionally, Viswanath co-founded Women for Afghan Women (WAW), an international women’s human rights organization, in 2001, where she also sits as board chair. In light of her progress with WAW, Viswanath was awarded the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Global Women’s Rights Award in 2011. Drawing upon over 25 years of experience in women’s rights and human rights organizations as they relate to her Hindu faith, she later co-founded Hindus for Human Rights in 2019, an advocacy group that is committed to the ideals of multi-religious pluralism in the United States and India.
The full Contemporary Religious and Spiritual Leaders list is organized alphabetically below, by first name:
- Rev. Al Sharpton
- Anthea Butler
- Dr. Bernice King
- Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
- Derrick DeWitt
- Farhana Khera
- Feryal Salem
- Hyepin Im
- Rabbi Jacob Shmuel “Shmuley” Boteach
- Rev. Jacqui Lewis
- Jamie L. Manson
- José Horacio Gómez
- Bishop Karen Oliveto
- Rabbi Laurie Coskey
- Rabbi Marc Gellman
- Bishop Michael Curry
- Michael Vazquez
- Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews
- Rev. Paul Abernathy
- Rev. Raphael Warnock
- Sister Simone Campbell
- Rabbi Sharon Brous
- Sunita Viswanath
- Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
- Rev. Traci D. Blackmon
About Marquis Who’s Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the first edition of Who’s Who in America®, Marquis Who’s Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion, and entertainment. Today, Who’s Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians, and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited via the official Marquis Who’s Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
About the Marquis Maker’s Lists
The Marquis Maker’s Lists seek to highlight, celebrate and recognize those people whose ideas, philosophies, positions, example or standards, talents, gifts or aptitude, discoveries, innovations or breakthroughs have the ability to influence, affect and transform. The selection committee for the Marquis Maker’s Lists is comprised of diverse professionals from a variety of backgrounds in publishing, entertainment, business, journalism, marketing, graphic design, public relations, and print media. Committee members conduct extensive independent research and analyses to vet candidates relevant to each Maker’s List theme. The committee meets routinely to thoughtfully dialogue through individual nominations to determine eligibility for inclusion. Thereafter, a thorough and objective ranking system is utilized and applied by the committee and tabulated by the executive director to confirm, authenticate and finalize each list.
