Publisher's Section
The 2024 NYC 40 Under 40
The rising stars of city politics and government.
City & State presents the 2024 NYC 40 Under 40. Global Strategy Group; Carlos Kremmer; Deyliight Photography
It’s often said that youth is wasted on the young – but there are plenty of talented, hardworking New Yorkers who would beg to differ.
City & State’s latest Rising Stars list highlights a remarkable group of young leaders who are not wasting time – or waiting around to make their marks in the public, private and nonprofit sectors in New York City. The annual feature identifies 40 individuals, all under the age of 40, who have already amassed impressive track records that few achieve in the course of an entire career. The list includes a public official implementing transformative changes at the city’s taxi commission, a business leader revitalizing the neighborhood adjacent to John F. Kennedy International Airport, a legal expert undergirding the organizing efforts of a major labor union – and dozens more.
Read on to meet the 2024 class of the New York City 40 Under 40 Rising Stars.
– profiles by journalist Erica Scalise
Tosin Ajayi
From passionate advocate to entrepreneur to nonprofit leader, Tosin Ajayi is constantly making moves to foster a more equitable, sustainable cannabis industry in New York.
With a background in nonprofit fundraising, Ajayi held leadership roles at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, where she raised millions of dollars in philanthropic funding for education and research.
At Cannabis NYC, an initiative of the New York City Department of Small Business Services, Ajayi is driving cannabis-related policy and advocacy strategy. Her day-to-day work involves navigating complicated legal frameworks, addressing social equity concerns and promoting informed decision-making.
From co-founding a CBD company in 2018 to establishing CannaPolicy at NYU Wagner in 2020, Ajayi has long been highlighting the restorative potential of cannabis legalization.
She’s currently dialed in on supporting the development of the Cannabis NYC Loan Fund, an effort that will provide capital to early-stage cannabis businesses, which is launching this month.
With a funding goal of $20 million to $30 million, $9.4 million of which is coming from the city, New York is making history through flexible, low-interest loans to those who typically wouldn’t have access to capital – the main motivator in her mission toward driving social change, she says.
“With my research, I started getting really granular about how Black and brown people were disproportionately targeted for cannabis prohibition,” she says. “Now I’m working to correct these historic injustices. I want to push for the liberation of Black communities and push to decriminalize and destigmatize.”
Bianca Almedina
Growing up, Bianca Almedina saw firsthand how much a person’s ZIP code can determine their quality of life.
“I moved around a lot as a kid. My family was sort of chasing the ever-changing affordable landscape,” she says. “For me, it’s all about expanding access to critical resources, especially for young people who remind me of myself at that age.”
Initially drawn to law school, Almedina’s path shifted when she interned under then-New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, which deepened her understanding of policy.
Almedina later managed the budget for City Council Member Diana Ayala, gaining insight into the multifaceted levers of government that can affect change. She also helped negotiate a $65 million community benefits agreement to facilitate the construction of affordable housing, a new youth hub and community and senior centers in the council district.
Now at the top lobbying firm Kasirer, Almedina co-leads a team serving a diverse array of over 40 nonprofit clients. Her role involves regular client engagement, assessing funding priorities and building relationships that are vital during budget cycles.
She recently helped the nonprofit Nontraditional Employment for Women secure capital funding to upgrade its HVAC system, of which she’s especially proud, as it will help people from underrepresented backgrounds break into the construction industry.
“My work is important to me as someone who is a young mom who grew up in a union household,” Almedina says. “I know what these resources can do for a family.”
Anthony Amado
“If you’re going to do something like this, you might as well be good at it and enjoy it,” says Anthony Amado, chuckling as he describes his work at KPMG.
A manager within the global consulting firm’s forensics practice, Amado handles compliance reviews, grant programs, risk assessments and financial reporting and reviews controls, policies and procedures unique to some of New York City’s most complex projects.
Growing up in upstate New York, Amado didn’t initially consider a public sector career. His perspective shifted when he engaged with colleagues passionate about their work with government clients, realizing the positive impact their efforts had on communities.
Amado joined KPMG right out of graduate school, finding his niche in the regulatory compliance group for premier public sector entities. Much of his work revolves around broadband health for the city and the state, though he says it’s infrastructure projects that get him most excited for the future.
But it’s the COVID-19 pandemic that marked a pivotal moment in his career. Working alongside a team of over 50, he led over 10 projects aimed at assisting those in urgent need, including individuals struggling to pay rent.
In his position, Amado collaborates with his team across various projects and spends the bulk of his time meeting with clients whom he says always come first.
“We prioritize them, which in turn helps serve people. It’s about understanding where our priorities lay,” Amado says. “None of our projects are successful without our staff – they’re the backbone.”
Yaw Appiadu
At the Harlem Independent Living Center, Yaw Appiadu is empowering individuals with disabilities, one employee at a time.
“Ninety percent of the staff I work with have disabilities,” he says. “My receptionist is blind. My goal is to help people with disabilities work as independently as possible and to serve as a model for others with disabilities to show that you can live a full life.”
Growing up in West Africa with a deep-rooted passion for nonprofit work, Appiadu earned his master’s degree in public health and began his career advocating for individuals with disabilities, starting as the assistant director of the Westchester County Independent Living Center and later moving to the Bronx Center. He currently is the youngest independent living leader in the city at the Harlem Center.
He also worked his way from treasurer to chair of the New York State Independent Living Council, playing a pivotal role in developing plans that empower people to lead independent lives.
Appiadu dreams of expanding independent living movements across the country and encouraging young people with disabilities to get involved so they can be models for others.
He’s also working to shed light on the contributions of immigrants to the city’s economy.
“When I came here in 2012, I worked as an Uber driver to get myself into my master’s program,” he recalls. “There’s nothing wrong with doing odd jobs as long as you have your eyes set on something and try to open doors for other people.”
Abdou Bah
Asked about what he’s most excited about professionally, Abdou Bah gives an atypical answer – getting his hands on more problems.
“I want to continue to think about new trends in health care and how we think about leveraging technology in the health care ecosystem,” he says. “This ongoing challenge and the problem-solving required of it inspires me. We’re really well-positioned to continue to drive and help shape policy and programming.”
As senior vice president of medical management and chief health equity officer at EmblemHealth, Bah supports nearly 3 million lives across the city and state while driving population health and quality improvement.
Initially entering the health care field through his work at Accenture, Bah leveraged his background in business and marketing to make significant strides in health care management.
Each day, he centers his efforts on three key elements: enhancing health care for the populations served, reducing access barriers to mitigate disparities and optimizing health care costs.
Notably, Bah led EmblemHealth to achieve the NCQA Health Equity Accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. His team has also worked with the company’s 15 Neighborhood Care locations to offer targeted programming and resources.
Bah says he is consistently thinking about creative initiatives and how EmblemHealth can best deploy tactics across the board to address the lack of access in underserved communities.
“Doing this work,” he says, “means aligning against the everyday health care problems that you see – the inequalities that exist in everyday lives and thinking about the role of a health plan.”
Polina Bakhteiarov
Having grown up in Moscow as a child, Polina Bakhteiarov often thought about cities, the built environment and the impact of urban policy, but she never knew it was possible to unpack these things for a living.
With the help of a long-term mentor, former New York City Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson, her interests soon became a reality.
“He introduced me to the field of city planning,” Bakhteiarov says of Thompson. “This was really my introduction to real estate development and affordable housing more directly. I was very focused on community organizing before that, so this completely changed my career.”
After leading redevelopment projects across the country, Bakhteiarov worked on Washington, D.C.’s, multidecade public housing revitalization initiative, a venture that eventually led her to make the big move to New York.
She established and led the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together team at the New York City Housing Authority as the inaugural director for preservation, rehabbing and preserving 5,600 public housing units with over 12,000 tenants.
Recruited to run acquisitions and originations for The National Housing Partnership Foundation, Bakhteiarov is passionate about learning how other global megacities are handling their affordable housing crises.
“I think a lot about the asylum-seeker crisis in New York,” she says. “As an immigrant myself, this is an issue that’s near and dear to my heart – it’s about learning how other cities like Berlin have and are including new arrivals into their city and what we can learn from them.”
Stephanie Barreto-Lastra
Back when Stephanie Barreto-Lastra was studying urban studies and sociology, she couldn’t help but notice how so much of the curriculum mirrored her upbringing.
“I think in a lot of ways it was like, ‘Wow, my lived experience is being validated,’ but also it felt conflicting to see it validated in an academic space,” she says. “At that point, I really started thinking about strategic ways to create change.”
Growing up in Jackson Heights, a largely immigrant neighborhood in Queens, Barreto-Lastra and her family eventually moved to Connecticut after New York City became unaffordable. She says her professional work today is her way of making the case that change needs to happen so residents don’t have to continue being displaced.
A community organizer in college, Barreto-Lastra held jobs working with tenant leaders and street vendors and arts mentorship programs before landing at the New York City Department of Education. She’s also a core member of Rimay Raiz, a grassroots collective that connects and uplifts people from the Andean diaspora in Latin America and the United States.
As for her current role as director of capacity building at the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development, “it feels very full circle,” she says.
Barreto-Lastra also supports merchant organizing, community organizing and bolstering various programs across different issue areas.
“I’m always asking what it looks like to make the city a place where everyone can live abundantly and live with respect and dignity to live a thriving life.”
Chelsea Baytemur
For Chelsea Baytemur, her professional work reminds her of life on the New York City blocks where she was raised.
“I come from an immigrant household where I really talked to people in my neighborhood, whether that was translating something or helping someone figure out how they could get food,” she says. “When I was young, I didn’t realize this kind of community-based work could translate into a job.”
The Turkish-Dominican 29-year-old is bringing a grassroots, bottom-up perspective to government advocacy through her work at the YMCA of Greater New York. She also co-chairs the government committee for the Emergency Coalition to Save Education Programs and the Coalition for Community Schools Excellence.
Baytemur’s postgraduate work began at a small nonprofit certifying minority- and women-owned business enterprises. Next, she landed at the New York City Council as a legislative and senior financial analyst, helping to secure increased funding for city schools. On her watch, over $700 million was restored for education programs whose funding was set to expire. She says it’s at the City Council where she really felt her career began.
“Being able to work with the council and with the speaker at the time, Corey Johnson, to really learn about policy issues and budget issues and just education as a whole in the city was really enlightening,” she says.
Now, Baytemur spends her days meeting with advocates and elected officials, amplifying the YMCA’s policy recommendations in swim safety, after-school programs and child care, as well as supporting the institution’s 24 branches across New York City.
Sam Berger
When Daniel Rosenthal resigned from Assembly District 27 last summer, Sam Berger stepped up to the plate – and knocked it out of the park. In a closely watched special election last year, Berger ended up coasting to victory.
Berger says he’s doing his best to ensure his office’s constituent services are effective. “Every day I love this job more and more,” he says. “I have a chance to make a difference and care for people, and, in a world where we’re getting more and more pulled apart in a lot of countries, (to) show people there can still be moderate voices that can advocate for commonsense policies.”
Berger fondly recalls growing up in the district in Kew Gardens Hills with parents in local leadership roles.
Watching his father build relationships as a lawyer inspired Berger. It led him to enroll at St. John’s University School of Law and to take on externships with the Kings County Surrogate’s Court and the Queens County Supreme Court.
Now as the Assembly’s youngest member, Berger has passed several bills, including a bipartisan crackdown on EBT debit card skimming and the passage of Gittel’s Law, which aims to protect patients who see therapists.
Berger says he doesn’t have aspirations beyond prioritizing his work in the Assembly.
“This is the place where I feel I’m able to do the most good,” he says. “I love being able to interact with different people and figure out where, and if, I can be of service to the community.”
Ryan Birchmeier
Ryan Birchmeier never planned on getting into politics, but a unique job right out of college changed everything for the New Jersey native.
“I was doing communications for the head of the Philadelphia 311 system. I don’t think there’s any form of government where you can see direct service so clear,” he recalls. “Working there made me completely fall in love with city government.”
Birchmeier moved to New York City in 2016 and he rose to assistant vice president at the New York City Economic Development Corp. before taking on a senior vice president role at the communications firm Thunder11.
He joined the administration two years ago at the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation, a new consolidated technology agency created under Adams focused on cybersecurity, data privacy and expanding digital services.
Now leading the mayor’s communications team, Birchmeier has sought to effectively craft messages for the City of Yes housing plan, a package of zoning reforms designed to boost housing production in both low- and high-density neighborhoods.
He cited the initiative as something he’s particularly proud of. It aims to incentivize developers to produce between 58,000 and 109,000 new homes over 15 years.
“This is something that’s challenging to communicate,” Birchmeier says, “but because of the mayor’s directive and our willingness to make sure New Yorkers understand it, we’ve been able to make sure the proposal is digestible and to see the impact it’s going to have for generations.”
Derick Bowers
Derick Bowers is proud of helping thousands of New Yorkers who have been overlooked, especially those like his own mother.
“My mother is someone who has a learning disability and hasn’t worked as an adult,” he says. “I always think about what could’ve been if she was able to get the resources she needed. We place individuals like her in work opportunities every day.”
Dedicated to advocating for workforce inclusion, Bowers initially taught at a charter school in Washington, D.C., where his passion for human services was ignited.
“I learned a lot from teaching the population of kids I had,” he says. “These were kids who didn’t have safe spaces outside of school. They’d return to poverty, the impacts of mass incarceration and the war on drugs.”
Bowers went on to hold managerial positions at The Doe Fund and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation before taking a role at the New York City regional director of social enterprise for the Center for Employment Opportunities, where he helped provide work to individuals returning from incarceration and managed a $10 million budget.
With over a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, Bowers last year became executive director at GoodTemps, a nonprofit subsidiary of Goodwill.
He currently leads daily operations and strategic planning for the organization that helps over 500 temporary workers, most with disabilities, obtain short- and long-term jobs.
For Bowers, doing work in social enterprise feels more like a calling than a day-to-day job.
Brendan Cahill
For Brendan Cahill, it’s hard to believe something he thought so little of growing up became his professional focus.
“I never really thought about connectivity,” says Cahill, now a state government affairs manager at Charter Communications. “Fortunately, growing up in Rockland County, it wasn’t something I knew to be an issue until the pandemic hit.”
Cahill’s work took on new urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic, exposing significant connectivity issues in many communities, including those he grew up in. This realization sparked a newfound passion for addressing the challenges faced by residents struggling to afford internet and cable services.
Now, Cahill takes pride in working for the leading broadband connectivity company where he manages the Northeast region’s government affairs budget, overseeing political contributions, nonprofit partnerships and consultancy payments. He also handles franchise agreements with towns across New York state.
Cahill’s early interest in history and politics led him to pursue an internship under Assembly Member Ken Zebrowski. He then became a staffer in the state Senate, first under David Carlucci and later under Elijah Reichlin-Melnick.
Cahill says he’s grateful for the mentorship of his boss, Camille Joseph-Goldman, and is committed to growing with Charter. He takes pride in collaborating with nonprofit partners to organize community events, such as holiday giveaways and toy drives, which foster engagement and support for those in need.
“It’s about having multiple verticals come together to make good things like these events happen,” he says. “It’s a great way to engage with the community and our customers.”
Aries Dela Cruz
For Aries Dela Cruz, the workplace idiom of “putting out fires” is no joke.
The crisis communications expert is a leader at NYC Emergency Management and has dedicated himself to a life of public service driven by a passion for demystifying democracy and government for everyday people.
Best known for his work as New York City Council Member Gale Brewer’s press secretary during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dela Cruz navigated complex citywide issues like restaurant regulations and was instrumental in initiatives like painting “Black Lives Matter” outside the Civic Center and renaming it BLM Boulevard.
After a stint with the state Office of the Inspector General, Dela Cruz joined the city’s emergency management department, where he crafts messages that go out to millions of people when emergencies strike.
“I treat every emergency that happens in the city as though someone I love is affected by that emergency,” he says. “That they are living in that building that’s collapsed or they are breathing in the air from a hazardous spill.”
He refers to his position as more than just a job, but a calling to keep all New Yorkers safe.
This past summer Dela Cruz worked to elevate the urgency of heat emergencies, employing innovative tactics like memes and drones to advocate for better preparedness.
“I think about my own background and am always making sure that no matter where you’re from and what language you speak, you have access to these messages,” he says.
David Do
As the first commissioner and chair of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission in history to get his TLC license, David Do wanted to really know what drivers go through.
“My family was refugees of the Vietnam War, and many of the drivers are immigrants like my family,” he says. “Just seeing how I can be present and help them get a path to the middle class is something incredibly important to me.”
Do has spent his entire career in government. Recruited by the Adams administration to lead the TLC after working for three different mayors in Washington, D.C., Do has overseen landmark policy efforts, among them the securing of close to half a billion dollars in debt relief for taxi owners following the medallion taxi crisis.
Under Do, the agency also launched the Green Rides Initiative, a first-in-the-nation blueprint that aims to transition all ride-hailing cars to being zero-emission or wheelchair-accessible by 2030.
He also spearheaded the first pay raises for taxi drivers in over a decade and the establishment of a minimum pay standard for Uber and Lyft drivers.
Do’s passion for creating opportunities for drivers underscores his commitment to improving the livelihood of everyone under the TLC umbrella.
“I started my career in government because of my graduation speaker, and that graduation speaker was Michelle Obama,” he recalls. “She said you need to reach back and lift someone on your shoulders. I’ve used that as my vision in government ever since.”
Luis Fuentes
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth,” Muhammad Ali famously said.
That’s the mantra Luis Fuentes lives by.
Initially working as a teacher and an outreach coordinator, Fuentes found himself feeling disillusioned by the cultural climate in recent years and the myriad obstacles facing educators. So he shifted focus to after-school programs, finding more freedom to teach without restrictions.
“In working in after-school, I saw the ability to teach participants without handcuffs. Being able to utilize my skills allowed me more flexibility and autonomy,” he says. “I believe in social mobility and making sure everyone has access to the real American dream.”
Growing up on Jerome and Tremont avenues in the Bronx, Fuentes first joined Good Shepherd Services as a participant. He created a peer-led prep program to help his classmates pass their Regents exams and went on to become an after-school group leader. As the LifeLink program coordinator of recruitment, bridge and academic support, Fuentes helped provide college financial assistance for hundreds of young people.
Now as senior program director for the Monterey Cornerstone, he secures funds for several of the 98 programs the organization operates, helping over 30,000 youth and families with everything from addressing food scarcity to teaching young people how to code and invest.
With aspirations to eventually open his own community center, Fuentes says he is committed to enhancing access to opportunities as long as he has breath in his lungs.
Rochelle Heinrichs
Having earned three promotions in four years, Rochelle Heinrichs is finally taking time to sit with her accomplishments.
“I think I moved up quite quickly, and I’m kind of happy to take a breath where I am,” Heinrichs says. “I’ve always had a clear vision for where I wanted to go, and I feel really good in an excited, world is my oyster kind of way.”
From London to Dublin to Canada, Heinrichs has followed her nomadic impulses to several marketing and communications roles outside of the country before making her way to Volunteers of America-Greater New York, where she’s committed to eradicating homelessness in the area by 2050.
As part of a small team of three, Heinrichs is working to combat the stigma that comes with homelessness, poverty, mental health disorders and substance use.
“I think we’re really focused on the right things in terms of helping people in the short term and trying to support them with those immediate needs,” she says, “while also looking at the root causes and system changes needed to support folks facing, and at risk of, homelessness.”
Currently, Heinrichs is spearheading the first-of-its-kind public awareness campaign that’s making connections between domestic violence and traumatic brain injuries. Consisting of ads on mass transit, social media toolkits for elected officials, an emergency domestic violence hotline and more, the campaign is pushing to view domestic violence as a public health issue and to help keep New Yorkers safe.
James Johnson
Already a familiar face among the business improvement districts of Queens, James Johnson needed no introduction when he took the helm at GatewayJFK.
The leader of the GatewayJFK studied at Benedict College, the historically Black college where he served as vice president of the student body and assisted several political campaigns, including that of Steve Benjamin, the first Black mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in his 2016 presidential campaign.
Returning to New York, Johnson has focused on youth outreach, gaining insight into community needs through positions with local council members and the New York City comptroller’s office.
After running for City Council and serving as a deputy director in the city’s legislative body, Johnson saw a natural fit in leading the GatewayJFK.
“I understood the assignment and I understood the airport,” Johnson says. “I’ve lived in Cambria Heights most of my life and know that we all use JFK Airport.”
Since stepping into his role in August 2023, Johnson has supported the airport’s $19 billion redevelopment. He’s sprucing up the area surrounding the airport and addressing issues like illegal dumping, recently working to remove 50 abandoned trucks and RVs while also cleaning up the group’s finances.
“You see hardworking men and women who own properties and businesses who just want a good quality of life and it’s my job to assist them in any way I can,” he says. “I’m making sure the area is flourishing so their businesses can flourish.”
Brendan Klein
Despite having been on several political campaigns by his early 20s, Brendan Klein had no idea at the time that he was on his way to starting his own consulting firm.
But today, the North Shore Strategies president says he “wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
“I met my business partner when I was 24 years old and still living at home,” Klein says. “We started primarily as a field firm, and since then, we’ve grown to be a widely recognized, full-service firm that has empowered hundreds of clients.”
The small but mighty team – led by Klein, Carl Sanford, Sam Powers and Jay Satterfield – boasts a robust roster of clients and has hired over 3,000 full- and part-time campaign workers mostly dedicated to political canvassing.
Over the past three election cycles, North Shore Strategies has guided a slew of candidates to electoral success.
Klein says he’s most excited to see the team expand its fundraising department, noting the difficulties many candidates face when trying to get noticed and raise money.Looking to the future, the powerhouse strategist has aspirations to take North Shore to new heights.
“I want to continue to expand the company’s reach nationally,” he says, noting that the firm recently had its first year with more out-of-state clients than in New York. “We believe in our mission and there are countless organizations that need our help. We really haven’t scratched the surface on our potential.”
Maya Kurien
Maya Kurien has built her career around facilitating tough conversations. The vice president of advocacy at the Real Estate Board of New York spends her days representing over 14,000 of New York’s most prominent brokers, developers, owners and investors.
“We’re bridge builders,” she says. “We will talk to anyone who wants to talk to us, and we may not always agree, but we genuinely believe that this is something we’re all in together.”
With over a decade of experience driving diverse stakeholders toward a shared goal, Kurien started her career working in her home district for then-New York City Council Member Jessica Lappin before moving on to a state Senate job.
She delved into the complexity of the housing crisis when she served as executive director of government affairs for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Now at REBNY, she has coordinated efforts to secure extensions of critical economic development tax incentives that have generated over $100 million in economic activity statewide and coordinated multiple new 501(c)(4) affiliates to advance industry policy priorities.
She’s currently hard at work on campaigns to advance policy and legislative reforms aiming to expand child care access and improve the retail business environment and implementing zoning changes to spur development.
“I’m glad I get to play a role in making this a better, more equitable city,” she says. “I want to make sure people love to live, work and play here as much as I do.”
Riquelmy Lamour
While Riquelmy Lamour’s tasks can vary greatly from day to day, her dedication to the same goals remains consistent: bringing trauma-informed care to New Yorkers and challenging the stigma surrounding mental health.
“If I could help even one parent whose kid is severely depressed get the help they need, that would have been worth my entire career,” says the behavioral health expert.
Lamour’s career in social work began at the New York City Department of Homeless Services, where she worked as a case manager at an after-school program.
Now the licensed clinical social worker leads mental health certification training for Somos Community Care’s health workers, providing them with skills needed to become mental health first aid responders.
Somos – which has over 2,500 physicians – has adopted an impact model that integrates mental health services with primary care, seeking to make mental health first aid just as common as CPR.
“We’re in a very unique position that we have all of these doctors in our network to address mental health at the primary care level. It really needs to be the new norm,” Lamour says. “Mind, body and soul – you cannot separate disease.”
She’s also passionate about destigmatizing mental health in the Latino community and reimagining the future of mental health care spaces.
“I think about opening my own brick-and-mortar place one day,” Lamour says. “From the moment patients walk in, it should be clean, airy, open, and bright and address mental health right when you walk in the door.”
Steven Lee
Watching his father and older brother thrive in accounting, Steven Lee was drawn to the profession from a young age.
Lee began his career working at smaller firms in the nonprofit arena and quickly gained a genuine appreciation for his clients’ missions, recognizing how their work serves those in need.
Lee rose through the ranks at CBIZ, holding senior associate roles before assuming a manager role last June. He currently manages financial statements for nonprofit and government agencies, a portfolio that keeps him consistently engaged with clients.
“It’s not all crunching numbers all day,” he explains. “While that can be part of it, a lot really goes into understanding our clients and what required changes are occurring in the regulatory environments. It’s what really makes the job interesting – keeping clients in compliance to continue to do the great things that they do.”
Lee also is a technology champion at the firm, where he explores cutting-edge audit technology. He also takes great satisfaction in helping nonprofits navigate complex regulations.
As for the future, Lee sees himself speaking at more events and sharing industry knowledge with leaders across the nonprofit sector. For now, being part of this vital ecosystem, where he can contribute to meaningful change, fuels his passion and dedication to his work.
“It becomes tangible when you see our firm’s signature associated with the final reports,” he says. “It may seem small, but it’s something to me that keeps me excited.”
Adrien Gardner Lesser
Adrien Gardner Lesser joined then-Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s office as a bright-eyed intern at age 18. Six years later, she left as the lawmaker’s press secretary.
“It was probably the congresswoman who saw something in me, likely before I even saw it in myself,” Lesser notes. “It was a life-changing experience working for her.”
Lesser guided the Manhattan Democrat through challenges and opportunities, including in her tenure on the House Oversight Committee.
Leaving with a deeper interest in city bureaucracy, Lesser landed at the New York City Economic Development Corp., where she oversees critical portfolios and key initiatives under the Adams administration, all of which involve significant real estate components, including the $120 million project to fill the East River greenway gap.
Lesser’s daily work involves fielding media inquiries, aligning teams on project timelines and acting as a spokesperson on high-profile projects, ensuring clear and consistent messaging.
Lesser also co-founded New York Jews in Politics, a network connecting Jewish professionals in government and politics, alongside Moshe Davis and Eva Wyner.
Following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Lesser says there has been a greater need for community within the group, which has since taken on a new focus.
With significant federal and city government experience under her belt, Lesser says the only thing missing is work at the state level, but she’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
“I want to keep perfecting my skills and what I do,” she says. “I’m working to improve the greatest city in the world.”
Steven Loehr
Whenever Steven Loehr mentions that he works for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it invariably elicits a response.
“There’s always conversation, because the city wouldn’t be the city without the transit system,” he says. “I really have the ability to help coach and connect people, and I love that.”
Loehr became chief of staff of MTA Construction & Development last year after overseeing strategic initiatives and coordination for three years. Before that, he was the transit authority’s recovery and resiliency manager, responding to the destruction of Superstorm Sandy by leading the planning and implementation of a federally funded $5.8 billion recovery and resiliency capital investment program to rebuild and fortify transit assets following the storm.
In his 11th year at the MTA, Loehr balances organizational management and special projects, ensuring executives stay organized and goals are tracked amid unexpected crises.
One of his major initiatives involves developing the MTA’s next capital plan, which will aim to make more subway stations accessible and rebuild critical infrastructure.
Loehr says he’s especially proud of the preparation the MTA did during the L train shutdown in 2019 to ensure the city wasn’t mired in chaos.
“I was really learning on the fly and it wasn’t easy,” Loehr says. “Having seen the impact that that made on New Yorkers was great and to see that we succeeded with flying colors was the most tangibly rewarding thing for me.”
Debbie Louis
Growing up with an activist mother who was an 1199SEIU delegate, Debbie Louis was instilled with a strong sense of social responsibility from an early age. And it runs in the family.
Louis broke into politics as the deputy campaign manager for her sister, New York City Council Member Farah Louis. But her journey really started under the mentorship of Ron Daniels, a CUNY professor and activist who helped Louis navigate her interests in politics and organizational development.
“He was able to help me get my first internship at an Assembly member’s office,” she says. “If you don’t have the right people around you, it’s not easy to jump in.”
Louis began working as Brooklyn regional representative for Gov. Kathy Hochul, and her talents quickly became apparent. The Haitian American official was promoted to director of intergovernmental affairs within a year, and now oversees a team of five, managing daily interactions with legislators, coordinating the governor’s initiatives and supporting her staff.
She’s well-respected within Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities, among law enforcement and the minority- and women-owned business enterprises sector, traversing diverse sectors and building meaningful connections.
Louis says she’s committed to putting the right people in positions of power and putting Hochul in spaces where she might not otherwise be.
“Doing this work means that the community is able to see that someone on the outskirts can serve in a capacity that no one would’ve imagined,” Louis says. “It’s about showing that someone from the outer boroughs can provide.”
Jake McNichol
As the child of journalists, Jake McNichol was bitten by the communications bug early on. Born and bred with a press mindset, McNichol landed his first internship with his local congressional representative, Rush Holt Jr. of New Jersey.
“My mom had worked with him as a communications director when I was 6 years old,” McNichol recalls. “I used to practice addition on the whiteboard in his office, and so it was surreal that I got to work there years later.”
With roots in the Garden State, McNichol got his feet wet working for the New Jersey political consulting firm FiftyOne Percent. Next he was hired as press secretary for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, where he oversaw communications related to COVID-19 relief programs, the New Jersey Wind Port and the New Jersey Economic Recovery Act.
Now at Global Strategy Group, he has delivered wins for clients across the transit, energy, education technology, real estate and issue advocacy sectors. He’s currently working with the Gateway Development Commission on the Hudson rail tunnel project to serve Penn Station and repair existing damage from Superstorm Sandy.
When McNichol isn’t working to make messaging more accessible, he’s likely doing one thing: skateboarding.
“I’m a lifelong skateboarder. I was living down in Trenton and it never had a skate park in the city, and there were also no indoor skate parks – so I started an indoor nonprofit park called Freedom Skate Park,” McNichol says. He adds that the park provides programs for underserved youth.
Tasfia Nayem-Huzij
When Canadian wildfire smoke was wafting across New York City last summer, most people put on a mask or stayed indoors. As for Tasfia Nayem-Huzij, she was busy developing a policy brief to shape the city’s response to toxic air events.
Nayem-Huzij has helped drive work on innovative climate solutions at the 5BORO Institute, a New York City think tank launched in 2022. Capitalizing on her experience working in the Adams and de Blasio administrations and the Obama White House, she has conducted research, co-authored policy reports, managed fellows and overseen organizational strategy, operations and finances.
Originally from Bangladesh, Nayem-Huzij grew up privy to environmental issues from a young age.
“It was much more salient and present in my life because Bangladesh is ground zero for climate change,” she says.
After studying biology and environmental science in college, Nayem-Huzij worked as a climate change communicator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she developed and implemented strategies to communicate national climate policies and promote climate science literacy.
Her passion for local impact led her to focus on municipal policy, including on major climate initiatives like PlanNYC and OneNYC. She’s now heading to NYSERDA, the state’s energy research arm, starting in November as deputy chief of staff focusing on clean energy and decarbonization targets.
“Every single thing that I’ve done, even when working at the federal level, was geared toward uplifting communities,” Nayem-Huzij says. “There’s so much opportunity to support New Yorkers and to transition to a clean, green economy.”
Editor’s note: City & State Publisher Tom Allon is the founder and co-chair of the 5BORO Institute.
Akshar Patel
Akshar Patel sees managing the JFK International Airport redevelopment as more than just a job – it’s intertwined in his origin story.
“My grandfather brought my whole family here and my family was flown in through JFK,” Patel says. “It’s kind of full circle for me to be working on a project at JFK, where my family first came into.”
From working on making Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Diwali public school holidays to securing additional funding for South Asian nonprofit organizations, the self-described “Queens boy” has made a point of uplifting New York City’s South Asian community.
Through his time working for then-New York City Council Member I. Daneek Miller, Patel played a role in the creation of over 3,000 affordable housing units in downtown Jamaica, Queens. He also assisted in securing and implementing over $4 billion in sewer and infrastructure upgrades. Prior to his current role, Patel also worked for state Sen. John Liu, serving as the veteran lawmaker’s deputy chief of staff.
Now that he’s leading the charge on JFK’s redevelopment, Patel says he considers himself “blessed” to be a leader on a job he sees as a nationwide model. He emphasizes that the $19 billion project is not being made without considering area residents – a community advisory council has been created to ensure the project provides local educational and employment opportunities.
“You can talk all (about) the rhetoric,” he says, “but when you need to get stuff done, this project is getting it done.”
Avni Patel
Avni Patel cut her teeth as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, prosecuting over a dozen felony and misdemeanor cases on charges ranging from attempted murder to grand larceny. “I knew coming into New York that a lot of the policies and populations most affected by city politics are in the boroughs,” she recalls.
Patel was appointed the bias assistant district attorney, collaborating with detectives from the city’s Hate Crime Task Force to prosecute hate crimes in the Bronx.
Now at Walden Macht Haran & Williams, Patel is engaged in criminal and civil matters, representing individuals and corporate clients dealing with complex and high-profile challenges. That involves white-collar criminal defense, government and internal investigations, regulatory enforcement and litigation across federal, state and local levels.
She also served on the trial team that defended a client in the Buffalo Billion case, winning the only acquittal in the highly contested four defendant trial.
“As a lawyer in this job, you’re often someone’s first call,” she says. “It’s very satisfying to understand what a client’s goal is.”
Patel also sits on several boards committed to promoting gender and racial equity across the industry.
“I had two incredible mentors that helped me understand who I am as a lawyer,” she says, “and I’d love to be able to do that with more junior associates since making partner at the firm.”
Katie Pelo
Katie Pelo has been carrying on her family’s legacy since the Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages torch was passed down to her five years ago.
“My father and grandfather were in the Coke system on the West Coast, so I was very familiar with Coca-Cola and the bottling system,” Pelo says. “My family has had a really positive experience here. When the position opened up, it felt like a perfect fit for me.”
Now a senior manager of public affairs and communications at Coca-Cola, Pelo is leveraging her nonprofit and development background to foster community engagement and sustainability initiatives.
Pelo grew up in Utah, attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and eventually moved to South Africa, where she worked with a nonprofit focusing on business development and grant writing. After relocating to New York a decade ago, she contributed to rare cancer research fundraising at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Since joining Coca-Cola, Pelo has played a pivotal role in the company’s community, media, legislative and sustainability efforts. During her tenure, Coca-Cola has been a leader in sustainability, pioneering innovative practices, including using paperboard packaging and 100% recycled plastic bottles.
Pelo takes pride in the company’s local roots, embodying the company saying that the “L” in Liberty stands for local engagement.
“It’s a very family-oriented company,” she says. “Working here really allows me to be ingrained in our community, to really get out and touch and feel what we do.”
Matthew Quinonez
When considering his future in public affairs, Matthew Quinonez has envisioned launching his own organization – but he knows where his allegiances lie.
“I have a lot of experience, but (there’s) a lot more that I can learn from our founder, Frank Carone,” Quinonez says. “My future is tied to him because I believe in his work ethic and in him.”
Previously the special assistant to the New York City mayor’s chief of staff, Quinonez left the role to join the team at Oaktree Solutions, bringing his experience overseeing daily operations and acting as a liaison for a broad range of mayoral offices.
In Carone, Quinonez found a mentor whose conflict resolution skills inspired him to transition to the private sector. At Oaktree, Quinonez focuses on supporting social services providers and nonprofits, collaborating closely with leadership and advising staff analysts.
Quinonez was also the special assistant to the New York City deputy mayor for administration and the deputy mayor for health and human services, and he was instrumental in establishing the city’s first vaccine command center during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When reflecting on his career so far, Quinonez cites a conversation he had with a woman facing homelessness and the impact it had on his career.
“Learning about her experiences and what the shelter system was like really clarified things for me, and it’s why I continue to work in public service,” he says. “Anything I can do to help people advance their lives and livelihood, I’m happy to do.”
Mohammed Saleheen
Growing up, Mohammed Saleheen saw many of his family members working in construction, but the young immigrant from Bangladesh thought it was “all books” for him.
Now as director at New York City’s top contractor association, Saleheen says he has garnered a newfound understanding and appreciation for the industry.
“I can now understand not only what they do, but that there’s something I can really do here,” he says. “I can really make a name for myself.”
Past aspirations of becoming a professor took a turn after an internship in political fundraising sparked a passion for understanding the city's intricate ecosystem. Saleheen supported city and state Democratic candidates in fundraising efforts, including former New York City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, now president and CEO of the Building Trades Employers’ Association.
Saleheen works closely with Crowley and tackles whatever needs tending to, from crafting policy statements to attending lobbying meetings to developing new strategic ideas.
He’s especially proud to have worked with the city’s City of Yes team on getting zoning text amendments passed that will streamline renovations and deliver resiliency infrastructure.
“After hosting the big event, doing the calls, coming up with the policy, and coordinating with everyone, it was just so nice to see it actually passed,” he says.
A year into his tenure at BTEA, Saleheen says he’s just getting started.
“There’s such a long-term element to this job,” he says. “It’s part of the soul of New York. New York has always been about building, growing, and getting better.”
Ashley Scott
Traversing the worlds of business and technology, Ashley Scott has been a trailblazer in data and artificial intelligence.
For Scott, the pivot from health care to technology isn’t just about her own professional trajectory – she’s advocating for the importance of diverse representation in STEM, empowering women through a series of initiatives and mentorship programs that drive entrepreneurship in tech.
“I want to be a notable resource and mentor to those wanting to bolster their skills and I want to ensure that I can help from an educational standpoint,” she says. “We all should be able to have the ability to learn about what information we’re consuming.”
Now at PepsiCo, Scott’s role involves utilizing digital technology – in everything from digital product launches to internal data management – to ensure to effectively meet customer needs and improve the overall food and beverage experience.
Beyond her corporate responsibilities, Scott has collaborated with organizations like IBM, Grow with Google and the New York City Department of Small Business Services’ WE NYC mentorship program, focusing on creating job opportunities and coaching resources.
Scott, who had no prior technical training before entering the field, has risen to become a TEDx speaker.
She’s also a NASA solar ambassador, a volunteer with the New York Urban League and the founder and CEO of Data Girl Ash, a social campaign aimed at empowering individuals looking to enhance their technical skills. Building a community of “data girls” has allowed her to teach entry-level courses and start a scholarship for first-year women college students.
Manvir Singh
As the child of activists, Manvir Singh was often in the streets protesting alongside his parents.“We were in a lot of places that were on the outside, advocating for justice,” he says. “I saw the impact of that firsthand. I was always curious about what was happening in the rooms of power.”
Singh’s early stints as a staff assistant at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and as a policy adviser at the city’s Department of Small Business Services served as what he calls a “crash course in city government,” igniting his passion for public service and advocacy.
He went on to become the state and federal legislative manager at the city Department of Social Services. It’s here where he says his understanding of the challenges posed by capitalism deepened and he really grasped the importance of a robust safety net.
Currently at MetroPlusHealth, Singh is calling for restorations to critical Medicaid funding for initiatives like the Quality Incentive Program and advocating for “Coverage for All,” the plan that would expand insurance access for New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status.
He’s also proud of his contributions to supporting the launch of initiatives like IDNYC.
“I’m really glad to work here because we put people over profits and that’s a mission I feel very strongly about,” Singh says. “Public assistance is a right and people should be able to access it if they need it. Any of us can fall on hard times.”
Alexis Stanley
Alexis Stanley dreamed of being a sports anchor when she enrolled at Syracuse University, but she ended up advocating for workers’ rights.
“I worked in sports and finance for a while, but I pivoted to law because I wanted to help people in a different way,” she says. “Advocating for workers’ rights has been what fulfills me, whether it was at the WNBA Players Association, 1199 or now the UFT.”
Before joining the 200,000-member United Federation of Teachers, Stanley represented labor unions as an associate attorney at union-side labor law firm Levy Ratner, which solidified her commitment to empowering workers.
At UFT, she works with units that are unionized under private employers. Stanley plays a crucial role in organizing and negotiating contracts, including a landmark first contract for the improv comedy group Second City, which illustrated the importance of protections for gig economy workers.
When Stanley’s not navigating complex bargaining sessions, she’s balancing the demands of newly organized workers, often providing individual worker representation and handling grievance arbitration for educators.
Stanley, who’s also an active member of the New York City Bar Association and the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, hopes to one day become general counsel for a labor union, providing the legal underpinning for securing equitable working conditions, as “being able to breathe life back into a person who felt broken by a system and who felt broken by their employer” is what keeps Stanley says keeps her going. “I want to give people their power back when they feel powerless.”
Albert Suh
Albert Suh always knew he wanted to be a change-maker.
“I’m an Asian kid who grew up mostly in South Korea, and so I didn’t really know anything about politics,” he says, “but I knew I wanted to do good in the world.”
Suh moved to New York City in 2005 to attend New York University, initially envisioning a career as a high school teacher. But when the economy cratered during the Great Recession, his plans shifted focus toward public service, leading him to law school with a concentration in criminal prosecution.
His career took off at the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, where he worked under Eric Gonzalez in the Special Victims Bureau and in the Civil Rights and Hate Crimes Unit.
Currently, as vice president at Trip Yang Strategies, Suh has been instrumental in supporting candidates across the city, including the first Filipino American elected to state office in New York, Assembly Member Steve Raga, Assembly Member Grace Lee, the first Korean American woman elected to the state Assembly, and New York City Council Member Shekar Krishnan, one of the first Indian Americans elected to the city council.
In line with Suh’s personal mission to give AAPI voices a seat at the table, he is mobilizing Korean volunteers across the country, primarily in battleground states through his work as national field director for Korean Americans for Harris.
“I was drawn to prosecution because it’s one of the only practices in law where you’re not trying to serve the interests of a client, but trying to serve the interests of the public,” he says. “It’s the same reason I’m drawn to politics. It’s about doing the right thing. That’s always been my approach.”
Meredith Tannor
After nearly a decade working in tech, Meredith Tannor's career led her back to her original passions: arts and public policy.
“I always went to art schools, but I really found a love for computer science and honed my technical skills after doing Girls Who Code,” she says. “I wanted to merge these skills with public service, so I leaned more into politics in the pandemic.”
Tannor, who volunteered on a series of local political campaigns across the city, merged her political and policy experiences when she joined the Freelancers Union in 2022 as the organization’s policy director.
Advocating for millions of freelance workers in New York and nationwide, Tannor helped Freelancers Union Executive Director Rafael Espinal in securing the 2023 passage of the state’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act, which targets nonpayment of independent workers, and made New York a pioneer in enacting such protections.
In her day-to-day work, Tannor assists freelancers dealing with various issues, including nonpayment, misclassification, harassment, abuse and unfair treatment. She also spearheaded the creation of a free legal clinic for freelancers in the city, known as the Freelancers Help Desk.
“This work is a space where creativity and social justice meet,” Tannor says. “I really feel like I have a purpose in what I’m doing and I’m giving back to a community and making a change. It’s a great way to really uplift voices and to do that through policy is exactly what I’ve always wanted to do.”
Beauclarine Thomas
Beauclarine Thomas is committed to ensuring overlooked communities can embrace the future of artificial intelligence without fear.
“Being a young Black woman in tech means that I’m sharing the perspectives of a demographic that isn’t usually represented in conversations about AI, privacy, data protection,” Thomas says. “I’ve been able to introduce the perspective of diverse communities, which is something that some lawmakers don’t think about.”
Having immigrated from Liberia at age 5, she grew up in predominantly white suburban Minnesota and saw firsthand the importance of public programs.
Thomas spent a pivotal year in Colorado working for a substance use program. The experience sparked an interest in the impact of government programs, leading to a master’s degree in public policy and work criminal justice and fiscal policy.
Her journey shifted at the online used car dealer Carvana, where she handled multistate government relations before Meta recruited her to lead Midwest policy.
Relocating to Atlanta and then New York, Thomas has established herself as a prominent advocate, engaging lawmakers and policymakers in critical conversations about youth, data privacy and AI. Notably, she hosted a bipartisan data privacy briefing at Meta’s office in the James A. Farley Building, showcasing her ability to bridge gaps in representation.
“I see myself staying in tech policy and becoming a leader, especially when it comes to protecting vulnerable communities, but I also see myself starting a nonprofit and doing nonprofit leadership work,” Thomas says. “I love working with kids.”
Sam Weinberger
In the fight for affordable housing, Sam Weinberger is always ready to roll up his sleeves.
“No job is too big and no job is too small,” says the native New Yorker.
Raised on the Upper East Side in a Peruvian immigrant household, Weinberger aims to always be in positions that enable him to keep serving the city that raised him.
He credits the successes he has enjoyed in his career to several powerful women, beginning with an internship under Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, where he worked on the state’s version of the Equal Rights Amendment, which New Yorkers will vote on in November.
That experience led him to manage New York City Council Member Rita Joseph's competitive primary campaign and to serve as her chief of staff, cultivating relationships with community stakeholders, organized labor and issue advocacy groups.
At Geto & de Milly, Weinberger is proud to advocate for affordable housing, particularly lobbying on behalf of the New York Housing Conference. The organization is advocating for the City of Yes housing plan to tackle the ongoing affordability crisis.
Outside of work, Weinberger can be found campaigning for Democratic candidates, participating with the Four Freedoms Democratic Club and the Manhattan Young Democrats.
“For many people, politics can be a 9-to-5 job or it can be how they spend their time outside of work. I’m very fortunate that for me, it’s both,” he says. “I feel lucky to be involved in some of the most deeply pressing issues facing the city every day.”
Kimberly Williams
If knowledge is power, information is empowering, according to Kimberly Williams.
Williams began her career in Con Edison’s training program for recent college graduates in 2009. Fifteen years later, she spearheads the influential utility’s interactions with elected officials, community boards and business groups across Manhattan.
When Williams was growing up in Flatbush, her Jamaican heritage shaped her identity and values, and they continue to fuel her passion for social impact.
“I grew up with a lot of pride in that identity, and it’s a huge part of who I am,” she says. “It’s meaningful to walk the same streets that I walked in high school and see how things have changed and how communities feel in regards to these changes.”
Community engagement is key for Williams, who volunteers with Voices of Lefferts oral history project and sits on the advisory board of Caribbeing and the advisory council for CultureNOW. And as Con Edison takes steps in its clean energy transition, Williams is committed to ensuring her mission aligns, serving as a lead member of the company’s environmental justice working group.
No two days are the same at work for Williams, whose role ensures that vital information about services, billing and funding reaches customers in Manhattan, the only borough providing steam services. Her team works around the clock during extreme weather events and system emergencies to meet residents’ energy needs.
“It’s not tangible,” she says of energy. “You can’t hold (it) in your hand, but people know it affects them.”
Nantasha Williams
For the first time in her life, New York City Council Member Nantasha Williams is letting her accomplishments sink in.
“It’s not often that I step back and do this – because I’ve done a lot, and I have not sat in that,” says the Southeast Queens native.
Williams, the daughter of a single mother and social worker, has advised the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., was executive director of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus in Albany and took initiative on community outreach for the JFK Redevelopment Program. Williams even completed her doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center this spring – two years after she was sworn into the City Council. And yet, she says her work is just beginning.
As a lawmaker, Williams says she is committed to uplifting the community she grew up in, honing in on youth development, housing and protecting older adults. Williams also chairs the Committee on Civil and Human Rights, where she passed legislation requiring the city to provide yearly antiracism and antiracial discrimination training for employees, interns, independent contractors and volunteers for city agencies.
She is currently focused on two major initiatives: the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan, which aims to revitalize the community by addressing housing, environmental issues and economic development and establishing a Queens STEAM Center to create a pipeline for educational and workforce opportunities.
“We’re really making the necessary investments that should have been done a long time ago to grow the community, looking at not just housing but environmental issues, health, economics, education and safety,” she says.
Editor's Note - This article has been updated to indicate that Adrien Lesser worked for Rep. Carolyn Maloney for six years and that Maloney chaired the House Oversight Committee not the House Financial Services Committee.
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