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Forbes
It’s not news that Columbus, Ohio has been home to legacy corporations ranging from Nationwide Insurance to Wendy’s and Abercrombie & Fitch. But in recent years, the city has grown into an innovation hub for startups, too—many of which are run by young people.
Take Columbus-based Tandem, a company using technology to address labor shortages in the childcare industry. Founded by Olivia Weinstock, McKenzie Kennelly and Natalie Amling, Tandem allows childcare centers to find on-demand coverage, bringing the gig economy into the industry. The company charges centers a 35% service fee on top of the worker’s hourly rate, giving both sides a win-win. Tandem made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2024 for raising $10 million and supporting 200 childcare centers across three states.
Then there’s founders like Archie Scott III taking on literal roadblocks. His Columbus-based construction startup, Asynt Solutions, manufactures the Ape Barrier, a lightweight, fiberglass traffic barrier designed to protect highway repair crews. The company says they’re 80% lighter than concrete barriers, easier to transport, install, and remove, and can absorb more energy in the event of an impact. He made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2025.
There’s also no shortage of community-based initiatives: Ty Collier’s Queerencia, a retail brand recognized on our 2025 list, specializes in creating custom items in support of Pride. The company is the official vendor for Stonewall Columbus Pride, and even goes beyond state lines to support Atlanta Pride and Washington, D.C.’s Capital Pride, among others.
These are just a few of the young entrepreneurs in the city, all of whom were highlighted on our national list. Now Forbes wants to take it local—we’re looking for 30 of the top founders, leaders and creatives under the age of 30 in Columbus.
To be eligible for our 2025 Under 30 Local list, nominees must reside in or have their business based in Columbus, be 29 or younger on May 29, 2025, and have never appeared on an Under 30 list before. (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.)
Candidates will be evaluated by Forbes reporters and a panel of expert judges in the local community—ranging from those governing politics in Columbus, to those funding and operating local businesses—on a variety of factors, including funding, revenue, social impact, scale, inventiveness and potential.
Are you in Columbus, reinventing the worlds of tech, business, art & culture, food, retail, entertainment and impact? Or know someone who fits the bill? Nominations are open now.
See you next week,
Alex and Zoya
Featured Story
Edible Arrangements Can Now Get You High—On Edibles
Illustration by Alicia Hallett-Chan for Forbes via Google Gemini AI
Looking to take the edge off but a basket of fruits won’t quite do the trick? Edible Arrangements has expanded from their strawberry bouquets to launch a new website for hemp-derived, THC-infused beverages and gummies. Read more about their venture into cannabis here.
On Our Radar
-“Corporate espionage” took center stage this week as HR software firm Deel was sued by competitor Rippling for stealing insider information. Deel, whose founder and CEO was a 30 Under 30 lister in 2021 and was valued at $12 billion in 2023, allegedly sent an employee to be hired by Rippling to access information regarding customers, quotes, sales calls, demos and support requests. But a Deel spokesperson said “Rippling is trying to shift the narrative with these sensationalized claims.” (CNBC)
-Up next in the TikTok saga: Oracle has entered conversations to potentially assist in the purchase of TikTok’s U.S. operations. With the currently proposed deal, while the SaaS company would “provide a security backstop and [take] a small stake,” in the app, the algorithm would remain in “in Chinese hands.” Either way, the decision deadline of April 5 is looming… that is unless President Donald Trump attempts to “save” the platform again. (Bloomberg)
-Red Lobster is poised for a comeback. With 35-year-old CEO Damola Adamolekun in charge, he’s “addressing the elephant in the room” that despite filing for bankruptcy in May 2024, the chain remains open for operations. He’s starting by building a new executive team and improving the customer experience. But can he do it with rising prices? (The Wall Street Journal)
Creator Corner With April Lockhart
April Lockhart
The creator economy is thriving, and could reportedly be worth half-a-trillion dollars by 2027. Since the boom of content creation, the Forbes Under 30 list has recognized the individuals who have either built their businesses through social media or turned social media into their business. Hear from these entrepreneurs what it takes to make it on the internet.
Up this week: 2025 Under 30 Social Media lister April Lockhart, a fashion and lifestyle content creator with nearly 300,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. After years of posting content for fun, she went full-time in 2023 and hasn’t looked back.
The following has been slightly edited for length and clarity.
For those who maybe have not come across you yet, how do you explain what you do and who you are? In the simplest form, I call myself a “disabled fashion girly.” I am a lifestyle and fashion creator, born with a limb difference. I focus my content around encouraging, inspiring, and educating.
I’m also really passionate about hosting, so I host an array of events for people in the disabled community. And launching soon, hopefully in two months, I’m working on a formalized community brand that really formalizes these events.
When did you first start posting on social media and what was the purpose? Was it recreational at first? Did you intend to go the influencer or content creator route? I've posted online forever, probably since I was 15. I loved style and have gone through so many different lives online (I used to do music as a teenager, that’s my hidden background).
I really restarted in 2020. Except for the first two years, until 2022, I was really actively hiding my disability, posting just the most generic outfit content you’ve ever seen. Maybe the outfits were fun, but I was really trying to keep up with everyone else and it was very unoriginal. In 2022, I started a series called “Normalizing Disabled Fashion Girlies,” and that was when I really took a leap on my own. I didn’t know what I was getting into, but I was like, ‘I’m just going to try this.’ That’s when I started seeing growth. A year and a half later, I was able to quit my job and now disability is the main part of my platform.
What encouraged you to share that side of yourself? I had a realization: I’m a purpose-driven person and we’re all ourselves for a reason. Only you can be you, so why was I just trying to be everyone else? And it wasn’t really working.
It was really scary to hit “post,” but it spiraled from there. And even in that first month, so much was unveiled. I even wrote my first op-ed piece for Birdie about that series, which was really exciting for me.
What would you say has been the biggest change in the social media landscape from when you started in 2020? I think people are craving so much deeper and more unfiltered content. That’s a reminder to myself. I’ve been trying to do more lifestyle vlogs, but I wonder ‘Do people care about my everyday, my supplements?’ Because people don’t follow me for my supplements. But then I’ll post and people are like, ‘Oh my God, can you show more of that?’ People really want to know every part of you.
There’s also this shift in balance between short form and long form. People still love short form, but they’re craving long form. YouTube is such a fascinating beast to me and I would love to master it someday.
In terms of this longer form content, how are you thinking about consumer attention spans and what people are looking for right now? I love storytelling and when I talk about long form, for me it’s like a minute and a half. That still feels longer than eight seconds. But I think it’s important to balance both, but to keep testing even more in the long form. Instagram Reels can be what, three minutes, YouTube shorts can be three minutes now, and TikTok allows 10 minutes. I think it’s still difficult to maintain the attention span, but giving followers a mix is important.
And I love the short form videos that are seven, eight seconds, but with long text overlays. Because then people have to watch it a few times and that helps with view count and engagement and you’re still storytelling in a different way. It’s short form, but the text is long and the viewer has to sit there and read. So I’m always trying it in different ways.
What has your strategy been for growth? I don’t always know that it’s the right strategy, but I syndicate my content across all platforms, meaning I’m reposting. Instagram is definitely my bread and butter where I’ve seen the most growth. That’s the first place that I’ll post usually. Then I’ll repost to TikTok or YouTube and I try to adapt at least to the native fonts in the apps.
TikTok is a fun place to experiment for sure, that’s not news to anyone, but trying out crazy things can work there. But then again, Instagram now has “trial Reels,” so trying some of those maybe borderline cringy trends on “trial Reels” is a great idea too.
YouTube Shorts is the funniest thing because in my mind I’m like, ‘It’s not real.’ But I've seen so much growth on YouTube Shorts and it’s such a different audience.
After a year and a half posting seriously, why did you decide to quit your job? What gave you the confidence? I’m so tactical and realistic that it just got to a point where I was making so many times my salary doing this than working. I probably could have left a year before I did. And I really rode it to the breaking point. I was waiting for a promotion because you never know where this career may take you. And so if I ever have to go back to that one day, which I love, making sure that I would feel comfortable returning to the level that I was at was important.
I was also just out of PTO, so if I asked for one more thing… I wanted to leave on a good note.
Plus, you get to a point where you’re either building someone else’s dream or your own. And I was getting so many cool opportunities that I would have to say no to to keep building someone else’s dream. It just made sense.
What is something you learned from your career working in influencer marketing that has helped you on this side of the industry? Relationship building for sure. I’ve had so many full circle moments with past coworkers and other people I still know in the industry, and feel honored when they cast me on campaigns. It’s made me very aware of continuing to build relationships, always making sure that if I’m at an event, I’m going and thanking the brand lead. Whereas a lot of people who have never had this experience before don’t think about that.
I very actively am like, ‘Let’s get dinner, let’s get lunch,’ because then you’re top of mind for them.
And also I think the basic skills of writing an email, replying all, just email etiquette.
What was one of your favorite opportunities that you’ve gotten from your content creation? Doing Anthropologie’s Adaptive Line is definitely a career highlight for me. All my crossover worlds—Anthropologie being a brand that I shopped at as a teenager, them launching into adaptive giving the disabled community a moment to shine, getting to do the shoot alongside friends and people that I followed for so long—was very cool. I also did a real commercial for The RealReal, which was also very fun just because from a fashion perspective, the styling was incredible. I got to wear vintage MiuMiu and all the other talent were amazing.