These all-stars are expanding their industry into new sports, technologies and demographics.

Shannon Rhodes says she’s “one of one,” but that’s not a boast. A senior director with the NBA, leading a team that builds apps for the league, the 29-year-old Rhodes notes, sadly, that there just aren’t many other women at the intersection of sports and software engineering.

“My aim,” she says, “is to be one of many.”

Rhodes isn’t the only one redefining what success looks like in the sports world. Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma, 28, cofounder of the fast-growing sports drink brand Barcode, and Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler, 28, who has his own fantasy football show and frequently streams himself playing video games, are helping expand athletes’ opportunities off the field. Meanwhile, Kelly Sherman, 28, is aiding that effort from the agency side, working with WME Sports’ content division to launch media companies for athletes.

Diana Flores, 26, captain of Mexico’s women’s national flag football team, is bringing attention to a new sport—one that’s headed to the 2028 Summer Olympics. And Jason Spector, 29, is introducing fans to new technologies, merging artificial intelligence with gambling as CBS Sports’ lead data scientist.

ll six are members of Forbes’ 2024 30 Under 30 class in the Sports category, highlighting the all-star athletes, innovative founders and accomplished business professionals defining the future of the industry. Candidates—who had to be 29 or younger as of December 31, 2023, and could not have been previously named to a Forbes 30 Under 30 continental list—were reviewed by a panel of judges featuring some of the sports world’s biggest players: Devin Booker, the Phoenix Suns’ star shooting guard and an alum of the 2022 30 Under 30 list; Sal Galatioto, founder and president of investment bank Galatioto Sports Partners; Carolyn Kindle, CEO and co-owner of Major League Soccer’s St. Louis City SC; and Renee Montgomery, a two-time WNBA champion as a player who has transitioned to ownership with the Atlanta Dream.

Two of this year’s Under 30 listers—Lauren Esrig, 29, of the Voice in Sport Foundation and Alison Reed, 28, of Women in Sports Tech—work with nonprofits creating new opportunities for women in the industry. Natalie White, 25, founder of Moolah Kicks, is also thinking about inclusivity, but with an entrepreneurial twist: Her company makes performance basketball sneakers designed specifically for female feet. Also in the world of women’s basketball, Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, 27, is serving as an advisor for a new league for high schoolers while aiming to launch a new professional league during the WNBA offseason.

Those efforts, and the momentum sweeping across women’s sports more broadly, helped land 18 women among the list’s 30 members.

Along with gender equality, racial diversity is also a growing concern in the industry, with KB Partners senior associate Matt Howard, 29, noting, for instance, that he is among a small group of Black investors in venture capital. But here, too, the 30 Under 30 honorees intend to make a difference. Tennis star Jessica Pegula, 29, for example, now sits on the board of the Asian American Pacific Islander Tennis Association. In all, 15 members of this year’s list identify as people of color.

“As a young Black man, I am passionate about working in a profession that allows me to work predominantly with Black men that are considered culture drivers and sometimes even leaders in our community,” WME Sports basketball agent Isiah Turner, 29, says, adding, “I also believe that in today’s society, one of the best ways to create change is through economics, and that is one of the things that drives me every day to be successful.”

Other sports luminaries from the 2024 list include Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, 26; Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards, 22; and Olivia Dunne, 21, who leads a dual life as an LSU gymnast and as one of the faces of the NCAA’s new NIL marketing era.

Victoria Arlen, 29, who recovered from two serious neurological conditions to win four Paralympic medals and join ESPN as an on-air host, shared her motto with Forbes, and it is surely one her fellow Under 30 listers can relate to, even under less life-threatening circumstances: “Face it, embrace it, defy it, conquer it.”

29 | Tennis Player

Jessica Pegula

Tennis loves a teenage prodigy, whether it’s Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams or Coco Gauff. Pegula, though, had to wait, and work, for her success, not cracking the top 100 in the world rankings until 2019, when she was 24. Next came a meteoric rise to No. 3 in singles in 2022 and No. 1 in doubles in 2023. “Looking back four years later about where my mindset was, I don’t know if I really, truly believed it,” she says. “It’s just been a very long journey.” That trek began in Buffalo, New York, where Pegula’s parents, Terry and Kim, are the billionaire owners of both the NFL’s Bills and the NHL’s Sabres. Pegula can more than stand on her own now, however, making an estimated $6 million from endorsements and appearances on top of $6 million in 2023 prize money. She also owns a skin care line, Ready 24, and sits on the board of the Asian American Pacific Islander Tennis Association. “Athletes are becoming more than one-dimensional, becoming many different things and showing their interests on and off the field,” she says. “And I think it’s great.”

27 | Forward

Napheesa Collier

Napheesa Collier, who took most of the 2022 WNBA season off after welcoming her first child, returned to the court in 2023 and got right back to dominating, finishing fourth in scoring and seventh in rebounding. Working with fellow WNBA star Breanna Stewart, she is also launching a new league called Unrivaled to play during the WNBA offseason, and she will serve as an advisor for Overtime Select, a new league for high schoolers.

25 | Outfielder

Ronald Acuña Jr.

In his six seasons in the majors, Ronald Acuna Jr. has helped the Braves win six division titles, displaying Ruthian power, lightning speed and seemingly limitless swagger. Among his accolades: the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year Award, four All-Star selections and, most recently, the 2023 NL MVP Award. He is the first player ever to post 40 home runs and 70 steals in a single season.

25 | Outfielder

Ronald Acuña Jr.

In his six seasons in the majors, Ronald Acuna Jr. has helped the Braves win six division titles, displaying Ruthian power, lightning speed and seemingly limitless swagger. Among his accolades: the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year Award, four All-Star selections and, most recently, the 2023 NL MVP Award. He is the first player ever to post 40 home runs and 70 steals in a single season.

29 | TV Host

Victoria Arlen

Two rare neurological conditions left Victoria Arlen in a vegetative state for nearly four years, and doctors believed her chances of survival were slim. But she recovered to win four medals in swimming at the 2012 Paralympics and joined ESPN as on-air talent in 2015 at age 20. She now hosts shows including “SportsCenter” across the network’s platforms and also appears on “American Ninja Warrior Junior” on NBC’s Peacock.

29 | Cofounder

Austin Barone

Austin Barone is CEO and handles sales and business development for Just Play Solutions, a workflow and automation platform he cofounded in late 2014 while playing football at the University of Kansas. Barone says Just Play has helped coaches and sports organizations adapt to a new digital age, offering features including automated scouting and advanced data analysis.

28 | Senior Manager of Brand and Content Strategy

Robyn Brown

After Brittney Griner was detained in Russia in February 2022, Robyn Brown devoted the Mercury’s social channels to raising awareness and telling Griner’s story, with the #WeAreBG campaign driving 103 million impressions, she says. For a follow-up in 2023, Brown led the social strategy for DT10K, a campaign around Diana Taurasi becoming the first WNBA player to reach 10,000 points.

22 | Swimmer

Kate Douglass

Kate Douglass had one of history’s most dominant collegiate careers in any sport, becoming the first Division I swimmer to win three individual national titles in three different strokes and piling up 15 NCAA titles during her time at the University of Virginia. At the international level, she won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and piled up nine medals between the 2022 and 2023 world championships.

21 | Gymnast

Olivia Dunne

Olivia Dunne has been an all-American on uneven bars at LSU, but she is better known as one of the faces of college sports’ NIL era, with more than 12 million followers between TikTok and Instagram. She has long-term partnerships with brands including Vuori, American Eagle and Motorola, and Forbes estimates that she made $2.3 million over the 12 months ending in June.

22 | Shooting Guard

Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards appeared as the trash-talking antagonist in Adam Sandler’s 2022 basketball film “Hustle,” foreshadowing a breakout year in which he earned his first NBA All-Star selection with the Timberwolves and led Team USA in scoring at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Edwards, the NBA’s No. 1 overall pick in 2020, also recently released his first signature shoe, with Adidas.

29 | Director of Strategy and Development

Lauren Esrig

Working with the Voice in Sport Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to equity and access to sport for girls, Lauren Esrig has built a Title IX micro-grant program to address gaps at U.S. schools. Noting that only 3% of sports science research is conducted with female athletes, she has led investments in studies focused on women with Stanford and Harvard, and she helped secure Adidas as a research partner.

28 | Running Back

Austin Ekeler

Austin Ekeler has risen from an NCAA Division II star at Western Colorado and an undrafted NFL rookie to starring for the Chargers. Off the field, he has a fantasy football show with Yahoo Sports and has frequently streamed himself playing video games on Twitch, helping earn him a reputation as one of the most “interactive” athletes. He also recently launched fan-engagement platform Eksperience.

29 | Senior Associate

Matt Howard

At KB Partners, a $127 million sports-tech-dedicated investment fund, Matt Howard shoulders major responsibilities, leading and negotiating deal terms, observing on boards and supplying updates to limited partners. A former team captain for Penn basketball, he also continues to mentor young players and speaks on panels focused on preparing young athletes for college.

26 | Quarterback

Diana Flores

Diana Flores, who picked up flag football as an 8-year-old, went from playing in the NFL’s grassroots program in Mexico to participating in the league’s flag championships and, in 2022, leading her country to a 39-6 blowout of the U.S. to win gold at the World Games. She now serves as a global ambassador for the NFL and is the first Under Armour athlete in her sport

27 | Brand Consulting Executive

Stasia Foster

Stasia Foster is a sports marketer working in the sports consulting division at CAA, providing strategic advice to brand clients including Bose, New Balance and JPMorgan Chase on sports league and property sponsorships, talent partnerships and experiential marketing strategies. She was also one of the first CAA sports consulting representatives to participate in, and later graduate from, CAA Elevate, the firm’s agent training program.

26 | Quarterback

Lamar Jackson

Lamar Jackson, the NFL’s MVP for the 2019 season, signed a five-year, $260 million extension with the Ravens in May after representing himself in negotiations. His $72.5 million signing bonus, which set an NFL contract record, made him football’s highest-paid player for 2023. Off the field, he has a personal clothing brand, a restaurant and a production company and record label.

24 | Professional Skateboarder

Tyshawn Jones

Tyshawn Jones doesn’t skate in competitions but is known as New York’s king of street skating for his jaw-dropping videos, including a production for Supreme that earned him Thrasher Magazine’s 2018 Skater of the Year Award. (He claimed the honor again in 2022.) He started signing sponsorships at age 13 and is also active as an entrepreneur, with a board company, a parts provider, an underwear line and a restaurant.

28 | Forward

Kyle Kuzma

On the court, Kyle Kuzma is a versatile forward, now playing on a four-year, $102 million contract. Off it, he cofounded the fast-growing sports drink Barcode, which made a splash by signing fellow NBA player Victor Wembanyama as an ambassador. Kuzma also created a lifestyle brand, Childhood Dreams, and has collaborated with Puma on two apparel collections

28 | Global Consumer Direct Marketing Lead For Women’s Running

Darcy McFarlane

A former pro soccer player, Darcy McFarlane led key digital and physical product launches for Nike around the 2023 Women’s World Cup, including the Phantom Luna cleat and the company’s first athlete workouts for Netflix. In an earlier role, she was product marketing manager for the Nike Running and Training Club apps, helping develop the shoemaker’s first adaptive workouts

25 | Water Polo Player

Maddie Musselman

Maddie Musselman won Olympic gold in 2016, finishing as Team USA’s second-leading scorer at age 18, and she was named tournament MVP at the Tokyo Games in 2021 as the U.S. claimed another title. She has also racked up four world championship golds, cementing her as the best athlete in her family, no small feat considering her father was an MLB pitcher and her mother played college soccer.

28 | Director of Program Operations

Alison Reed

A former soccer player at the U.S. Air Force Academy and a military veteran, Alison Reed says she always found herself the only woman in the room and decided to become an advocate to help women land leadership roles themselves. She now runs the fellowship program for Women in Sports Tech, a nonprofit helping businesses diversify talent pipelines and create more inclusive cultures

29 | Basketball Data Science And Scheduling Lead

Patrick Harrel

Patrick Harrel leads the NBA’s game scheduling optimization, using data to route road trips more efficiently to reduce the travel burden on NBA players. He has also helped design and implement the NBA’s Covid restart in 2020 and its new play-in and in-season tournaments, and he serves as a league representative on the Competition Committee, which recommends rule changes each year

25 | Founder

Natalie White

Natalie White is CEO of Moolah Kicks, which produces sneakers specifically designed for female basketball players. Through a partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods, Moolah’s first production run debuted in more than 140 stores, helping create the retailer’s first women’s basketball wall, and the brand now appears in more than 500 stores and is expanding its direct-to-consumer channel.

21 | Forward

Angel Reese

Angel Reese led LSU to its first-ever women’s basketball national championship in 2023, earning the NCAA tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Award to go with first-team all-American honors. She has also become one of the most marketable stars of the NCAA’s new NIL era, appearing in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue and partnering with brands including Coach, Reebok and PepsiCo’s Starry.

29 | Connected Engineering Lead

Shannon Rhodes

Shannon Rhodes’ teams have launched nine global NBA apps on 12 connected device app stores and worked on the Los Angeles Clippers’ new streaming app, ClipperVision, powered by the NBA app. Previously, she worked on the software engineering team at ESPN, catching the company’s attention, she says, with her senior project at Villanova, which was to automate the first-and-ten line with a $10 camera for high schools

23 | Sprinter

Sha’Carri Richardson

Sha’Carri Richardson missed the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after a failed drug test drew her a one-month suspension; she was later lauded for speaking openly about how she used cannabis to cope with Olympic qualifying and the death of her biological mother. After a disappointing 2022 season, she took gold in the 100 meters at the 2023 world championships with the fifth-fastest time ever. She also won bronze in the 200.

28 | Agent

Kelly Sherman

After starting in the mailroom at WME, Kelly Sherman became the first agent in the company’s sports content division, building top athletes’ media businesses. She helped Peyton Manning build Omaha Productions, playing a role in the creation of the “Manningcast,” and she has been involved with the companies of notable athletes including LeBron James and Draymond Green, as well as the Kobe Bryant Estate.

23 | Forward

Sophia Smith

Although the U.S. failed to accomplish its goal at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Sophia Smith was the breakout star for a team in transition, posting two goals and an assist. She has been even more dominant at the club level: The NWSL’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 2020, she led the Portland Thorns to the NWSL title in 2022 and earned league and championship MVP honors

29 | Lead Data Scientist

Jason Spector

Jason Spector developed Sportsline AI, an artificial intelligence model that predicts scores and player stat lines for the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, MLB and most of the world’s biggest soccer leagues. Once he could demonstrate that it could outperform professional handicappers, he says, he joined CBS Sports’ “Early Edge” podcast to give out betting picks

29 | Agent

Isiah Turner

Isiah Turner signed his first NBA client, Josh Christopher, while in law school in 2021 and has represented picks in the last two NBA drafts as well, with Jabari Walker and Gradey Dick. Turner has also helped his agency place clients in European, Asian and Latin American leagues and played a key role in recruiting young talent as NIL clients.

29 | Chief Growth Officer

Tom Weingarten

Tom Weingarten, who started as an intern in 2015, now serves as chief growth officer at sports media company Overtime, where he leads its social media strategy across 80-plus accounts. (He actually joined the company before it was called Overtime and was among its first ten employees.) Weingarten also has a role as on-air talent, interviewing players and speaking on podcasts.