How these 6 SU alumni landed spots on 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 lists
Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor
From starting a camera bag company to managing Miley Cyrus, six Syracuse University alumni landed on assorted Forbes 30 Under 30 lists this year.
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UPDATED: Dec. 19, 2020, at 11:40 p.m.
Six Syracuse University alumni have earned a spot on several of the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 lists for their respective careers, accomplishments and brands.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 lists are released annually to highlight up-and-coming individuals in industries such as music, gaming and marketing. The SU alumni included in the 2021 lists, which Forbes released in December, recently spoke with The Daily Orange about how they got to where they are now.
AJ Damiano (‘18) & Michael Paris (‘20) – Gaming
Co-founders of PowerSpike
AJ Damiano groggily woke up to an email telling him he had made the Forbes 30 Under 30 Gaming list for the company he co-founded, PowerSpike. After reading the email over a few times, he started tapping his partner on the shoulder to tell them the news.
Fellow co-founder and SU alumnus Michael Paris also received the email early in the morning and was in shock for a while, too.
“You look at other people in the list and you’re just like, ‘how am I a part of this list?’” said Paris, 23, who is the vice president of product at PowerSpike. “‘What did I do to really deserve to be a part of this list?’”
PowerSpike is a marketing platform that makes it easier for brands to work with online influencers, celebrities and e-sports players, said Damiano, 24. A brand can approach PowerSpike looking to reach an audience by working with an influencer, and the system will match the brand with the appropriate talent and run a campaign.
The company has a fully-remote team of 19 employees who live around the world, Damiano said. The company has worked with influential Twitch streamers such as Maldiva and Ninja614, who have 122,000 and 34,100 followers, respectively.
For us, being able to fulfill our mission and being able to serve and support streamers is really for us what we believe is winning.AJ Damiano, co-founder of Powerspike
“We’re certainly grateful for being included on the list. It’s by no means winning as an organization,” Damiano said. “Being able to fulfill our mission and being able to serve and support streamers is really, for us, what we believe is winning. But that said, it is a wonderful milestone, and we’re extremely grateful for it.”
Damiano and Paris founded the company in 2015 out of Damiano’s dorm room in Lawrinson Hall. The two were running a Twitch channel that streamed esports tournaments for World of Warcraft, and they had gathered a high viewership. But when they reached out to brands and advertisers for collaborations, they were turned down. So, they started PowerSpike to help other creators monetize their online careers.
While at SU, the two worked closely with the university’s Blackstone LaunchPad program to grow their company. Linda Dickerson Hartsock, the executive director of the LaunchPad program, helped the pair take entrepreneurship more seriously, Paris said.
Dickerson Hartstock took a picture of Damiano at the entrance of the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 summit and told him one day he will be on the list. Four years later, he is. Courtesy of Linda Dickerson Hartsock
She predicted that Powerspike will hold a dominant space in the marketplace in five to seven years. Paris hopes that the company continues to grow and that they will be able to build up trust and a strong reputation with their Forbes designation.
Dickerson Hartsock worked closely with Damiano, and she took him to the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 summit event in Boston. She snapped a photo of Damiano at the entrance and told him that, one day, he would be a part of a Forbes 30 Under 30 list, too.
Four years later, the day it was announced that he was on the 2021 list, she texted him the same photo.
“Told ya,” she said.
Kelsey Davis (‘19, Master’s ‘20) – Marketing & Advertising
Founder and CEO of CLLCTVE
Kelsey Davis and her coworkers at CLLCTVE were freaking out. It was March, and while students were leaving campus for the rest of the semester, her company was setting up a second-round interview at the Blackstone LaunchPad. The team started to question CLLCTVE’s necessity.
“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re running this company for college campuses and no one’s going to be on campuses,’” said Davis, 23.
Ten minutes before the interview began, Davis and her team took a breather and started to brainstorm ideas for how CLLCTVE, a platform built to connect college creatives with Gen-Z brands, could adapt to accommodate the changes that the average college student is going through.
Changing and adapting on the fly is not a new obstacle for Davis. Since graduating from the Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2019 and earning a master’s degree in entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises from SU in May, Davis has lead CLLCTVE through a transition during the pandemic and found herself on the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
Before the pandemic, CLLCTVE tried to connect college content creators with local businesses. Now, the company has widened its focus to connect students wherever their talent is needed across the country.
Getting on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Advertising and Marketing list is an affirmation to Kelsey Davis. Courtesy of Kaila Mathis
Davis largely credits data tracking to CLLCTVE’s success this year. She believes that data helps make the company agile and flexible as CLLCTVE’s members’ needs change.
“I think a lot of it is humility and just being transparent about the fact that like, ‘Yo, I’m 23, I just graduated from college, and there’s way more than I don’t know than what I do know,’” Davis said.
Davis grew up in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, where her identities never matched the status quo in her neighborhood, she said. Davis identifies as Christian, Black and queer, as well as a young entreprenuer and a southerner. Her identities don’t box her in, she said, but they feed her curiosity to learn more about other people and be a more empathetic leader.
She seriously considered dropping out during her sophomore year at SU because her work as a freelance content creator consumed a lot of her time. She decided to finish her bachelor’s degree at Newhouse after she connected with a Syracuse graduate who recommended she stay. Davis started sourcing parts of her freelance work to her classmates who could help her manage the workload.
When Davis learned she made the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 Advertising and Marketing list, she thought of the recognition as a testament that CLLCTVE is moving in the right direction, she said.
“For me, it was more of an affirmation, like a nod to what we’re building and to what we’re doing,” Davis said. “And, kind of the idea, ‘let the people see this, and let’s continue to find the resources to get the people they want.’”
Justin Goldman – Music
Founder of JustGold Recordings and ‘94 Sounds
After Justin Goldman’s first semester of junior year at SU in fall 2018, he dropped out to focus on his music label, JustGold Recordings. It was an easy decision for him, said his dad, Ben Goldman.
“He stayed there longer than I thought he would,” Ben said.
Justin, 22, launched JustGold in August 2018 through the company Caroline, a music label for Universal Music Group. His clients have received more than two billion streams, according to Forbes.
Ben remembers that Justin’s work obligations for his music management company ’94 Sounds — which he started his freshman year in 2017 under the name Pr1me Sound — often interfered with school obligations, especially during his sophomore year. Justin often flew between Syracuse and Los Angeles to meet with clients, and he’d miss class in the process.
’94 Sounds now represents artists such as rappers Flo Milli and Jasiah. Justin has worked with both artists throughout the year on separate albums.
After he left SU in December 2018, Justin rented a house in Castle Court with many of his friends from the university. One of the hardest parts of dropping out for his son was leaving the friends he made at school, Ben said, but Justin traveled back almost every week to visit them.
Justin remembers a friend telling him that the people surrounding him in the music business industry are not necessarily his “music friends.” Part of what he contributes to his early success in the industry is having learned to block out what people say about him and his decisions.
“It’s like, do your own thing, and the second you stop caring about what they think, you’ll become more successful,” he said. “That’s what happened with me.”
While following COVID-19 safety precautions, Justin and his business partner Bryan Bernstein meet in their office and studio in New York City to find clients and work with their current artists.
Goldman (right) works with musical artist MAJ. Courtesy of Taylor King
JustGold recently signed Bando Pop, a rapper from North Carolina. Even though the pandemic halted in-person concerts, Justin and Bernstein plan to continue working with Bando Pop on developing his sound, he said.
He also has been working on a new project with Jasiah, who has “a lot of great stuff in the pipeline,” Justin said. He’s excited to get the rapper back on tour, where he can continue to build upon his core fan base, as soon as it’s safe to host live concerts again.
“What he’s the best at is the live show. He turns people up,” Justin said. “Just seeing that growth from small venues, to a little bit of a bigger venue, to having people stand outside waiting to get into your show, it’s been crazy.”
Olivia Rudensky – Music
Marketing and Digital Head for Miley Cyrus
Olivia Rudensky started her Miley Cyrus fan account when she was 12 years old. Four years later, she was asked to work with Cyrus’ management team.
Rudensky dropped out of SU in 2017, after her sophomore year in the Bandier program, when she was offered a full-time job on Cyrus’ management team.
“I like to reflect a lot, and I think it’s really cool how full-circle it all came,” Rudensky said. “It all kind of came from the passion and what I was excited about, and that created a whole new career and life for myself.”
Now 24 years old, she serves as Cyrus’ marketing and digital head. Rudensky has no set day-to-day schedule, meaning she never knows what’s going to happen with Cyrus that day. Pre-pandemic, she could be told she was getting on a flight to London the next day with no time to prepare.
Rudensky’s journey to working on Miley Cyrus’ management team started when she was 12 and created a fan account for Cyrus. Courtesy of Olivia Rudensky
She was the executive producer of Cyrus’ quarantine talk show on Instagram Live, “Bright Minded: Live with Miley,” according to Forbes. Although she left SU after her sophomore year, she credits being a part of the Bandier program as an important experience for her career path.
Lisa Steele, the managing director of the Bandier program, said that Rudensky was very humble coming into the program although she already had a lot of industry experience.
“She also didn’t come into the program thinking that she knew everything, which could possibly be an effect of having those early opportunities,” Steele said. “She was very eager to learn.”
In the future, Rudensky wants to create her own company that either does marketing or works with “superfans” like herself, she said.
“I am really, really grateful to be honored at such a young age, but I also think sometimes I’ll be like, ‘Sometimes, I’m not deserving of this,’” Rudensky said. “But I also think I need to give myself credit for starting working towards my career at 12 years old.”
Dylan Kim (‘16) – Retail & E-Commerce
Co-Founder and Head of Marketing at Brevitē
While studying abroad in Hong Kong in 2014, then-SU junior Dylan Kim could not find a backpack that would hold both his school materials and camera. So, a few months later, Dylan launched his own camera bag company, Brevitē, with the help of his older brother, Brandon Kim.
“(Brevitē) just means clear and concise,” said Dylan, 26. “That’s pretty much how we approach our design, just being clear and concise. Brief and to the point.”
After graduating from SU in 2016 with a degree in psychology, Dylan moved to Providence, Rhode Island with Venture for America, a fellowship for recent college graduates interested in entrepreneurship. He chose Providence to be close to Brandon, who was completing a master’s degree in industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Dylan began working on the business full-time in Providence. By July 2018, he got to a point where he could bring both Brandon, 27, and his twin brother, Elliot Kim, into the business full-time. Dylan runs the company’s marketing, Brandon works on designing the bags and Elliot, 26, runs finance.
Working with his brothers had been “two-pronged,” Dylan said. Although there’s already a level of trust built in between them, the brothers have to balance being both siblings and coworkers, he said.
Dylan Kim couldn’t find a backpack that could fit both his school materials and camera. So, with his brother, he created one. Courtesy of Dylan Kim
Being inducted into the Forbes 30 Under 30 list has been a lot like hanging around the Blackstone LaunchPad at SU, Dylan said. Both the LaunchPad and the Forbes recognition have provided Dylan with a community of people who are inherently entrepreneurial, he said.
Dickerson Hartsock remembers Dylan as one of the LaunchPad’s founding members when it was created in 2016.
“It’s pretty neat that we’ve been open four years and there are four of our (alumni) who made it to the list,” Dickerson Hartsock said. “That’s just amazing. It’s so incredibly exciting.”
Dylan’s company is primarily e-commerce. When people think of buying a bag online, he wants them to think of Brevitē.
Because of the pandemic, Brevitē has focused on giving back to the community this year, donating $150,000 worth of bags to people experiencing homelessness in New York City. They have also donated $35,000 to charities that support COVID-19 relief, education and voter rights, among other things.
Seeing the business kind of grow into this vehicle of change, and positive change at that, has been something that we’re really leaning into.Dylan Kim, co-Founder and head of marketing at Brevitē
“Seeing the business kind of grow into this vehicle of change, and positive change at that, has been something that we’re really leaning into,” Dylan said.
CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Justin Goldman’s company that represents Flo Milli and Jasiah was misstated. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
Published on December 19, 2020 at 12:30 am
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