Publishing is full of rankings, from power lists to best-dressed lists to under-40 lists. The CULT100 is different. There is just one criterion for inclusion—but it’s a high bar.

To qualify, a candidate must be actively shaping and changing our culture in real time. The people on this list represent five generations and hail from the worlds of food, publishing, art, fashion, activism, and entertainment. To put this group together, CULTURED‘s editors leveraged the full strength of our network, tapping artists, writers, and cultural leaders to tell us who they look to when they want to feel challenged, hopeful, and inspired.

Some members of the CULT100 are household names; others have been working behind the scenes to make possible the cultural encounters that stop us in our tracks. In a time of binary thinking, the creators featured in this year’s list are embracing contradiction, bouncing willfully between disciplines, and refusing to take no for an answer. They have guts, vision, and a potent cocktail of realism and optimism. None of them is shying away from the anxiety of our moment. Instead, they are thinking big, sharing generously, and embodying courage. The good news is, their work makes us all a little bit braver, too.

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JULIANNE MOORE
Equal Justice Initiative and Human Pictures
Photography by Equal Justice Initiative and Human Pictures

Bryan Stevenson

FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SURPRISED YOURSELF IN YOUR WORK?

We are building a National Monument to Freedom at our new site in Montgomery, Alabama. It presents the surnames of all four million Black people who were emancipated after the Civil War. It is an effort to acknowledge, honor, and celebrate the perseverance of people who endured so much pain, suffering, and hardship and yet still found a way to love in the midst of sorrow. I’ve been working on this project for two years, but recently, when we added the names and I saw my own family name on the wall, I was deeply, deeply moved. I underestimated the power of the moment for sure.

WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, ALBUM, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE?

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I was without money or enough to eat, and preoccupied with ideas about justice and redemption. The book became an important bridge to a calling for me.

“I was without money or enough to eat, and preoccupied with ideas about justice and redemption. 'The Brothers Karamazov' became an important bridge to a calling for me."

NAME AN INFLUENCE OF YOURS THAT MIGHT SURPRISE PEOPLE.

James Baylor, who was born enslaved in Caroline County, Virginia. He risked his life to learn to read despite the presence of anti-literacy laws. He nurtured a deep desire for learning and understanding the world we occupy. He was my great-grandfather.

WHAT DO THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO CULTURE?

I’d like to think I’ve demonstrated that when we stand next to people who are imprisoned, poor, or marginalized, we can sometimes harness the power of justice, mercy, and love to make lasting changes. Our world needs that more than ever.

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ROSE BYRNE
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JULIANNE MOORE