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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Hannah Tacher
Photography by Hannah Tacher

David de Rothschild

Environmentalist

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF IN YOUR INDUSTRY? LESS OF?

We have all the solutions to the problems that we face today, but we’re hyperfragmented. There’s a lot of nationalism and self-interest that gets in the way of a truly effective approach to living on this planet and improving it. We’re following the path that will barely give us survival, when we could follow a path that would allow us to thrive and live in harmony with nature. That would be one of the biggest things I would like to see: some real action. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO CULTURE?

My contribution has been trying to close the human-nature gap—trying to make the environmental movement more inclusive and driven by awe and wonder versus negativity.

"I’m trying to close the human-nature gap—trying to make the environmental movement more inclusive and driven by awe and wonder versus negativity."

WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT WERE YOU KNOWN FOR?

I was known for being a fidget. I always felt much more comfortable on the go—I’m still like that. I feel like I’m moving towards the things that I love versus moving away from things.

WHAT IS YOUR CALLING CARD?

I think my calling card is always to use humor to disarm and to inspire. The space I’m in is quite intense; it can be very serious. But I think that humans gravitate towards things that make us smile and laugh. My family will probably tell you I’m just full of dad jokes.

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ROSE BYRNE
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JULIANNE MOORE