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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FABIEN MONTIQUE
Photography by FABIEN MONTIQUE

MIA KHALIFA

JEWELRY DESIGNER & ACTIVIST

The former adult film star has shown us what it means to reinvent oneself in the Internet age. Her next chapter runs the gamut: She’s a politically outspoken content creator, jewelry designer, and activist.

NAME AN INFLUENCE OF YOURS THAT MIGHT SURPRISE PEOPLE. Food! I’m so inspired by fine dining—the architecture, the design, the storytelling in the menu, the ceramics, and then the actual food, which is usually an extension of the chef’s nostalgia. It inspires and excites me. Connecting with your inner child is the cheat code to creativity.

IF YOU COULD ATTRIBUTE YOUR SUCCESS TO A SINGLE QUALITY, WHAT WOULD IT BE? My ability to not take doors slamming in my face personally!

"Sometimes I can see it on their face: the shift and the guilt of their preconceived notions."

WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE? American Idiot by Green Day informed who I was going to be as a person at the ripe age of 12. It got me through so much angst and, no matter the stage of my life, has continued to teach me about myself and the world.

WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE GET WRONG ABOUT YOU? Almost everything, and then they feel bad after they meet me. Sometimes I can see it on their face: the shift and the guilt of their preconceived notions.

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SUKI WATERHOUSE
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RUSSELL WESTBROOK