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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KATHRYN HAHN
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TORREY PETERS
LUCIA BELL-EPSTEIN
Photography by LUCIA BELL-EPSTEIN

SADIE MAE BURNS & ANTHONY HA

CHEFS

After building a cult following with their transient pop-up, Ha’s Đăc Biêt, the restaurateurs opened Ha’s Snack Bar last December on the Lower East Side, where they serve up reliably adventurous fare. 

WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT? 

Sadie Mae Burns: Reading Google reviews about our restaurant.

Anthony Ha: Finding my dream car on Facebook Marketplace.

WHAT’S COMING UP FOR YOU IN 2025? Fingers crossed, restaurant number two is on the way. Big year!

WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT WERE YOU KNOWN FOR? 

Burns: I started walking very early on, which my parents say was due to an itch to constantly be socializing and front and center at every party. Not much has changed.

Ha: I was known for touching everything—from cars to poking around people’s fridges.

"More sharing of ideas! Less hate and ultra-competitiveness."

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO CULTURE? Seeking new standards in the restaurant world, from the quality of the produce we use to the way we work and lead a team. We are always trying to keep these practices at the forefront of what we do. Restaurant work is incredibly grueling, so we try to pepper in as much fun and levity as we can. Ultimately, when people feel taken care of and respected, that’s when the best work comes through.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF IN YOUR INDUSTRY? LESS OF? More sharing of ideas! Less hate and ultra-competitiveness. Things got really gatekeep-y for a while, which is such a boring way to operate. Everything's much more fun when you can learn from your peers and unabashedly draw inspiration from all over.

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KATHRYN HAHN
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TORREY PETERS