Several Charlotteans named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list

Several Charlotteans were named earlier this month to Forbes’ 2017 30 Under 30 list, which recognizes 600 standout entrepreneurs, artists, athletes and more under the age of 30 across the U.S.

On Tuesday, several of the honorees were in New York to ring the closing bell at the NASDAQ.

Here are some of the honorees from the Charlotte area:

▪ Will Mason, 26, a graduate of Charlotte’s Trinity Episcopal School, and his business partner, Taylor Freeman, 26, co-founded UploadVR, a multimedia company that focuses on news, events and education in the virtual reality industry. It also has a co-working space in San Francisco.

▪ Katlin Smith, 28, a native Charlottean and UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, founded Simple Mills, Inc., a Chicago-based healthy food company that sells baking mixes, crackers and frosting to major retailers like Whole Foods and Target.

▪ Marlo Jovan Shaw, 27, and Jason Terrell, 26, co-founded Profound Gentlemen in 2012 while they were roommates doing Teach for America in Charlotte. The firm provides mentorship opportunities for black men and students. They were featured on the Charlotte Five podcast earlier this month.

▪ Alex Adelman, 27, a native Charlottean and UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, founded a company called Cosmic, a “universal shopping cart” that allows retail companies to sell their products across devices and customers to buy from multiple sources online in one trip.

If you know of any additional honorees with Charlotte ties, please reach out to kperalta@charlotteobserver.com

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 8:58 AM with the headline "Several Charlotteans named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list."