The Sunday Times inaugural Young Power List: 25 of the most inspiring young people in the UK and Ireland

Under 30 and overachieving, the inaugural Sunday Times Young Power List features inspiring young people from across the arts, business, science, sports, politics, activism, tech and beyond. The 25 winners, from the UK and Ireland, are chosen by the editors at The Sunday Times.

In this week’s Sunday Times the winners have shared their stories of success, revealing the determination needed to excel in their field, the unexpected advantages of youth and inexperience and the unwavering passion that motivates them all. 

Hannah Swerling, Commissioning Editor of The Sunday Times, said: “The Young Power List celebrates hard work and ingenuity in its many forms. It features rising stars in entertainment, sportsmen and women dominating their field, entrepreneurs changing the world for the better, tech trailblazers, a political powerhouse and many more.

The 25 young people on the list demonstrate that success can take many forms and remind us that the best journeys begin with hope, excitement and a sense of limitless possibility.”

The Sunday Times Young Power List 2024

Arts, entertainment and books

Nicholas Galitzine, 29, actor: Born in Hammersmith, the actor came to prominence playing the romantic lead in Red, White & Royal Blue, Purple Hearts and in the comedy, Bottoms. To his legions of young fans, he was also Prince Robert in the 2021 reimagining of Cinderella with Camila Cabello. Galitzine is currently starring opposite Julianne Moore in the TV period drama, Mary & George. And later this year he will play the lead opposite Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You, with his character inspired by Harry Styles.

Ambika Mod, 28, actress: Mod is the star of the BBC’s This Is Going To Hurt and the Netflix hit, One Day. Mod, who grew up in Hertfordshire, had her first professional job on the BBC comedy The Mash Report in 2019. Next up is Disney’s Playdate, where Mod plays an investigative journalist, and she’s keen to return to her writing and comedy roots. 

Amelia Dimoldenberg, 30, comedian and presenter: The deadpan comedian started a YouTube series called Chicken Shop Date in 2014, interrogating grime artists over fried wings. It has grown to 2.3 million subscribers, drawing in names including Ed Sheeran, Paul Mescal and Shania Twain. As she gained viral recognition, demand for her sarcastic but loveable interviewing technique grew, and she was asked to be a red carpet correspondent at the 2023 Golden Globes and 2024 Oscars. 

Leo Reich, 25, comedian: Cambridge-graduate Leo Reich’s comedy persona contains a multitude of contradictions. In his hit show Literally, Who Cares?!, he simultaneously embodies and skewers the vanity and narcissism of Gen Z, while articulating very real fears about financial insecurity, climate change and political turmoil. Four years into his career, the Londoner has picked up numerous comedy awards and had a sold-out show at EartH in Hackney, which was recorded for an HBO Special. He’s currently filming Lena Dunham’s new Netflix series, Too Much.

CMAT, 28, musician: Country Rock singer/songwriter Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson who goes by the moniker CMAT signed her first record deal at 25. She released her debut album, If My Wife New I'd Be Dead in 2022, and the follow-up, Crazymad, For Me was released last year. Both records went to number one in Ireland and this year she made the BBC Sound of 2024 list and was nominated for International Artist at the Brit Awards

Caleb Azumah Nelson, 30, author: When Azumah Nelson landed a book deal for his award-winning debut novel Open Water, the son of Ghanaian parents was working at the Apple Store. His writing, which explores black culture, masculinity, love and grief, has earned him the Costa first novel award and recognition on the American National Book Foundation’s “5 under 35” for young debut writers. Now he’s overseeing TV adaptations of Open Water, which he’s also directing, and his second novel Small Worlds.

Sport 

Leah Williamson, 27, England and Arsenal player: Williamson has blazed the trail for girls in football since the age of six. Overcoming sexism and a birth defect of inward-pointing toes, a young Leah Williamson forced her way into her local all-boys team. Now 27, at the top of the England team captain’s list of victories has to be leading the Lionesses to win the European Championships in 2022. It was England’s first football trophy in 56 years. 

Louis Rees-Zammit, 23, rugby union turned NFL player: In 2021, Rees-Zammit was already on his way to conquering one sport, winning the Six Nations Championship with Wales and making the British & Irish Lions squad. But inspired by watching his father play American Football in Europe as a child,  in January he began training for the international programme that funnels potential American football stars from outside of the US into the NFL. In March, the hard work paid off and he signed as a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Jack Draper, 22, tennis player: Born in Sutton, London, the 6ft 4in rising star, who turned pro at 18, is currently 43 in the world rankings. Draper made the last 16 in the US Open last September, his best grand slam result to date, and is estimated to be worth £3 million from prize money and endorsement deals. 

Bukayo Saka, 22, England and Arsenal footballer: Aged 18, Saka signed his first long-term contract with Arsenal. Since then, he has confronted racism and abuse after his penalty was saved in the final of the Euros against Italy in 2020 to come out on top, becoming Arsenal’s Player of the Season for a second consecutive season in 2022 and earning the PFA’s Young Player of the Year award in 2023. 

Jamie Chadwick, 25, racing driver: Chadwick is Britain’s most successful female racing driver and is breaking down barriers for women in motorsports. She started go-karting aged 11 on the Isle of Man, home of the TT Races. That early passion helped her to become a three-time W-Series Champion, the only female driver to win a Formula 3 race and an MRF Championship, and the only female and youngest-ever driver to win a British GT Championship. She's currently a development driver for Williams F1 and races in IndyNXT at the top flight of US single-seater racing - the only woman for more than 15 years to race in the series. She hopes to one day compete in the male-dominated Formula One. 

Luke Littler, 17, darts player: Littler began playing darts when he was 18 months old on a magnetic darts board. By the age of eight, he was using a full-height board and throwing from the official 7ft away - and then there was no stopping him. He reached the final of the World Darts Championship and went from being relatively unknown to one of the biggest names in darts. In March, he won his first European title on his debut at the Belgian Darts Open after hitting a nine-dart finish - the perfect score for a single game.

Science & health

Jacob Nathan, 23, founder of Epoch Biodesign: Nathan founded Epoch Biodesign aged 18 in his final year of school. Today the company - of which he is the chief executive - has raised £15 million of government and EU funding and private investment and employs 22 scientists. Epoch is working on breaking down old plastics and turning them into new, high-quality materials, transforming old clothes into high-performance clothing or scrap car pieces into airbags. 

Mya-Rose Craig, 21, environmentalist and activist: British-Bangladeshi Craig has turned a passion for birdwatching since birth into environmental and diversity activism. 14 publishers fought over the rights to her memoir, Birdgirl, which became a bestseller when Craig was only 20. Her charity Black2Nature, which she founded aged 15 to help Black and Asian children from inner cities into green spaces, has the support of National Geographic.

Business

Grace Beverley, 27, entrepreneur/influencer: Publishing videos of her workouts from her Oxford university bedroom, Beverley grew a social media following of hundreds of thousands at 18 years old under the name “Grace Fit”. Now the serial entrepreneur, writer and podcaster owns three businesses - sustainable activewear brand TALA, fitness app Shreddy and she sells planners via The Productivity Method. She has used her global following of more than three million people to confront the lack of female representation in venture capital, a space where women only get two per cent of funding.

Politics 

Keir Mather, 26, Labour MP: When Mather overturned a 20,000 Conservative majority last year in Selby and Ainsty, he felt like he had done something “quite telling and powerful”.  Now 26, he is nine months into his role as Baby of the House, the title given to the youngest member of parliament, and is using his age to give the old guard in Westminster a run for their money. 

Philanthropy and Activism

Hannah Chappatte, 27, founder of Hybr: Chappatte founded the student letting platform Hybr in 2020 with a mission to transform the young rental market. Four years on, the company has helped 30,000 students and has signed up 30 educational institutions, from LSE and UCL to the University of Bristol. It has also generated more than £15 million in sales for its clients.

Joe Seddon, 26, founder of Zero Gravity: Seddon founded the Zero Gravity website and app using the last of his £200 student loan while studying at Oxford University. It identifies ambitious students from low-opportunity backgrounds, and connects them with mentors, masterclasses and scholarships, as well as internships and job opportunities with major UK firms such as HSBC. Today, the platform has helped more than 8,000 students to get into top universities, including 800 into Oxbridge.

Abby Cook, 21, Blue Peter presenter and wheelchair racer: Cook has worked in occupational therapy, biomedical science, tutoring and disability support - all before the age of 20. She has Ehlers Danlos syndrome, which affects connective tissue, and she discovered wheelchair racing aged 12 after her condition stopped her participating in mainstream sport. When Blue Peter called, she was posting TikTok videos from her bedroom under the account name ‘hotwheels007’. 

Technology

Ahana Banerjee, 24, founder of the Clear beauty app: After suffering from severe cystic acne since she was 12 years old, Banerjee found a way to help her own skin and create a multimillion-pound business idea in the process. During the final year of her degree in physics at Imperial College London, she founded Clear, a free mobile phone app that enables users to track their skincare routine, monitor flare-ups and share recommendations and reviews of products with an online community. The app has 17,500 users worldwide and has raised $1 million in investment - it is valued at $15 million.

Harry Gestetner,  23, co-founder and CEO of Fanfix: Gestetner conceived Fanfix in his American dorm room with a high school friend in December 2020. The platform allows social-media creators and influencers to make a profit from their fan bases by offering a monthly paid subscription for content like personal DMs, vlogs and social media posts - like a clean version of OnlyFans. By the time he graduated two years later, the company was acquired for a reported $65 million (£52 million). 

James Dacombe, 24, founder, CEO and chairman of CoMind: Dacome, who grew up near Harrogate, began programming at 13, building apps and websites for fun. He founded CoMind at the age of 17 and now along with his team of 60, he is developing a patch that’s worn on the forehead that measures key brain signals to help clinicians treat patients across intensive care units and in surgery. They want to use that data to understand the brain better and improve treatment for strokes and traumatic brain injuries.

Fashion and Beauty

Josephine Philips, 26, founder of SOJO: While studying for a degree in physics and philosophy at King’s College London, Philips kicked her fast fashion shopping habit and began to buy only secondhand clothing. This inspired her to create SOJO, offering door-to-door clothing repairs through a simple mobile phone app. Today, the app has raised £2.1 million in investment and SOJO runs a permanent base inside Selfridges, as well as becoming the official tailoring partner for brands such as Nobody’s Child, Ganni and Nanushka. 

Maximilian Davis, 28, creative director of Ferragamo: Born to Trinidadian-Jamaican parents in Manchester, Davis moved to London to study at the London College of Fashion, then assisted the designer Grace Wales Bonner before starting his own label, Maximilian in 2020. Known for his precise tailoring and slinky dresses, his designs won him celebrity fans like Rihanna, Dua Lipa and Kim Kardashian. In 2022, Davis was shortlisted as a semi-finalist in the LVMH Prize For Young Fashion Designers but withdrew to move to Milan and take on the role of creative director of the Italian heritage brand, Ferragamo. 

Food

Abby Lee, 30, chef: Described as “a quiet magician of Malaysian cookery”, Abby Lee has gained a reputation as one of the most exciting names in the food industry. Mambow, her restaurants in Peckham and Clapton, serve refined modern Malaysian cuisine in an informal setting. Combined with an affordable price tag, the winning formula has customers queuing out of the door.