Brown student, RISD alums make Forbes 30 under 30 list

CLIFF WEITZMAN, a senior at Brown University, has been named to Forbes' 30 under 30 list of the top change-makers and innovators in the country. / COURTESY FORBES
CLIFF WEITZMAN, a senior at Brown University, has been named to Forbes' 30 under 30 list of the top change-makers and innovators in the country. / COURTESY FORBES

(Updated 9:46 a.m. and 2:56 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – A 22-year-old Brown University senior made Forbes’ 2017 30 under 30 list of the top change-makers and innovators in the country.

Cliff Weitzman, a Google student ambassador and TEDx speaker, is the founder of Speechify, a software program that translates text to speech, making reading more accessible for those who are dyslexic (like him), have difficulty seeing, or who are English as a second language readers.

Weitzman also won first place at both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s and Stanford University’s global startup pitch competitions. He built Speechify with help from his team and fellow Brown students, Jared Siskin ’19 and Noah Picard ’18.

Weitzman was featured in the education category.

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In addition to Weitzman, three Rhode Island School of Design alums made the list: Misha Kahn, 27; Katie Stout, 27; and Jamie Wolfond, 25. All studied furniture design at RISD, and are featured in the art & style section of the 30 under 30.

Kahn’s creations are described as a “mashup of furniture and sculpture.” The 2011 RISD graduate has exhibited at the Museum of Art and Design and the Whitney in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and made commissioned pieces for Dior.

Stout, a furniture designer based in Brooklyn, has shown her work in Milan, at Art Basel and at New York City galleries. In 2015, she won Ellen Degeneres’ Design Challenge on HGTV. She graduated from RISD in 2012.

In 2014, the same year he graduated from RISD, Wolfond founded Brooklyn-based Good Thing, which manufactures and sells small objects and household items through retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Bon Marche in Paris.

A total of 600 game changers under 30 in 20 industries were included. Manufacturing and industry, Hollywood and entertainment, and enterprise tech are some of the industries highlighted besides education. Forbes said more than 15,000 nominations for the 600 spots were received.

Weitzman shares space on the list with actress Margot Robbie, NFL Pro Bowler Von Miller and social media personality Kylie Jenner, as well as Whitney Wolfe, who helped create the Tinder dating app.

Forbes said the group is “challenging the conventional wisdom and rewriting the rules for the next generation of entrepreneurs, entertainers, educators and more. … Their goal is nothing short of breaking the status quo and transforming the world.”

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