Patrick Burgard, news staff
More than 7,000 entrepreneurs, innovators and students gathered in Boston this week for the Forbes Under 30 Summit, where some of the most prominent millennial minds shared their ideas, philosophies and visions for the future.
Among the speakers at the event, which lasted Sunday to Wednesday, were three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman, rapper Kendrick Lamar, “Hamilton” star Okieriete Onaodowan, Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.). Participants, who came from all over the Northeast, attended events in various parts of the city and were categorized by common themes like “Create,” “Impact,” “Tech” and “Discover.”
Many speakers discussed their attitudes toward failure and uncertainty about the future. Lamar, who served as the event’s keynote speaker Tuesday, captured a sentiment expressed by many at the event when discussing his attitudes toward overcoming these struggles.
“It always comes back to this one, single word: failure,” Lamar said to the crowd. “Do you know how many people are in fear of that word? At least 80 percent, because I’ve been in that situation plenty of times — several times — and you have to almost intimidate this word with work ethic … because failure’s the one thing that stops us all from being our own entrepreneurs and following our own dreams and having ownership of what we do.”
Lamar also said people should look to celebrities like Colin Kaepernick — who set the recent trend of athletes kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality — for inspiration to do the right thing, even when faced with significant opposition.
Okieriete Onaodowan, who played the role of James Madison in the hit 2015 musical “Hamilton,” said as a politically active artist, he relates to Colin Kaepernick’s struggle.
“We relate as artists because we’re told the same thing: don’t step out of line,” Onaodowan said Tuesday during an interview as a Forbes Under 30 honoree. “My question, then, is who gets to say [expletive]? Who gets to suddenly say how they feel? Doesn’t everyone have a job that they should just shut up and do? Look at the president, like shut up and be president, stop telling us how to feel. That’s your job.”
Onaodowan himself is no stranger to using his platform to make political statements, and discussed a moment that occurred Jan. 28 of last year, when then-Vice President-elect Mike Pence appeared at a performance of “Hamilton.” He said he felt particularly proud to use his platform to make a statement.
“I think you should take time to think about what you have to say, and I think it should be done in more than 140 characters,” Onaodowan said. “I think it should be said with confidence. It was a really proud moment to say, ‘Here we are.’ ‘Hamilton’ could have not said anything, knowing the success it is and knowing that it could take a hit by imparting something to Mike Pence. It was a really proud moment to say we are going to take advantage of this platform to put something positive out there.”
Other events featured big names such as Lindsey Vonn, the world champion skier, and Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook. Despite the diverse range of panelists and honorees, many events centered around failure. 23AndMe CEO Anne Wojcicki spoke about losing the Food and Drug Administration’s support for her genetic testing kits, Forbes executives discussed burnout and female CEOs like Susan Ho of Gojourny.com touched on sexism in Silicon Valley.
Kasey Catt of Interphase Materials, an energy and defense company based in Pittsburgh, traveled from Pennsylvania to attend the summit. Catt said the event was a great networking opportunity for his company.
“This was my first time at this summit, and we were able to make a lot of connections with a lot of game changers — people who have big ideas,” Catt said. “Being here allows you to make the network to allow those ideas to come true.”
