Meet the SuperSoul100: The World's Biggest Trailblazers In One Room
Introducing a diverse group of visionaries with the power to inspire and uplift.
Photo: Huy Doan/Harpo Inc.
First there was Super Soul Sunday, the Emmy-winning OWN series that's given Oprah the chance to sit down with dozens of fascinating thinkers since it debuted in 2011. Then came Super Soul Sessions, daylong inspiration fests where enthralled audiences go deep with captivating speakers. Now Oprah and the OWN team have dreamed up the next step: the Super Soul 100—innovators and visionaries who are aligned on a mission to move humanity forward. On the list are Entrepreneurs (from LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner to the founders of SoulCycle), Igniters (such as author Janet Mock and activist Shaka Senghor), Teachers (like Brené Brown, Deepak Chopra, and Eckhart Tolle), Creatives (like ballerina Misty Copeland and director Ava DuVernay), and Givers (including Toms founder Blake Mycoskie and Emily Greener of I Am That Girl).
Not long ago, more than half of the 100 met up at OWN's L.A. headquarters, where Oprah explained what inspired her to bring them together: "Everyone here is connecting to the world with a spiritual energy that matters." There certainly was a powerful energy in the room. Motivational speaker Gabrielle Bernstein and 16-year-old entrepreneur Maya Penn couldn't stop chatting; Zendaya and Amandla Stenberg, who costarred in Beyoncé's Lemonade visual album, sat arm in arm on a couch; and Grey's Anatomy's Jesse Williams was thrilled to meet music manager Troy Carter, who's guided the careers of Lady Gaga and Eve.
After this picture was taken, half the group decamped back to OWN's café to chat some more. No one wanted to leave—with company like this, can you blame them?
Look for more on the Super Soul 100 in future issues of O.
SUPERCHARGED: (from left to right) (first row) 1. Iyanla Vanzant 2. Yael Cohen Braun 3. IN-Q 4. India.Arie 5. Gina Rodriguez 6. Ingrid Nilsen 7. Gene Baur 8. Maya Penn 9. Ava DuVernay
(second row) 10. Shaka Senghor 11. Linda Francis 12. Troy Carter 13. Ingrid Vanderveldt 14. Gordana Biernat 15. Zendaya 16. Amanda Steinberg 17. Oprah 18. Jesse Williams 19. Amandla Stenberg 20. Angela Davis 21. Kris Carr 22. Jessica O. Matthews 23. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, PhD
(third row) 24. Gary Zukav 25. Greg Segal 26. Gabrielle Bernstein 27. Esther Perel 28. Michael Rothman 29. DeVon Franklin 30. Whitney Tingle 31. Danielle Duboise 32. Prince Ea 33. Joshua DuBois 34. Luvvie Ajayi 35. Felicia Horowitz 36. Marie Forleo
(fourth row) 37. Zim Ugochukwu 38. Latham Thomas 39. Maxine Bédat 40. Richelieu Dennis 41. Jeff Krasno 42. Danielle LaPorte 43. Christopher Gray 44. Jenna Arnold 45. Gary Gunn 46. Christiane Northrup, MD
(fifth row) 47. Sophia Bush 48. Stefan Feuerstein 49. Emily Greener 50. Caitlin Crosby 51. Mastin Kipp 52. Abdallah Tabet 53. Komal Kaur Minhas 54. Erin Bagwell 55. Alexis Jones
NOT SHOWN: Shawn Achor, Sophia Amoruso, Reverend Ed Bacon, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Rob Bell, Charles Best, Elliott Bisnow, Adam Braun, Brené Brown, PhD, Brendon Burchard, Jack Canfield, Deepak Chopra, MD, Common, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Cutler, Steven Furtick, Casey Gerald, Elizabeth Gilbert, Adam Grant, PhD, John Gray, PhD, Esther Hicks, Arianna Huffington, Imagine Dragons, Simon Isaacs, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Jeremy Johnson, Elizabeth Lesser, Glennon Doyle Melton, Rebecca Minkoff, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Janet Mock, Blake Mycoskie, Caroline Myss, Mark Nepo, Nate Parker, Wintley Phipps, Amy Purdy, Julie Rice, Tony Robbins, Gretchen Rubin, Maria Shriver, Timothy Shriver, PhD, Russell Simmons, Jill Soloway, Cheryl Strayed, Bryan Stevenson, Tim Storey, Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD, Eckhart Tolle, Shefali Tsabary, PhD, Jeff Weiner, Marianne Williamson
Not long ago, more than half of the 100 met up at OWN's L.A. headquarters, where Oprah explained what inspired her to bring them together: "Everyone here is connecting to the world with a spiritual energy that matters." There certainly was a powerful energy in the room. Motivational speaker Gabrielle Bernstein and 16-year-old entrepreneur Maya Penn couldn't stop chatting; Zendaya and Amandla Stenberg, who costarred in Beyoncé's Lemonade visual album, sat arm in arm on a couch; and Grey's Anatomy's Jesse Williams was thrilled to meet music manager Troy Carter, who's guided the careers of Lady Gaga and Eve.
After this picture was taken, half the group decamped back to OWN's café to chat some more. No one wanted to leave—with company like this, can you blame them?
Look for more on the Super Soul 100 in future issues of O.
SUPERCHARGED: (from left to right) (first row) 1. Iyanla Vanzant 2. Yael Cohen Braun 3. IN-Q 4. India.Arie 5. Gina Rodriguez 6. Ingrid Nilsen 7. Gene Baur 8. Maya Penn 9. Ava DuVernay
(second row) 10. Shaka Senghor 11. Linda Francis 12. Troy Carter 13. Ingrid Vanderveldt 14. Gordana Biernat 15. Zendaya 16. Amanda Steinberg 17. Oprah 18. Jesse Williams 19. Amandla Stenberg 20. Angela Davis 21. Kris Carr 22. Jessica O. Matthews 23. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, PhD
(third row) 24. Gary Zukav 25. Greg Segal 26. Gabrielle Bernstein 27. Esther Perel 28. Michael Rothman 29. DeVon Franklin 30. Whitney Tingle 31. Danielle Duboise 32. Prince Ea 33. Joshua DuBois 34. Luvvie Ajayi 35. Felicia Horowitz 36. Marie Forleo
(fourth row) 37. Zim Ugochukwu 38. Latham Thomas 39. Maxine Bédat 40. Richelieu Dennis 41. Jeff Krasno 42. Danielle LaPorte 43. Christopher Gray 44. Jenna Arnold 45. Gary Gunn 46. Christiane Northrup, MD
(fifth row) 47. Sophia Bush 48. Stefan Feuerstein 49. Emily Greener 50. Caitlin Crosby 51. Mastin Kipp 52. Abdallah Tabet 53. Komal Kaur Minhas 54. Erin Bagwell 55. Alexis Jones
NOT SHOWN: Shawn Achor, Sophia Amoruso, Reverend Ed Bacon, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Rob Bell, Charles Best, Elliott Bisnow, Adam Braun, Brené Brown, PhD, Brendon Burchard, Jack Canfield, Deepak Chopra, MD, Common, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Cutler, Steven Furtick, Casey Gerald, Elizabeth Gilbert, Adam Grant, PhD, John Gray, PhD, Esther Hicks, Arianna Huffington, Imagine Dragons, Simon Isaacs, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Jeremy Johnson, Elizabeth Lesser, Glennon Doyle Melton, Rebecca Minkoff, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Janet Mock, Blake Mycoskie, Caroline Myss, Mark Nepo, Nate Parker, Wintley Phipps, Amy Purdy, Julie Rice, Tony Robbins, Gretchen Rubin, Maria Shriver, Timothy Shriver, PhD, Russell Simmons, Jill Soloway, Cheryl Strayed, Bryan Stevenson, Tim Storey, Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD, Eckhart Tolle, Shefali Tsabary, PhD, Jeff Weiner, Marianne Williamson
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