• Andrew Weissmann

With 2018 bringing the prosecution of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, former senior aides to president trump, in federal court for a series of charges including conspiracy to launder money, making false statements, failing to register as foreign agents, and many others, Andrew Weissman, the feisty lead prosecutor, has the power to inflict real damage on both men’s lives. “Of all the people with whom I’ve worked, he’s the last person I’d ever want investigating me if I did something wrong.” -Katya Jestin, a former Justice Department prosecutor who has worked with Weissmann in the past to POLITICO.

• Nikki Haley

The extremely vocal US Ambassador to the United Nations was told by the President to speak her mind and she has been doing just that, having strong opinions on Israel, North Korea, and sexual harassment in politics. In 2018, it is predicted that she will continue to have a strong effect on the decisions made by the United Nations and that her popularity may even grow into nomination for another position in the white house.    

“If she were to be nominated for another position in the administration, her confirmation would be the easiest of anyone serving.” -Marco Rubio

• Corry Bliss

Corry Bliss is the executive director of the American Action Network and Congressional Leadership Fund. Both of the organization’s jobs are to, in short, protect the Republican party’s majority in the House of Representatives in the 2018 election season. This is extremely important because having the House majority is important to the success of the Republican party.

“It’s very public [that] our goal is to raise and spend $100 million to protect the majority and we’re well on pace to not only meet that goal, but to exceed that goal,” said Bliss to POLITICO.

Business

• James Jebbia (Supreme)

In October 2017, The Carlyle Group had purchased a stake in Supreme, worth $500 million, with Carlyle purchasing 50% of the business’ stocks. This would put Supreme’s market value at around the $1 billion with sales predicted at $100 million. The James Jebbia CEO is an incredibly private man and not much is known about him but with a net worth of $40 million in 2017 and Supreme quickly gaining popularity, James Jebbia could become even more successful in 2017.

• Elon Musk

The owner of Tesla and SpaceX, worth 20.7 billion dollars has a lot of new projects and a lot of plans for 2018. With the rollout of of the Tesla Model 3, a more affordable electric car, Elon Musk will be busy overseeing its release and trying to ensure that it does well in the market. Also, Tesla is said to unveil an electric pickup truck at some point in October of 2018, which will also be something to watch.

• Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos, reaching a $105 billion net worth in 2017, has an eventful 2018 ahead. Recently becoming involved with everything from space with his startup with Blue Origin, and politics as he is often the target of presidential twitter rants, Mr. Bezos has incredible influence and so it will be interesting to see how his net worth and influence grows in 2018.

“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.”

Sports

• Maame Biney

By winning the 500 meter race at the Winter Olympic Trials, Maame Biney made history by becoming the first African American Women to qualify for the US Olympic Speedskating Team. She started the race with a blistering pace, and ended up pulling away and winning by a large margin. Her status as a member of the 2015-16 Short Track Junior World Championships Team, the 2017-18 Short Track World Cup Team, the 2017-18 Short Track National Training Program, and the 2016-17 Short Track Winter World Cup Team sets her up for success during the 2018 Seoul Olympics.

“When I realized that I made the Olympic team, I started cheering like crazy” -Maame Biney

• Chloe Kim

At age 17, Chloe Kim became the first woman snowboarder to land back-to-back 1080s and is expected to medal at the Winter Olympic Games. With medals at the X Games every year since 2014, the Olympics will seem like a piece of cake to this young athlete. Her fun personality makes her well liked by the snowboarding community and she will be representing the USA on the Olympic Committee’s goodwill tour of Seoul before the Olympics.   

“She rides with a tremendous amount of amplitude and carries a lot more speed than any other female in the halfpipe. She’s in a whole different league. There’s really no one that can ride like that.” — U.S. halfpipe coach Ricky Bower on Chloe Kim

• Nathan Chen

With a stellar 2016-2017 season that included qualifying for the exclusive Grand Prix Final, where he earned a silver medal, winning gold at 2017 U.S. Championships, winning the Four Continents Championships (held at the PyeongChang Olympic venue), beating the 2014 Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. and becoming the first skater in history to land five quadruple jumps in a single program Nathan Chen, age 18, could become the first American man to win the figure skating medal.

“Nathan Chen is the most exciting thing to come out of U.S. Figure Skating in quite some time,” two-time Olympian Johnny Weir said on Saturday’s NBCSN broadcast. “He really has it all.”

Film

• Millie Bobby Brown

With Season 2 of Stranger Things enjoying immense success, Millie Bobby Brown, who plays main character Eleven, is facing a bright 2018. With production underway for her first film role Godzilla: King of Monsters, Millie is predicted to take over the big screen with the same force that she took over Netflix. Also in 2018, she’ll be preparing to help produce a film series based on Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes Mysteries novel series which should challenge her.

“Dear 2018;

you’re going to be jam packed with exciting events, projects, and new places! 2018, I know we’re pals so do me a favor and tell everyone I need them to be kind and if you were kind this year i need you to be even kinder the next.
Happy new year
Love mils”

• Gal Gadot

With Wonder Woman having large success and reaching 821.9 million at the box office, Gal Gadot was rocketed into stardom in 2017 and is projected to continue to grow in popularity in 2018. Her role as a strong female character in such a large film empowered women across the country and she does not plan on stopping in 2018 as she delivered a powerful speech at the Critics Choice Awards.

“What’s so lovely about Wonder Woman is yes, she has the strength and power of a goddess, but she has the heart and mind of a human. So I play her as I think a woman like me would act in the situations she’s going through. You treat her as a normal woman who happens to be fantastic and almighty.”

• Alden Ehrenreich

Alden Ehrenreich, an up and coming young actor is set to star in Solo: A Star Wars Movie as Han Solo, which is set to be released in 2018. Before the star wars movie played a small role as a Hollywood cowboy in the Coen Brothers’ Hail, Caesar!. But, may critics call him the highlight of the movie and fans are excited to see his take on Han Solo.

“Some movies, I think, present ideas of the world that just don’t help people with their lives. They just present things that are fleeting or stupid. So that’s what I’m careful about – making sure I’m part of something that is saying something that I think is valuable in the world of people, not necessarily in the world of art.” Alden Ehrenreich

Music  

• Khalid

Named on of TIME’s most influential teen’s due to the success of his album American Teen, which went multi platinum and many of his songs, including Location, Young Dumb and Broke and his collaboration with Logic and Alessia Cara on 1-800-273-8255 reaching top 20 on the Billboard charts, with 1-800-273-8255 peaking at number 3. 2018 is also looking promising for the young star as he heads into the Grammy’s with 5 nominations.

“He’s also committed, both in song and in life, to championing the vulnerable.” TIME Writer

• Camila Cabello

With a separation from her former girl group in late 2016, Fifth Harmony, Camila Cabello emerged as a strong artist in 2017. With her song Havana peaking at number 2 on the billboard charts and her song Bad Things with Machine Gun Kelly peaking at number 4, Cabello showed that she can succeed on her own, without the members of her group. Cabello also started off 2018 strong releasing her album Camila, which has fans excited and ready to see what she will do next.

“The whole point of music is being able to share your story. I’ve been songwriting for a long time, usually while on the road, as a way to get my feelings out.”

• Marshmello

Relatively unknown before 2017, artist Marshmello’s songs Wolves with Selena Gomez, and Silence featuring Khalid peaking at number 20 and 30, respectively, on the Billboard charts which rocked him ino fame. With a song in collaboration with the artist Blackbear, set to come out in 2018, it should be a great year for Marshmello.

Other

• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  

2017 was an eventful year for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as they announced their engagement on November 27, 2017. Many people had mixed opinions on their engagement but regardless  2018 should be a big year for them as they are set to be married on May 19, 2018 with many watching the wedding.

“We’re two people who are really happy and in love. We were very quietly dating for about six months before it became news, and I was working during that whole time, and the only thing that changed was people’s perception. Nothing about me changed. I’m still the same person that I am, and I’ve never defined myself by my relationship.”

• The Kardashian/Jenner Family

Love them or hate them, one cannot deny that the Kardashian/Jenner family have continued to grow in popularity over the years and so in 2018 will be interesting to see if that popularity increases or if people lose interest. Kim Kardashian already started 2018 eventually with the birth of her daughter on January 15, which bodes well for the clan in the future.

“At the end of the day, life is about being happy being who you are, and I feel like we are so blessed to have the support system and the best family to really just support each other no matter what we’re going through.”

• Rupi Kaur

With her poetry book Milk and Honey continuing to do extremely well since it’s release in 2015, becoming a #1 New York Times Bestseller and still 6th on the Barnes and Noble Bestsellers list of 2017, Rupi Kaur has established herself as a respected poet and voice of our generation. In 2017 she released a second poetry book entitled The Sun and Her Flowers which also was extremely well received, setting her up for a successful 2018.    

“I will no longer

compare my path to others

-I refuse to do a disservice to my life”

― Rupi Kaur, The Sun and Her Flowers