Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2024 — Politics: Barb Warwick
Before she became a Pittsburgh City Councilmember, Barb Warwick (D-5) saw the impact of getting involved on a local level. A working mother of four, Warwick moved to the Four Mile Run section of Greenfield in 2014. Soon after, the city announced plans for the Mon-Oakland Connector, a system of driverless shuttles decried by residents.…
Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2024 — Literature: Michael Wurster
“Pittsburgh is a poetry city just like it’s a jazz city,” Michael Wurster says, but that hasn’t always been the case. The Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange, the organization Wurster co-founded and has led for the past 50 years, is partly to thank for solidifying that identity. Founded in 1974 by Wurster, Dieter Weslowski, Lloyd Johnson, Vic…
Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2024 — Health: Alecia Ott, Auto(nomous) Body Shop
Whether you’re dancing to house music at Jellyfish or perusing the Bloomfield Saturday Market, chances are the Auto(nomous) Body Shop is nearby. Since she fixed up her 1995 Chevrolet Astro last year, Alecia Ott has been meeting Pittsburghers where they are, and supporting their reproductive health. The Auto(nomous) Body Shop was founded to meet multiple…
Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2024 — Performing Arts: Herman “Soy Sos” Pearl and Staycee Pearl
For over 20 years, Herman “Soy Sos” Pearl and Staycee Pearl, the dynamic married duo behind PearlArts, have collaborated to blend sound design and dance. Under their visionary leadership, their organization has championed Black arts in Pittsburgh, producing and touring numerous works described as probing themes of “personal expression, race, freedom, and gender to immerse…
Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2024 — Labor: West Penn Nurses
“Pittsburgh is a union town,” people love to say. But when the rubber meets the road, unionizing can be a long and difficult process, as some local workers have found. That difficulty didn’t slow down the nurses at West Penn Hospital, run by Allegheny Health Network. After Service Employees International Union nurses at Allegheny General…
People of the Year 2024
We the People of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh is known as many things: a union town, a tech darling, an “eds and meds” mecca, a haven for pierogi obsessives. But maybe Pittsburgh’s real treasure is, as they say, the friends we make along the way. It’s the people — our neighbors — who embody the true spirit…
Pittsburgh’s People of the Year 2024 — Visual Art: Emmai Alaquiva
To call Emmai Alaquiva a multihyphenate would be an understatement. The multidisciplinary artist, photographer, and musician now primarily represents the local filmmaking scene as a documentarian whose works cover urgent issues in Pittsburgh and beyond. It’s a pursuit that has resulted in four Emmy wins and being featured on Good Morning America, and in Forbes…
Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2024 — Music: Vicious Blade
The Steel City is, literally and figuratively, a metal town, and Vicious Blade is one of its strongest local alloys, combining the blistering speed of thrash with the ferocity of black metal. Nationally, this has put them firmly on the radar of extreme music fans everywhere. Locally, it’s put Vicious Blade at the top of…
Pittsburgh’s People of the Year 2024 — Food and Drink: Nik Forsberg of Fet-Fisk
After its much-anticipated opening in March, Fet-Fisk was quickly met with national accolades. The Nordic eatery — whose name means “greasy/fat fish” in Swedish — caught the attention of the New York Times, which listed it as one of 50 best restaurants in America. In November, Eater recognized it as one of the best new…
Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2024 — Business: Khamil Bailey
Khamil Bailey, founder and executive director of the Greenwood Plan, has built her career around advancing entrepreneurship for minorities in Pittsburgh. As a community curator, she leads the nonprofit organization in its mission to advance economic justice for Black communities. The Greenwood Plan’s current direction, Bailey says, is rooted in the vision she, along with…
Pittsburgh’s People of the Year 2024 — Activism: Students for Justice in Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine set out to advocate for full and equal Palestinian rights, raise awareness of and protest Israeli occupation, valorize Palestinian art and literature, and promote justice and peace. This year, the organization’s University of Pittsburgh chapter (SJP at Pitt), has seen more forward movement than they have in a decade. Though…
