For 2026, Forbes magazine named high diver Molly Carlson to its list of pioneering businesswomen under age 30.
High diver Molly Carlson was just recognised as one of the “brightest young entrepreneurs” in North America by Forbes magazine for 2026.
“AM I DREAMING???” the 27-year-old Canadian exclaimed on Instagram. On December 2, she learned that the prestigious business magazine had named her one of Forbes’ 30 under 30.
“I woke up to the news this morning and just sobbed,” she wrote, calling it “a dream I’ve had as long as I can remember.”
Carlson was honoured in the sports division (one of 20 categories that ranged from health care to art to aerospace). Selection, according to Forbes, was based on impact, financials, and potential to scale.
Other luminaries in the 2026 sports class included tennis star Coco Gauff (the 2023 US Open and 2025 French Open champion who has accumulated nearly $30 million in prize money), basketball star Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 draft pick in the WNBA, and Saquon Barkley, running back for the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL.
Forbes has been creating the “30 Under 30” lists since January 2012. Since then, 46 of its young honourees went on to become billionaires – among them: Taylor Swift, Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company), and Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI.
For Carlson, the 2026 recognition was not just about her excellence in high diving.
While it’s true that she captured back-to-back silver medals at the World Aquatics Championships, (including the first one for a Canadian high diver, in 2023) Forbes also cited Carlson’s following of “more than 7 million across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram” where she not only takes fans behind the scenes on her high dives, but where she also built a community under the hashtag #BraveGang.
Carlson created #BraveGang four years ago as a safe space on the internet where fans could share their deepest fears.
“It’s about healing, courage, and choosing bravery every single day,” Carlson explained. The platform has generated more than a billion views, according to Carlson.
“Everyone has their own brave story,” Carlson told CNN.
For Carlson, bravery meant learning to cope with body dysmorphia and disordered eating earlier in her career. It peaked when she was a teenager trying to earn a berth on the 2016 Olympic diving team. She was training 30 hours a week on just 300 calories a day. When she finally opened up and sought help, Carlson began to flourish at Florida State University. She planned to retire after she graduated – until she discovered high diving, which substantially increased her platform – both literally and figuratively.
The genesis of #BraveGang began in her kitchen when she kept reading the word ‘brave,’ in her fans’ comments.
She told her mother, “We need to incorporate this,” according to CNN. “I told all my followers to use this hashtag to share their own brave story, and everyone in the community will be there to support you.
“I could have never imagined that sharing my own messy, courageous journey would inspire others to be brave too,” Carlson wrote on Instagram, thanking her fans and calling the Forbes honour “OUR win.”