Updated 2 p.m. Oct. 16
When The Incline launched on Sept. 13, 2016, the team wrote about our mission of “bringing fresh ideas to local news coverage and working to connect Pittsburghers.”
And that’s exactly what we want to do for our third birthday party.
We’re hosting an event called What’s Next: A Community Celebration on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at Nova Place on the North Side. We’ll reflect on Pittsburgh’s recent accomplishments focusing on What’s Next for our city and sharing the 412 love.
We’ve honored a whopping 557 rising stars in the past three years of our Who’s Next program in fields such as education, technology, communications, activism, art, music, politics, and philanthropy. This series recognizes up-and-coming dynamos in Pittsburgh and lets us introduce you today to tomorrow’s leaders and influencers. And we’re bringing these leaders to the forefront for our What’s Next event.
Through three panel discussions, all made up of Who’s Nexters, we’ll dive into:
— What’s Next for Mobility and Transit
— What’s Next on the Horizon of Health
— What’s Next for Equity in Pittsburgh Tech
They’ll be answering questions we came up with, along with reader questions, too. So now’s your chance to ask them anything. Submit questions to hello@theincline.com.
Here’s who you’ll be hearing from:
What’s Next on the Horizon of Health
🍏 Sarah A. Buranskas | Project Manager, Pittsburgh Food Policy Council
🏥 Varsha Raj | Product Manger, UPMC Enterprises
💪 Jordan Rose | Personal trainer and fitness influencer
🎤 Moderator: Willy James | Video creator
What’s Next for Mobility and Transit
🚌 Breen Masciotra | Transit-Oriented Development Project Manager, Port Authority of Allegheny County
🚲 Devaughn Rodgers | Education Program Coordinator, Bike PGH
🚎 Craig Toochek | Staff Engineer, City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure
🎤 Moderator: Maggie Aupperlee | Owner, Meet Maggie
What’s Next for Equity in Pittsburgh Tech
💻 Annia Aleman | Civic Innovation Specialist, City of Pittsburgh
🤖 Kenny Chen | Executive Director, Partnership to Advance Responsible Technology
🖥 Delvina Morrow | Director, Strategic and Community Initiatives, Pittsburgh Penguins
🎤 Moderator: Khamil Scantling, Founder & CEO, Cocoapreneur Pgh
We want you to leave the event knowing what’s next in these burgeoning fields and how you can be a part of shaping Pittsburgh for the better — for all.
Aaaand since it’s also a birthday party, we’ll reflect on The Incline’s three years in Pittsburgh as a scrappy start-up out to do local news differently. In addition to writing about 557 people you should know, we’ve covered everything from the critical to the delightful, striving to highlight untold stories, unheard voices, and under-covered neighborhoods.
For example …
— Fresh Divide, a four-part series examining food deserts in Clairton, Homewood, and the Hilltop
— Our Peculiar Pittsburgh series answering readers’ questions about everything from the mysterious Allegheny shipwreck to why Pittsburghers add an ‘s’ to words to the deal with monkey balls
— Our Pittsburghpedia series, a handy glossary of words and phrases unique to our city like “The T” and “Take Bigelow”
— Procrastinator’s Guides to the elections, like this one
— Guides to Pride, Picklesburgh, Juneteenth, Anthrocon, and more
— Examinations of tech’s impact in Braddock
— Extensive coverage of the arts, from street art to nail art; Pittsburgh’s food and drink scene with scannable monthly updates; and local history, from 1815 to 1912 to 1973
Plus, we’ve published hundreds of newsletters designed to help curious Pittsburghers make the most of this city that we call home. If you aren’t already signed up, join the cool club here.
Our goal three years ago was to “make your Pittsburgh news experience simple, easy, and informative,” and that still holds true today.
So let’s get together and celebrate this special place and the people making Pittsburgh better.
Tickets are on sale now (including discounted early bird tickets). Members get free tickets, so if you aren’t already a member, you’re probably going to want to become a member now.
And if you want to get extra involved by providing food, drinks, or sponsorships, we’d love your help. Let us know here.
See you there!
This article was updated to include panelist names and additional event details.