30 Under 30

3 San Antonio locals land on Forbes' prestigious 30 Under 30 list

Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs was among those lauded.

Forbes has released its annual 30 Under 30 roundup, and three locals have landed on the prestigious list. After sifting through thousands of entries, the magazine curates 30 of the top young Americans across 20 different industries, examining everything from sports and celebrity to social innovation and healthcare.

Here in San Antonio, Fatema Basrai, the 27-year-old executive director of Leadership SAISD; Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs; and tech entrepreneur Alberto Altamirano have been named among the nation's best.

A native Texan, Fatema Basrai received her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin before taking a position with Teach for America. After spending time in the classroom, Basrai said she realized her calling was to improve education from the outside. "I realized that I could have a bigger impact by enacting systems of change outside of the classroom," she told the magazine.

As the head of Leadership SAISD, Basrai helps civic-minded San Antonians learn how to be active advocates for public education. Since 2013, the nine-month program has helped prepare locals for leadership positions within the educational landscape such as parent-teacher associations, boards of trustees, nonprofits, and volunteer positions.

And though he's been sidelined with a quadriceps injury since May, San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard has also made the list under the sports category. The 26-year-old, two-time NBA All-Star was named alongside fellow Texan Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros. In addition to playing for the Spurs, Leonard is also partnered with Nike.

In the social entrepreneur category, Alberto Altamirano was lauded for his work as co-founder of Cityflag. An "interactive public service experience," Cityflag is a soon-to-be-released app that lets citizens be advocates for their own neighborhoods. After downloading the app, users can flag issues commonly passed off to 3-1-1, and it allows city officials to monitor these same issues and detect patterns.

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at least it's not utah

Texas is the 2nd worst state for women's equality, report says

Photo by Vonecia Carswell on Unsplash

Texas needs to work on closing many disparity gaps between men and women.

Texas, we have a major equality problem: The Lone Star State has ranked second from the bottom in WalletHub's new nationwide analysis of gender equality.

The personal finance website's annual "Best & Worst States for Women's Equality" report, published August 19, ranked Texas No. 49 out of all 50 states where where women receive the most equal treatment in the United States. Texas is accompanied in the bottom five by Utah (No. 50), Wyoming (No. 48), Idaho (No. 47), and Missouri (No. 46).

At the top of the list of the best states for women's equality is Hawaii (No. 1), followed by California (No. 2), Minnesota (No. 3), Maine (No. 4), and New Mexico (No. 5).

The study ranked each state based on 17 metrics in three key dimensions: Workplace environment, education and health, and political empowerment. Factors that were examined in the study include income disparity, job security disparity, the share of the population aged 25 and older with an advanced degree (higher than a bachelor's degree), and the disparity in the share of Congress members and other elected officials, among others.

Texas earned a miserable score of 39.75 points out of a possible 100. The state performed about average in the "workplace environment" equality rank, earning No. 23. But it fell far behind in the "political empowerment" ranking, scoring No. 40. The state landed at the bottom in the national comparison of "education and health" equality, ranking No. 49.

Texas' ranking may not come as a surprise for women living in San Antonio, where the gender pay gap in the city means men earn over $6,400 more than women. And somehow, this is one of the better metrics.

Here's how WalletHub broke down Texas' ranking, where No. 1 is the best and No. 25 is average:

No. 21 – Earnings Gap
No. 21 – Entrepreneurship Rate Gap
No. 22– Work Hours Gap
No. 32 – Executive Positions Gap
No. 40 – Unemployment Rate Gap
No. 40 – Political Representation Gap

Unfortunately, closing these disparity gaps in Texas (and elsewhere) isn't so simple, according to WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe. She said it's going to take much more than "giving men and women the same fundamental rights" to ensure true equality.

"States also need to work to make sure that women receive equal treatment to men when it comes to financial opportunities, education, and politics," Happe says in the report. "The best states for women’s equality have drastically reduced the disparities between men and women on multiple fronts."

According to WalletHub, the best state for women's equality is Hawaii, earning a score of 79.24 points out of 100. Hawaii has the third smallest gap in work hours between men and women, and no gap in the rate of men and women who are minimum-wage workers. Furthermore, the state has an equal share of political representatives that are men and women in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Things aren't looking good for Texas from WalletHub's point of view; In another recent study, the personal finance website also determined that Texas is the No. 15 worst state to live in the U.S.

The full report and its methodology can be found on wallethub.com.

texas wallethub reports rankings