This is the seventh year in a row that New Times has turned over a whole issue to fete some of the most amazing personalities in South Florida with stunning portraits. The truth is, every year it seems harder to narrow the list down to just 25 people.

 

This year’s edition is a truly inspiring slice of brilliance in that inimitable South Florida style. There’s Rick Ross, who reinvented Miami hip-hop for a new decade, and Virgo, a boundary-breaking artist merging electronic music and experimental filmmaking. Dr. Hansel Tookes is tackling Florida’s spiking HIV crisis with the state’s first needle exchange. John Lermayer and Ryan Sentz are pushing the boundaries of libations at a buzzing cocktail haven and a nationally beloved craft brewery, respectively.

 

That’s just a taste of an issue that also highlights a satire-penning warrior for social change, an ice-cream guru turned tech visionary, and a Republican pundit gone viral by taking on Trump. There’s also a mural artist extraordinaire, a politician who’s a world-class yo-yo master, and a retired NBA star rewriting the culinary handbook.

 

This is South Florida, after all, and our people are as unique as our landscape.