Cheers to creative thinking.
Syracuse is home to many enterprising people who have tried new ideas, taken risks and succeeded. We spoke to many of them in our 2025 coverage.
As 2026 begins, I’ve been thinking about creators, thinkers, and creators whose stories have been so interesting that we’ll be watching closely to see what they do next.
These men and women created new products or programs that didn’t exist before (or improved existing spaces beyond what we could have imagined).
Their thinking outside the box has made Syracuse a better and more interesting place to live.
Adam Brian Kaiser
Adam Brian Chocolate
Adam Brian Kaiser I didn’t initially plan to be a chocolatier.
Born and raised in New York City, Kaiser earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from Queens College. He began his career in NYC as an environmental consultant.
But after moving to Syracuse five years ago, he started making candy as a hobby. With his wife and friends raving about his flavors, he toyed with the idea of launching a brand of chocolate.
“I wanted to do something I was passionate about, something I wanted to talk about, something that created a community,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser left his job in environmental consulting in 2024 to start his company Adam Brian Chocolate last winter.
He makes his artisan chocolates at a lower level McCarthy Mercantile in downtown Syracuse, pipe fillings, mixing fruit gels and compotes, and hand painting each confection by hand.
A big risk pays off. It sold out in November, sold out again before Christmas and sold out the first week of January.
If you catch him outside of the holiday rush, ask him how he layers his flavors into each individual candy. Kaiser combines his infectious passion for chocolate with the scientific precision of his geological background.
Gabrielle Lloyd and Eli Green
Syracuse Run Club
When Syracuse natives Gabrielle Lloyd and Eli Green started a small running group in 2024, they never imagined what would become of it. The Syracuse Run Club now hundreds of people run around town a week.
About 30 people showed up for the first ride. By the time reporter Ryann Phillips interviewed Lloyd last July, their club had blossomed and included 200 runners each week. Now the group has put together thousands.
They are going through one of the most segregated cities in America, doing the hobby he has excluded Black people for many years. It’s an anomaly.
“Me and Elijah are both people of color,” Lloyd said. “So it’s important for us people of color to do things outside of the norm in our city.”
So far, they have organized group runs with other local clubs and secured sponsorship from the mayor’s office and Revive West, the county’s wellness center.
To join, just show up. They post their runs weekly on their Instagram @syracuserunclub.
Paul and Sarah Holmes Bookbinder
Charles N. Gordon Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
When outdoor writer Steve Featherstone first told me about Paul and Sarah Holmes Bookbinder, he described them as the undisputed New York raccoon power couple.
Sorry, what?
His story in August followed The Bookbinders, who bought a dilapidated hunting camp on 53 wooded acres in Earlville in 2018. A year later, they sold their home in Hamilton, moved to Earlville and began converting the property into a wildlife rehabilitation facility.
Sarah has obtained her Class II rabies vector license, which allows her to provide hands-on care and train other rehabilitators. Today it operates Charles N. Gordon Wildlife Rehabilitation Centernamed after Paul’s uncle, a wildlife enthusiast, who left them a small legacy that got the endeavor off the ground.
There is no grand plan for running a raccoon rehabilitation center. But they make it work, and it all comes from a pure love for animals that many see as a nuisance.
It’s a challenging, rewarding endeavor, but they’ve saved hundreds of orphaned and injured raccoons in southern Madison County.
They have big plans to expand the work to help more animals in 2026. Can’t wait to see what they do next.
Mike Greene
Mizpah Tower Wine Reserve, Harvey’s Garden
Michael Greene plans to open a new wine bar and event space in the landmark Mizpah Tower, a six-story Gothic-style building overlooking Columbus Circle downtown.
“I think this building is kind of telling a story that’s similar to Syracuse itself,” Greene said. “…This is a beautiful old building that had its heyday, has fallen on hard times, is now scarred, but is coming back.”
This all follows Greene’s success in creating Harvey’s Garden, his favorite beer garden located between Syracuse University and downtown. The venue continues to thrive with an endless calendar of events, from nonprofit gatherings to Buffalo Bills watch parties to kids’ races.
At Mizpah, it will continue its self-service business model, where customers select their own wines and the quantities they want.
After years of serving on the Syracuse Common Council and working in real estate, Greene has learned a lot about how to get things done in Syracuse.
Bringing Mizpah Tower back to life is a huge project that needs a strong vision. It’s in good hands.
Sora Kasuga
Project FaceOut
Artist and activist Sora Kasuga was born with vascular malformations that caused facial swelling and chronic pain.
“I didn’t want to be seen as disfigured,” Kasuga said. “I wanted to be a normal kid – whatever that is.”
Shaped by their experiences growing up and entering the workforce, they began Project FaceOuta global organization that empowers and connects people with facial differences.
People from all over the world participate in The FaceOut Project’s weekly Zoom meetings.
Their conversations reveal how to change your everyday experiences for the better. How to answer rude questions. How to deal with employment discrimination. How to explain their facial differences for the 1000th time without draining their own energy.
Kasuga has big plans for The FaceOut Project. One of the main goals is to get American filmmakers to stop using facial differences as a lazy way to show that a movie character is bad or evil.
“Villains are usually marked by a difference in their face, some kind of scar,” Kasuga said. “It equates facial difference with evil, pathetic or powerless. Part of our job is to make Hollywood reckon with that.”
The project also has a strong focus on getting competent health care and mental health support for people with facial differences.
“People are just not educated,” Kasuga said. “We exist in an incredibly appearance-based society. It serves everyone to value other people based on character.”
Shana Everson
Braided by Shana
Entrepreneur Shana Everson has captured the attention of millions with her elaborate, intricately designed braided wigs.
Everson has been braiding hair for 20 years, but she started her company Braided by Shana in 2022 from his home in Baldwinsville.
Creates themed wigs for holidays, sports teams and special occasions. They turn heads across the country and attract millions of views Facebook and TikTok.
She created wigs in honor of specific associations or national colors, countries or flags. She also made wigs featuring famous holiday movie characters like the Joker, the Goblin and the Grinch.
For sports fans, Everson has made wigs for the Chicago Bulls, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia Eagles and Syracuse Orange.
The commitment is a lot for the mother of three, who also works full-time at The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD).
“It’s time consuming,” she said. “But I never do them in one sitting…It’s a wonderful feeling when people notice your work.”
Anyone interested in ordering their own wig can contact Everson directly at braidedbyshana@gmail.com.
Duyen Nguyen
Cake bar, tea room
Duyên Nguyễn immigrated from Vietnam to Syracuse in 2012 and found her first job washing dishes at Roja, a tea house downtown.
Now, Nguyễn operates his own tea lounge in the same space at 108 E. Washington St.
The new place is called Tea Room by Cake Barto refer to Nguyễn’s other businesses, the Cake bar a stall at Salt City Market and a spinoff Cafe Cake Bar at 252 W. Genesee St.
For Nguyễn, who has broadened the palates of Syracuse diners with her creative dessert recipes and hard-to-find flavors, it’s been a steady rise in small business growth. (Try a hot cup of Tea House Nutty Ube Matcha and you’ll be cured.)
This new teahouse concept and its two Cake Bar locations will keep Nguyễn busy, but we have a feeling she’s far from done.
Amanda Rogers
Pink Rock Culture Co-op
Started by Amanda Rogers Pink Rock Culture Co-opspace for creative gatherings and performing arts, in 2024. But in 2025, it really hit it off.
The Pink rock location at 201 E. Jefferson Street in downtown Syracuse hosts a wide variety of events for artists, performers, and anyone looking to tap into the community’s form of creative expression.
Pink Rock’s calendar never stagnates, offering community members a variety of diverse experiences, from open mic nights to poetry readings. Some are free and some are ticketed.
Each month they host a regular collage buffet, a themed speaker series, and a “Songwriters Music Series” that features 3-4 artists swapping their original songs in a circle.
It’s a beautiful, sober third space—a welcome programming force outside of the typical downtown bar culture.
Kelly Vann
It actually shines
Founder Kelly Vann opened Lit Actually to combine her reading passions and bring a bookstore to Baldwinsville. But there’s a twist: it only sells fantasy and romance novels.
“I didn’t want to step on the heels of the established bookstores we have in downtown New York,” Vann said. “I’m heavy on romance and heavy on fantasy. How about we make a bookstore just for romance and fantasy?”
It was a bold move to lean into niche genres rather than away. But it worked. Vann has found ways to connect with readers off the shelves, from selling cheeky merchandise to hosting pop-ups.
On July 18, Lit Actually opened with a line out of the building.
The timing is right for romance bookstores as the genre gains more visibility. We all come to the cottage, you know?
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