Aliett Buttelman ’19, Natasha Cox ’19, and Vienna Sparks ’26 all have more in common than the campus on which they spent their undergraduate years.
They’re also honorees of the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
The women work in different industries — retail, education, and science — and their selection highlights the power of a Barnard education in setting young women up for success in a wide range of careers.
“Aliett, Natasha, and Vienna embody something that is evident everywhere at Barnard, which is a desire to produce value, solve problems, and make an individual impact,” said A-J Aronstein, Vice President of Community Engagement and Lifelong Success at Barnard College. “This kind of recognition is important, not only because it will be transformative for these three great alumnae themselves, but because it can help spotlight important issues. It’s still the case that only 2-3% of VC funding goes to women, and we want to continue to do more to advance entrepreneurial work at the College.”
Retail & E-Commerce: Aliett Buttelman Sees Stars with Fazit Beauty
Aliett Buttelman experienced tremendous movement with her beauty company, Fazit Beauty, this past year – experiencing an onslaught of attention and action practically overnight.
Amid the chaos, Buttelman remains unfazed.
First, mega-star Taylor Swift donned Fazit’s popular glitter freckles not once, but on a few different occasions, including during a Kansas City Chiefs game and while recording her latest studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” Then, the company received recognition in the Retail & E-Commerce category of the ever-iconic Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
The brand has achieved partnerships with massive organizations like the NFL, U.S. Soccer, and e.l.f. Its products are shelved at over 6,000 retail locations, including Walmart, CVS, Urban Outfitters, and Sephora UK.
Buttelman studied both economics and art history at Barnard. “My combination of majors was one for the pocket and one for the soul,” she reminisced.
Following her graduation in 2019, Buttelman wasn’t entirely sure of her career path. She started her own consulting company for startup fashion, tech, and beauty brands, which ultimately led to meeting her co-founder, Nina La Bruna, who had been conjuring up skincare potions in her NYU dorm room.
The duo began working on Fazit in 2022. They were scrappy and determined, combining their respective savings and pitching to investors for funding. Buttelman noted that her time at a women’s college helped prepare her for the business world.
“When you go into fundraising for a company, you're not expected to know all of the jargon, and you don't want to pretend that you know what they're talking about, because that can lead to poor decision making,” she said. “So I think really being around other women [at Barnard] who were confident and had a voice really allowed us to excel earlier on in our entrepreneur career than maybe if I had attended a coed college.”
“I’ll send my future daughter to a women's school,” said Buttelman. “The confidence that is instilled in you in a classroom of just women allows you to find your voice, speak up, and not be afraid to ask questions.”
The pair created a wide range of innovative makeup products, from the iconic glitter freckles to eye sparkles and eye liner.
“For us, the messaging around the brand was progress over perfection,” said Buttelman. “Being able to be confident with blemishes, and being okay to share and normalize them.”
Buttelman received the Forbes 30 Under 30 news while visiting family in West Palm Beach, Florida. The recognition has solidified Fazit Beauty in the makeup and beauty space. With every new success and accolade, Fazit continues to rapidly grow, ever expanding their products, partnerships, and categories.
Buttelman’s journey to co-founder serves as inspiration for young Barnard students today.
“What I would love to tell my younger self today is no one is opening the door for you. You need to push it down yourself and ask for exactly what you want,” said Buttelman. “I think that's an important lesson for young women — no one's giving you a lucky break ever. You have to make it for yourself.”
Education: Natasha Cox Empowers with Avani Services
Afternoon light poured into a coworking space in London as Natasha Cox opened the email that would mark a defining career milestone: she had been named on the coveted Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Thousands of miles away from Morningside Heights, where her journey first began. Cox was recognized in the education category for her work as CEO and owner of Avani Services, a training and development consulting firm she founded at just twenty-five years old.
Through Avani, Cox equips teams, leaders, and organizations with “innovative solutions that create measurable growth and lasting impact.” The firm’s services focus on team performance improvement, including training and development, staff augmentation, research and analysis, and strategic support. Since its founding, Cox has served an impressive roster of high-profile clients, spanning global brands, the White House, and more than a dozen government agencies.
Cox graduated from Barnard in 2019 with a degree in political science. She credits much of her early success to her time with the Athena Center for Leadership during her undergraduate tenure. Through Athena, she participated in the Scholars Program, spent a summer as a Global Fellow shadowing the President of Malta, served as president of the Student Advisory Board, and worked as an intern for the Center.
“All roads lead back to Athena,” said Cox. “It was really the Athena Scholars Program that gave me a little taste of what it would look like to start my own business,” said Cox. “We had to create our own entity [in the program] and generate funds as if we were starting our own business,” said Cox.
She is also a graduate of premier business programs, including Venture for America and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses.
After college, Cox moved to New Orleans through Venture for America to support the startup ecosystem. The experience became a crash course in business, exposing her to entrepreneurship, operations, and growth strategy. It also helped her recognize the kind of impact she wanted to create, laying the foundation for what would later become Avani Services.
Cox encourages current Barnard students interested in entrepreneurship to take full advantage of the opportunities both on campus and across the city, advising:
“Lean into internships and club leadership experiences as much as possible [at Barnard],” said Cox. “Those are the opportunities to figure out what you’re good at, what you like to do, how to work with other people.”
Science: Vienna Sparks Saves Lives with MabLab
Vienna Sparks isn’t just engaging in scientific research, she’s saving lives.
Sparks co-founded MabLab her freshman year at Barnard after a friend passed due to drug use. When looking into the current testing technology, she was shocked by the overall inaccuracy, and the lack of substances tested.
She used MabLab to create the world’s first five-in-one rapid test, to test drinks for the five deadliest lacing agents in drugs. This groundbreaking discovery could potentially save more than 100,000 lives and prevent an additional five million hospitalizations every year, explained Sparks.
“I was inspired to create a product that could holistically detect multiple substances at once with a lot more accuracy, keeping people safe,” said Sparks.
The test strips serve a diverse range of customers — first responders, music festivals, and recovery networks. Sparks first started selling to universities, where she found success with Panhellenic organizations. Then, an appearance at TechCrunch in 2024 allowed her to meet The Chainsmokers, a popular American electronic DJ duo, which segued into dialogue about selling to music festivals: “What would this look like if this was integrated into the workflow of a music festival?” posed Sparks. “Would you get a test when you get your wristband? Would you get it at a bar when you're getting your drink?”
One of the biggest obstacles she’s encountered along the way is being a young woman in a predominantly male field. “You have to push through that narrative,” said Sparks. “That's a bit unfortunate, but you can't take it as a sign that you're in the wrong space.”
“Realizing that people are showing up for you and believing in your mission every single day is really powerful,” said Sparks. “You have an obligation to put your best foot forward, to lead with integrity and resilience.”
Sparks double-majored in biochemistry and economics at Barnard. During her undergraduate career, she utilized many of the student organizations that the Barnard-Columbia network had to offer — like being a member of CORE, the Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs, which helped expand her own network as a founder.
“Barnard encourages you to take risks and explore avenues that you might not have explored by yourself,” said Sparks.
Sparks found out about her inclusion in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list when eating noodles at a Japanese sushi buffet. She first assumed it was spam. Her Linkedin and Instagram direct messages filled with interested parties reaching out to learn more about her company.
Though awards and revenue are impressive measures of success, Sparks defines MabLab’s success in the number of lives saved. “At the end of the day, if we can make a difference or help save one person's life, that will be all the difference to me.”
If there’s one thing Sparks wants current Barnard students who hope to one day found their own businesses to know, it’s to “fail successfully.”