Why He’s Top 40: He helps Alberta companies engage young talent in the workplace and promotes diversity in business management.
Age: 23
Job Title: Director of Gen. Y Inc., Student at the University of Cambridge
Guilty Pleasure: “Reading Vanity Fair: Jackie Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe, they’re always on the front cover and I love that. It’s stylistic and there’s a sense of history.”
Gracing the list as this year’s youngest Top 40 Under 40 recipient, 23-year-old Emerson Csorba doesn’t fall short in any category.
His first time in New York City, he gave a speech to 400 of the world’s most promising young leaders at the United Nations. He began by saying how Edmonton is a place to build incredible things.
“People don’t really care about your background, family name or what school you went to,” says Csorba. “They care about your ideas and your work ethic.”
Csorba was raised by a single mom and was the first in his immediate family to attend university. He’s attending the University of Cambridge in England pursuing his masters, having just graduated from the University of Alberta with a political science degree. While at the U of A, he built a company recognized by The Globe and Mail. Gen Y Inc. integrates the values of talented workers ages 20-35 in to the workplace.
Consultants act as third parties, listening to the ideas of young innovators and then sharing those suggestions with executive teams. “There is a lot of research to show that more diverse boards are more productive boards,” says Csorba.
He also believes women shouldn’t be left out of the equation. So while he was the co-founding editor of The Wanderer, an online student magazine, Csorba helped recognize Edmonton’s Top 100 Women in Business.
“Business lists are very male dominated and I think there’s an appetite to change that conversation in Edmonton,” says Csorba. The article saw about 15,000 views the day it launched.
He speaks on behalf of Canadian youth internationally, and frequently contributes to national publications regarding generation Y. But he still hosts dinner parties like a 23-year-old.
“It started as cooking and, now, it’s more like ‘chip in for some pizza.'”
