TIME has chosen its class of next-generation leaders for fall 2024

“That cannot be saved,” says Nicola Coughlan. “You just have to keep going and not rest on your laurels.” It was at age 19, Coughlan tells TIME in our most recent cover story, that she decided to pursue an acting career. It’s taken her nearly two decades to reach her current peak, giving Netflix the sixth most-watched television season in the streamer’s history, with the most recent episode of Shonda Rhimes’ Bridgerton. Coughlan’s persistence and her refusal to accept the status quo represent the spirit of Next Generation Leaders, the series we launched 10 years ago in partnership with Rolex.

Coughlan and the latest ten other Next Generation Leaders show that leading the future often means working to protect and preserve the past. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke protects the rights of the Māori people in New Zealand (“We are doing everything we can to revive our culture, knowing it could become extinct”). In the Philippines, Ann and Billie Dumaliang are fighting for land where not only people live, but also hundreds of species of animals and plants. And Lenin Tamayo preserves Quechua and Andean culture. Other leaders are building something new—sometimes literally, as with Maggie Grout, whose organization Thinking Huts uses 3D printing to create schools faster and with less waste than traditional construction, and architect Arine Aprahamian, who is reimagining her problems. field can help solve.

It’s exciting to look back at the people who have joined Next Generation Leaders over the past ten years. Those recognized are from Afghanistan, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Uganda and everywhere in between. Each list is the result of a survey of our reporters, editors and partners around the world to determine who’s leading the industries that will shape the future, with an emphasis on business, climate, sports, arts and advocacy.

And the future was indeed theirs. Before Dua Lipa was on the cover of TIME100, she was a Next Generation Leader. This includes climate activist Greta Thunberg, Person of the Year 2019. Kylian Mbappé and Simone Biles were NGL cover subjects on their way to global super stardom. In El Salvador, Nayib Bukele joined Next Generation Leaders as a young mayor; Today he is one of the world’s most closely watched politicians, recently profiled in a TIME cover story.

The list goes on, and many seem to have embraced Coughlan’s insight: the achievements for this group may be great, but there is no resting on their laurels.