What does it mean to be on the TIME100 list?

Where do you find influence in 2024? You can start with the offices of the Anti-Corruption Foundation in Vilnius, Lithuania, where TIME met with\xa0Yulia Navalnaya\xa0earlier this spring. There, the activist is working with 60 supporters—whose anti-Kremlin activities include tracking down the villas, yachts, and bank accounts of the Russian political elites. Navalnaya spoke with TIME’sSimon Shusterless than two months after the\xa0death of her husbandAlexei Navalny, who many called Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, in a Russian prison camp.

She says she and her husband did not discuss what she would do in the case of his death. But following the news on Feb. 16, she felt she had only one choice: to\xa0step up in his role\xa0as the head of the anti-Putin protest movement. She says she wants to give Navalny’s followers a belief in Russia’s future, as\u202fwell as a sense of hope: “Most of all I wanted to give them some relief, to comfort them.”

She joins\xa0the TIME100, our annual list of the most influential people in the world. The cover subjects in addition to Navalnaya:\xa0actor Taraji P. Henson, who is fighting for equality in Hollywood;\xa0National Football League star Patrick Mahomes, who has led his Kansas City Chiefs to four Super Bowl appearances; and\xa0entertainer Dua Lipa, who Patti Smith describes as redefining “the pop-genre cosmos.” Later in April, we’ll gather together with the newest members of the TIME100 community for a day of conversation at the TIME100 Summit and for our annual TIME100 Gala. For the fifth year in a row, the gala will be broadcast in the U.S. on ABC, on May 12, and stream on Hulu.

Influence, we know, is complex: it can be for better and for worse, it can span generations, categories, and perspectives. There are 12\u202f climate and sustainability leaders on this year’s TIME100, including Brazilian government\xa0Minister Marina Silva, Chinese\xa0automaker Wang Chuanfu, and\xa0researcher Suzanne Simard. In a year of change in medicine, we recognize health care\xa0executive Dave Ricks\xa0and\xa0scientists Dan Drucker, Joel Habener, and Svetlana Mojsov. The Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 and subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza have transformed the region and the lives of millions. The TIME100 includes negotiators\xa0William Burns\xa0and\xa0Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al\u202fThani, Palestinian\xa0photographer Motaz Azaiza, and\xa0Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of an Israeli hostage. Each of their stories has shifted our world.

Now in our 101st year, TIME continues to evolve. TIME100 is an unparalleled way for us to tell essential stories about the people and ideas that shape and improve the world.

Email me at Sam@TIME.com to let me know who should be on next year's TIME100.