TIME Trailblazers Toast to What Gives Them Hope for the Future

At a dinner event celebrating the 2026 TIME Trailblazers at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on September 14, honorees shared their hopes for the future. Professional climber Alex Honnold, while proud of his athletic achievements, believes his work at The Honnold Foundation—supporting solar energy in communities—has a lasting impact that "can't really be taken away."

He draws hope from "dreaming small" and the power of communities to find solutions, though he acknowledges his organization's efforts are "a tiny, tiny drop in the bucket" compared to the global transition to renewables.

Marine biologist and National Geographic Explorer Erika Woolsey finds hope in reef-building coral, which she believes can rebuild ecosystems ravaged by storms and bleaching. After witnessing the recovery of a coral site at the Great Barrier Reef, Woolsey sees the power of nature to persevere when given time and space, inspiring her work with The Hydrous, a nonprofit that uses 3D models to promote marine conservation.

Labor organizer and human rights strategist Saket Soni celebrated recovery workers and responders as the "white blood cells" of the nation. He highlighted the U.S.'s "false promise of hope" in the living and job conditions of these workers and how his nonprofit Resilience Force aims to improve pay and safety standards for them. Soni sees their reconstruction and adaptation labor as irreplaceable, not even by automation, and emphasized that resilience work is about building hope, not just homes.

He invited the dinner attendees to join in this effort, noting that "to truly rebuild, it will take all of us in this room and outside of it."