David Gregory —The rising TV star is touted as the next Chris Matthews, and he’s beginning to feel the heat in the gossip columns that comes from a meteoric rise.

Nisha Sidhu —The bioengineer turned pastry chef and chocolatier at 2941 is one of the two founders of Penn Quarter’s new chocolate restaurant, Co Co. Sala.

Kevin Warsh —The brilliant—and youngest—member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors is Ben Bernanke’s back channel to Wall Street.

Laura Quinn —The force behind the Democrats’ efforts to build Catalist, a powerful voter database, has an inside line on which demographic groups will play big in November.

Rick Lane —As Rupert Murdoch becomes the most talked-about man in media, Lane serves as his man in Washington.

Irina Tsikurishvili —The choreographer behind the silent and acclaimed performances of Synetic Theater is bursting onto the local arts scene.

Donna Brazile —The Democratic strategist is all over TV and on the critical rules committee for the Democratic National Committee.

Michael Hudome —Want a preview of how the general election will play out? Talk to the Alexandria ad man behind John McCain’s media strategy.

This article appears in the June 2008 issue of Washingtonian. To see more articles in this issue, click here.