Intown’s People of the Year 2025
The hottest movers and shakers of the year continue to prove that Houston is one of America’s most dynamic cities.
While other metropolitan cities boast about innovation and community impact, Houstonians roll up their sleeves and get to work—building businesses, saving lives, and reimagining what’s possible.
Our best of the year list includes medical breakthroughs in our world-renowned hospitals, transformative real estate projects reshaping our neighborhoods, philanthropic commitments that will echo for generations, and culinary achievements putting Houston on the global food map. This year offered us no shortage of leaders worth celebrating.
The individuals we’re honoring didn’t just have a good year—they had a transformative one. They’re the ones who took risks, who saw potential where others saw problems, and who turned vision into reality. They represent the entrepreneurial spirit, scientific excellence, generosity, and creative ambition that make Houston unlike anywhere else.
As we close out 2025, we’re proud to introduce Intown Magazine’s People of the Year— three Houstonians who didn’t just move the needle this year; they reset it entirely.
Athlete of the Year: Azeez Al-Shaair
From homeless teenager to Pro Bowl linebacker—Azeez Al-Shaair’s 2025 journey reads like a Hollywood script, except it’s unfolding right here in Houston.
Al-Shaair, a team captain and defensive signal caller, was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time in 2025, leading the NFL’s top-ranked defense with 96 tackles, a career-high eight passes defensed, one interception, and one fumble recovery. But the accolades don’t stop there. The Houston Texans made Al-Shaair their nominee for the 2025 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, a prestigious honor recognizing players who excel on the field and show exceptional dedication to uplifting their communities.
What makes Al-Shaair’s achievements even more remarkable is his backstory. As a high school sophomore, his family became homeless after their Tampa home burned down, and he commuted two hours by bus from a motel to school while playing football. Al-Shaair’s passion for giving back is shaped by these childhood experiences, particularly the period when his family relied on organizations like United Way for support.
In 2025, he paid it forward. Al-Shaair visited Covenant House with teammates to provide support and offered free haircuts to homeless youth, recognized local firefighters on National First Responders Day, celebrated the Texans’ Girls Flag Football Program’s Houston champions, and serves as a sponsor in the Houston Texans Community Huddle Ticket Program. He recently hosted a movie night at NRG Stadium for students at HYPE Freedom School, a nonprofit providing youth development services for children who need support.
For a player who was never drafted, Al-Shaair has become the heartbeat of Houston’s defense—and the city itself. No matter what offensive moves are thrown at him in 2026—on or off the field—it’s clear that Al-Shaair will be one to watch in the future.
Culinary Excellence: Emmanuel Chavez
In a city where the restaurant scene grows more competitive by the day, Emmanuel Chavez managed to achieve what few Houston chefs ever have—simultaneous recognition from both the James Beard Foundation and the Michelin Guide in the same year.
Chavez, the chef behind Houston-based restaurant Tatemó, earned his third consecutive James Beard Award nomination for Best Chef: Texas in 2025, a remarkable feat that speaks to his sustained excellence and innovation. But 2025 brought something even more significant: Tatemó received a coveted Michelin star in the inaugural Texas Michelin Guide, placing Chavez among an elite group of chefs whose work has been recognized by the world’s most prestigious culinary authority.
What sets Chavez apart isn’t just technical skill—it’s his deep reverence for Mexican culinary traditions and his masterful use of heirloom corn. His dishes pay homage to the cultural significance of maize in Mexican cuisine while pushing the boundaries of what modern Mexican cooking can be. Each plate tells a story of heritage, technique, and the kind of ingredient-obsessed perfectionism that separates good restaurants from transcendent ones.
Tatemó has become more than a restaurant; it’s a destination that draws food lovers from across the country to Houston. In an era when dining trends come and go, Chavez has built something enduring—a restaurant that respects tradition while fearlessly innovating and that honors his roots while establishing Houston as a legitimate player on the global culinary stage.
For Chavez, 2025 wasn’t about arriving—he’d already done that. It was about proving he belongs among the very best chefs in America.
Medical Innovator: Dr. Peter Hotez
While most of us worry about the next hurricane season, Dr. Peter Hotez is already mapping the diseases it will bring with it.
The dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Hotez won the 2025 Hill Prize from the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology—a $500,000 award from Lyda Hill Philanthropies that he’s using to fund The Texas Virosphere Project. The initiative aims to create a predictive disease atlas relating to climate disasters, essentially building an early warning system for the health crises that follow environmental catastrophes.
It’s quintessentially Hotez—anticipating problems before they arrive and building solutions at scale. This is, after all, the same scientist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for developing a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine designed for global distribution. His work has always operated at the intersection of science, public health, and humanitarian necessity.
The Texas Virosphere Project represents a new frontier in preventive medicine. By mapping which diseases are likely to emerge or surge in the aftermath of floods, hurricanes, and other climate events, Hotez and his team are giving communities, hospitals, and public health officials the tools to prepare rather than simply react. In a state that knows all too well the devastating health impacts that follow natural disasters, this work could save countless lives.
For Dr. Hotez, 2025 was about turning Houston’s vulnerabilities into a roadmap for resilience—not just for Texas, but for vulnerable communities worldwide.
These four Houstonians remind us that greatness isn’t about waiting for the right moment—it’s about creating it. In 2025, they didn’t just shape Houston’s future; they showed us what’s possible when vision meets action.
