ITHACA, NY (CortacaToday) — The city of Ithaca is known for many things—its lush natural beauty, its lively music scene, and its collegiate education. But what makes Ithaca truly distinct are the people who shape its culture. Throughout the years, Ithaca has become a place of opportunity. From South Hill to Cayuga Heights, there are individuals, groups and organizations that have supported artists, change makers, educators, journalists, and business executives in becoming who they are today. 

Here are 5 people who got their start in the special city lying on the south shore of Cayuga Lake.  

Robert Allan Iger (Bob Iger)  CEO of Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger, is an alum of no other than Ithaca College. Iger graduated from the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in 1973 with a bachelor’s in Television and Radio. He was host of the college’s television show “Campus Probe” and worked as a weatherman in Ithaca for 5 months, before taking a role at American Broadcasting Company (ABC), furthering his educational experience in media. In his 15-years of managing Walt Disney Company, he helped expand the company to international markets, grew company revenue by $175 billion, and led the major acquisition of Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion.

Aaron Tveit Another Ithaca College alum, Tveit, singer and actor, performed as the lead-role of Broadway stage-adaptation of Moulin Rouge. He received the 2020 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and was nominated for a 2020 Grammy award for his performance. In addition to many other Broadway performances (“Next to Normal,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Wicked,” “Hairspray,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Assassins”) Tveit has also starred in well-known television series “Gossip Girl” and the 2012 film-adaptation of “Les Misérables.”   

Tveit came to Ithaca in 2003, but did not graduate Ithaca College until 9 years later. This was due to his traveling as a performer and understudy for national shows. Many of these stage roles, however, counted towards his degree. He landed his first role, starring as Steve in the national tour of Rent, his second year at Ithaca College. 

 X Ambassadors Not one person, but a group of people from Ithaca, who made it big together. The band released an album early this year “Townies,” inspired by the vibrant community and their upbringing among the music scene in Ithaca. The band recently performed in Ithaca at the State Theatre, located on W State St. right by the Chanticleer, where the band celebrated New Year’s Eve, after signing a record deal back in 2012. Along with the release of the album are music videos for many of the featured tracks. One such track titled “Your Town,” was filmed at a landmark, Ithaca Falls, and other recognizable locations like Ithaca High School. The first verse shouts out the nearly 80-year-old local dive bar: “New Years at the Chanticleer and I just signed my record deal.” And anyone familiar with downtown Ithaca knows of the bar, marked by a giant neon rooster sign that can’t be missed. The song is a dedication to Todd Peterson who was a local theater performer, coach, and teacher in the Ithaca City School District; he passed in 2021. Lead singer Sam Harrison shared on his FaceBook that Peterson was, “the first person to ever get me up on stage to sing in front of a crowd,” along with a clip of the newly released video.  At the end of the song there is a snippet of a voicemail from Peterson to Harrison. 

Nydia Blas Blas is a New York native, Black feminist photographer who grew up in Ithaca. Her work has been commissioned by The New York Times, New York Post, Atlantic, Washington Post, among others. She received her bachelor’s in Cinema and Photography from Ithaca College in 2011 and her MFA ’16 from Syracuse University. Her body of work “Love, You Came from Greatness,” was exhibited at Cornell’s Johnson Museum of Art from August 2023 until January this year. Cornell commissioned the body of work from Blas in response to eighteen family albums held in the Cornell University Library, created by Black families from 1860 to 1980 across the country. For this series, Blas photographed Black families in Ithaca over two summers, including her own, helping to share local Black history and the love shared among Black American families.  

Toni Morrison The famous writer and first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature attended Cornell University from 1953-1955, where she earned her master’s in American literature. Later Morrison returned to teach at Cornell from 1997-2003 holding the title of Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large—regarded as a full member of Cornell faculty and is welcomed as lifetime members of Cornell’s academic community.There is a hall in campus named for Toni Morrison that houses sophomores, juniors and seniors.