In preparation for this year's annual Hot 20 list — you might remember me as "The Funny Girl" in the 2011 issue — I decided to check in with a handful of my fellow Hot 20 classmates and see what they're up to now.

Josh Harris is co-founder of the Bon Vivants, who, along with his partner Scott Baird, throw very cool parties and bask in the success of projects like cocktail palace, Trick Dog. Harris and Baird looked smoldering in their photoshoot. I asked Harris how he felt about making 2012’s class. “We were super pumped about it!” he exclaimed. “We were really excited.”

The best part of the experience for Harris was seeing their image projected at the party. Harris laughed, “Oh my God, we’re on a building!” Right? Who doesn’t want to be on a building?

I asked him who he’d pick as a rising star in San Francisco, suitable for the Hot 20 list. After mentioning that the “Tartine people are really cool,” Josh quickly responded, “Oh! David Kasprzak.” Kasprzak is a SF-based curator and artist who, by all internet searches, looks very artistic and met Harris in front of a coffee shop. This is how cool people meet one another in SF: standing in front of coffee shops casually discussing their amazing projects.

Harris was off to Mexico and had to end our conversation, but before he did, offered, “I just looked you up on Facebook. We went to the same high school!” We made a few cracks about the school’s notorious Dean of Students, and I lamented my distinct lack of '90s kegger invitations. “But Beth, “ Josh said, because he’s cool and on the side of a building now, “We survived.”

Supervisor Jane Kim represents SF’s 6th District as the Board’s only member to attempt something approximating style. Supervisor Kim, then the President of the San Francisco School Board and a candidate for Supervisor, made the 2010 Hot 20. “Flattered and excited” to make the list, Kim still can’t get jazzed about photo shoots. “The photo shoot was embarrassing. I am still getting used to standing for long periods of time without my facial expressions going numb.”

While doubtful that inclusion in this magazine contributed to her win for Supervisor, Kim’s been representing the 6th as the first Korean-American supervisor in the nation. Who does she think deserves to make 7x7’s Hot 20 list now? “Too many great people!” gushes Kim. Her suggestions include Heklina of Trannyshack fame; Julian Dash of the Holy Stitches Denim Social Club; Christian Huang, Executive Director at SF City Impact; and Tammy Hung, Community Organizer extraordinaire at Chinatown Community Development.

“Seniors love her,” says Kim of Hung, “They all wrote her poems and read them at a banquet after she was honored by Tenants Together last month. Political candidates in-the-know know to court her.”

Instagram founders Mike Kreiger and Kevin Systrom were on the Hot 20 list the same year I was. At the time, I hadn’t even downloaded the famous app, but even then Instagram was clearly a very big deal. My good friend and date for that year’s party, designer Catherine Kwong, decided that we should go introduce ourselves to Kreiger and Systrom. “No, Catherine,” I hissed, wearing a dress from 2004. “We are not important enough.”

Kwong thought this was nonsense. “You’re on the same list as them. I bet they want to meet YOU!” They wanted to meet neither one of us. Introducing ourselves to Kreiger and Systrom was like introducing yourself to Queen Elizabeth. No matter who you are, she simply does not care. And this was before they sold Instagram to Facebook for a billion dollars and kicked it with FLOTUS at the State of the Union.

I haven’t been able to get in touch with Kreiger and Systrom to ask if they were excited to make 7x7’s October 2011 cover, or perhaps if their inclusion in the Hot 20 list led to the Facebook billion-dollar deal. I have, however, downloaded Instagram. 

Does making 7x7’s Hot 20 list change the trajectory of one’s career? It certainly doesn't hurt. Is it fun to make the list? Absolutely. Do list-makers all hang out with each other and discuss their many accomplishments? No. Josh Harris couldn’t remember who else was in his Hot 20 class. “But,” he mused, “I remember thinking that we were in good company.”