No matter where you are in your career journey, you'll benefit from thinking like an entrepreneur. Whether you're running a business, climbing the corporate ladder, or balancing a side hustle that'll be your full-time job one day, there are essential skills that you should master to grow your career.
What makes Millennials so unique is that many of us possess a lot of these skills even if we don't realize it. Born and raised in the digital age, technology comes second nature to us. We creatively carve our own paths by using our resources to be innovative and improve the spaces that we occupy.
I interviewed 14 entrepreneurial-minded Millennials from various backgrounds to learn more about the hustler spirit and how they practice mindfulness.
Here are 10 gems that they shared to help you get your mindset right, whether you have a business or slay at a 9-5:
1.First, get clear on what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset.
Alechia Reese
Alechia Reese, a brand strategist for large companies, influencers, and celebrity clients, summed it up perfectly: "One who is keen at building, creating, and progressing toward a goal that solves a problem - without being prompted, or directed."
2.Hone in on the essential traits that every Millennial who’s an entrepreneur at heart must possess.
Rashida Banks
"The entrepreneurial mindset is directly tied to having leadership and problem solving skills," says Shay Duriel of The Bronze Hustle, a learning and community platform for Black bloggers and online entrepreneurs.
"If you are able to exercise those skills in your job, not only will you be a better employee, you'll be a better entrepreneur."
The ladies also ranked having the ability to take initiative, creativity, and innovation, critical thinking, and fearlessness as the top characteristics that every entrepreneurial minded Millennial must have.
Rashida Banks, blogger and creative business consultant, emphasized that being orderly is another essential trait. "Having order, not only includes keeping good records, or making sure your email is organized, but it also includes your work area as well. Order helps to speed things up and it makes you more efficient, and the lack of order slows you down."
Other traits to embrace: resourcefulness, flexibility and adaptability, good communication and listening skills, persistence, and good intuition.
3.Take control of your career - whatever that may look like.
Lauren Bealore
Vivian Nweze is a media host/producer and influencer that's in charge of her career. "I believe that anyone who seeks out opportunities that aren't handed to them or already a part of their 'duties' has an entrepreneurial mindset."
"We have more skills than we realize and someone is going to be willing to pay for it."
Lauren Bealore, who works in political fundraising while running Y.A.B., a venture conglomerate that's owned by women of color, describes an entrepreneurial-minded Millennial as "an individual that doesn't just carry an ambitious mindset but one that uses their tenacity to execute ambitious ideals. This individual must design the roadmap for their career rather than follow what society historically carved out before them. That is what separates the Millennial spirit from other generations."
4.Hustle… HARD.
Diamonde Williamson
No matter what you do for a living, you have to put in work to reap success.
"The same energy you put into your passion should be the same energy you put into your day job no matter what it is. In order to build up the characteristics needed to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to continuously practice those skills," says Joanna, founder of Loud Music Tour, a live music production company and booking agency for indie artists.
"To be entrepreneurial minded means the work you're doing must be obsessive," says Diamonde Williamson the creator of Blossom, a video-on-demand platform for women of color.
"Our livelihoods are at our stake. We may or may not know when the check is coming in so we must be obsessive in figuring out ways to make our business grow. I'm not doing this just so I can work 9-5p. I'm doing this so one day we have a massive office with floor to floor ceilings we can all work out of."
5.Be a strategic and innovative expert in your industry.
Lauren Jackson
"When I think of an entrepreneurial minded Millennial, I think of people who have found a void in society and figured out a way to fill it. [We] recognize the value of providing services and products to a specific target market," says Lauren R. Jackson, Esq., an attorney who also runs IMANEE, Inc. a nonprofit organization that empowers African American girls and women.
Being strategic as a business owner is a must, but it's also important in the workplace. Brittany Dandy, a branded content producer and journalist, believes: "An entrepreneurial minded Millennial understands that they have entrepreneurial career options no matter their industry."
"They also understand how to leverage their skillset to amplify their professional value and impact on their community or career field."
Anique Hameed, a philanthropy and social good advisor at her firm Opulence Consulting Group, agrees:
"We are consistently trying to build something new, and create a better world in doing so. We are inspired by the experiences of past generations, but know that the old models for achieving success don't often work for us. We are unafraid take the reins and drive innovation forward."
To remain competitive and strategic, many of the ladies encourage becoming an expert in your field. Study the industry, stay up to date on trends, and publish work on relevant topics to position yourself as a thought leader.
6.Work your hustle.
D'Shonda Brown
We are all challenged with not having enough hours in the day, but that's especially true if you have a side hustle and a full-time job. D'Shonda Brown, CEO of Gold Blooded Communications, a public relations and creative branding agency, encourages other Millennials to get scrappy with their time.
She recommends that career climbers use their lunch break or other gaps in their time to build their dream.
"There are always those small crevices and crannies in your day where you can work on your business. Don't let your day job be your center. Being an entrepreneur is all about adjustment and change and a 9-5 job is the perfect way to test your adaptation skills."
7.Leverage where you are and what you have.
Tiffany Malone
"You have to see yourself as the 'CEO' of me. The intrapreneurship [behaving like an entrepreneur while working within a large organization] of Millennials is our way of demanding our own leadership development, creating our own learning outcomes, and adding variety to our own careers. It means we have to rise to leadership across the board in the day job as well as the side hustle," says Aerial Ellis, a professor and author of The Original Millennial.
"See your salary as an investment in your entrepreneurial pursuits. Allow the resources and relationships to fuel your direction by letting the influence you gain show up in both worlds and watch the benefits become assets."
Tiffany Malone is doing just that. She balances working as a social media specialist for a nonprofit with her wellness lifestyle brand InspireFire, where she hosts the Soul Filling podcast.
"I take everything I learn at my job and apply it to my businesses if I can," says Tiffany. "For example, I'm learning more about PR and fundraising for my job, but you better believe I'll be applying what I learn there to my own businesses. Think about what skills your day job has and how you can apply it to your own side hustle."
8.Get your money by creating multiple streams of income.
Mia Hall
"I love the option of being able to pursue your passion at your job, or working at a job to fund your passion until you can find a job you love or pursue your dream as an entrepreneur full time," says Mia Hall, a social media strategist, writer and founder of Brown Girls Glow, an empowerment organization for young women.
"It's said that millionaires have 7 streams of income so 'side-hustles' are work just like jobs and I celebrate them."
Diamonde of Blossom touched on an important topic that entrepreneurs and career climbers alike should strive towards. "For me, one of the larger goals is generational wealth and I can't get there playing small. So everyday, I choose to play BIG."
9.Identify strategic mutually-beneficial collaborations.
Brittany Dandy
"Let's band together to make a difference. Two powerhouses can co-exist and succeed, while also collaborating to make a change. There is power in numbers," says D'Shonda.
10. Find a mindfulness practice that works for you.
Aerial Ellis
Many of the ladies found that journaling, praying, going to church, exercising, writing to-do lists, relaxing, and meditation helps them practice mindfulness.
"When we quiet the mind, we gain inspired ideas and can think of more ways to solve and serve. As entrepreneurs, mindfulness can help us have the discipline and discernment we need for intuitive thinking," says Aerial.
Music can help your mindfulness practice as well. Here's a Spotify playlist that these ladies helped me curate to get your mind in the zone and keep you focused.
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RELATED
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
It’s not like it has to be a bad thing. In fact, studies say that somewhere around 15 percent of engaged couples actually met through a friend. All I’m saying is, before you entertain someone’s “I’ve got someone I want you to meet” invitation, it would benefit you to interview them first — for the sake of all parties involved.
The questions that I recommend asking? The following six are what I think can get everyone on the same page, so that there is more pleasure than regret from the hook-up attempt.
1. Why Are They So Invested?
GiphyTwo things that I recently watched over again are the series Survivor’s Remorse (the writing is so damn good) and a movie called Trapped in Temptation (both are currently on Tubi). Something that both of them made me think about is the fact that motive reveals a lot when it comes to why people say and do the things that they do.
When it comes to the movie, specifically, without giving the film away — let me just say that, if you are in a relationship, be really careful about listening to individuals who try to talk you out of maintaining it. More times than not, the motive is shady as hell. And honestly, sometimes people who are close to obsessed with you being in one deserve a bit of side-eye too.
Now, if it’s someone who loves all things love, they are in love and they want you to experience something similar — that’s sweet. Just make sure that they are approaching the set up from a healthy space. What I mean by that is they don’t see singleness as some sort of relational handicap or they aren’t trying to override what you want for your life as if they somehow know better (there are so many ways to be a control freak, y’all).
Hmph. Now that I think about it — make sure that the set-up crew isn’t trying to use you to “save” some male friend or relative of theirs. I say that because I once knew a mother whose son had — count ‘em — 10 kids and she was FOREVER trying to get me to date him. Girl, that wasn’t for me. She was looking for a Holy Ghost Jr. for that child of hers. I’ll pass. HARD PASS.
Bottom line with this one — if someone wants to set you up with someone else, the first thing to ask is why? Make sure to really listen to what their answer is. Then pay attention to if your mind, body and spirit are at peace with their answer(s).
2. Do They Know What You Want?
GiphyI don’t know about y’all, but the people (and let’s be honest, by far, it’s usually women) who have tried to set me up with someone? They didn’t even know what my preferences or type was. Hell, they didn’t even know my thoughts or timeline as it relates to being in a serious relationship were either. And what that boils down to is they were trying to hook me up based on their agenda, not mine — and that usually meant that the guys who they came up with? Yeah…I was good on them. LOL.
Yeah, if someone wants to hook you up, you definitely should ask them if they know what you are looking for in a guy when it comes to his looks, personality, passions, spirituality, relational desires and goals, location, etc. Because, indeed, what is the point in going out with someone who is fine as hell and yet, you want kids and he doesn’t (or vice versa) or who has a great personality yet he isn’t even in the same ballpark of your spiritual beliefs?
If your friend really wants to help you out, valuing your time should come with that — and that means bringing someone into your life who complements your lifestyle. No wiggle room here.
3. Are They Aware of Your Deal-Breakers?
GiphyLast year, I wrote an article for the platform entitled, “Should Bad Sex Actually Be A Relationship Deal-Breaker?” The thing that I think needs to go on record about deal-breakers is they aren’t exactly standards that you have. No, a deal-breaker is something that can’t be worked out even after trying to negotiate or compromise. When it comes to relationships, a deal-breaker might be how long two people should date before becoming exclusive or getting engaged. Another deal-breaker might be if being religious is more important than being spiritual and how that manifests itself (church or no church, etc.). And yes, another deal-breaker may be what each other’s sexual needs and expectations are.
When someone is setting you up, it is imperative that they know about your standards. For instance, for me, I am not interested in dating a divorced person, pretty much ever (I Corinthians 7:10-11). I’ve had friends who have tried to hook me up with that demographic before and it has always been a moot effort. The fact that some of them have gotten frustrated with my convictions has absolutely nothing to do with me. Some have tried to get me to compromise my deal-breakers too — like a long-distance relationship. Is it a firm “naw”? No. However, it’s not really something that I am interested in, so why not just…recommend someone local?
Yeah, if someone thinks that they know you well enough to hook you up, they absolutely should be well-versed in what your deal-breakers are before they do. And if they’ve never asked, all they are doing is assuming — and we know what that typically means. LOL.
4. What Is Their Track Record?
GiphyIt’s kind of wild that we now live in a time when more couples meet online than they do through “old-fashioned ways” like via their friends (although some reports say that Gen Z is getting back to that) — and yet, here we are. Still, if you are willing to let someone play pseudo matchmaker in your life, you are well within your rights to inquire about their track record in that department. Have they hooked others up, successfully, before? Has any of their “Cupid work” caused both people to get exactly what they wanted out of the situation? If/when things went awry, why was that?
I know someone who is constantly trying to hook people up. Thing is, maybe 10-15 percent (no joke) of their efforts have proven to be positive and fruitful — and we’re talking about close to close to two decades of them doing it. Listen, time is too precious to be out here doing stuff ONLY to please other people. That said, if someone wants you to devote some time to one of their grand ideas, you are well within your rights to ask about their past and current success score when it comes to it.
5. Can They Keep Their Own Feelings Out of It?
GiphyWanna know if someone who is offering to do something for you is actually doing it more for themselves? If they try to make it be about them when things don’t go the way they would like, that is a dead ringer. An example? They post a message about you on social media and then question you about why you didn’t do the same thing in return. Another example? They do something for you and then throw it in your face during an argument. Still another example? They set you up with someone, it doesn’t work out, and suddenly you’ve put them in a weird spot. No dear — you put your own self in that position by trying to hook two people up in the first place.
I promise you, it will spare everyone unnecessary energy spent (or even drama experienced) if, before you agree to be hooked up, you get the matchmaker on record stating that they will keep their emotions out of it as much as possible. MEANING — they will do the introductions and then let the chips fall where they may. If they can’t do this, my two cents (save it or spend it) would be to decline the offer. Because all you need is someone texting you about why you haven’t called their cousin back or having an attitude with you when you break up with some guy at their church who they thought was the perfect catch (P.S. These aren’t hypothetical examples — LOL).
6. Will They Respect Your Boundaries? Start to Finish?
GiphyYeah, this final one is a biggie. Just because someone sets you up with another person, that doesn’t automatically or necessarily mean that they should have the right to the details of the dynamic. I don’t care if it’s the first date or the 10th date. I don’t care if you decide to just be sex buddies or to have a full-blown relationship. I don’t care if you stay together or break-up — it’s your relationship which makes it your business. Whatever you share is privileged data.
Yeah, I would say that probably the most challenging thing about being hooked up by someone you know is they have a tendency to think that they are a part of the relationship too — and that is a lie. If things go well beyond a couple of dates, you and the guy should discuss what you will both share with the person who introduced you and then agree to stick to that boundary, no matter what. It’s a great way to protect the dynamic, to keep “outside voices” from influencing the growth and to navigate how you want to move, moving forward.
Someone who hooked you up for the right reasons and knows how to honor limits? They will understand. Will they ask questions? Absolutely. Will they pry? Nah.
___
Should you sit and let someone hook you up? I mean, you never know how your blessing will come. Just make sure that they are prepared for you to do some digging into their mindset before they start sweetly meddling into your love life.
It’s only fair. Hell, and right. LOL.
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Featured image by PeopleImages/Shutterstock