When we think of jobs that bring in real bank, we often think of medical, legal and tech industry gigs. And true, those jobs do pay substantial salaries, but they often require a bachelor's or master's degree. However, believe it or not, there are jobs where you can earn a good amount of money without investing in a four-year degree. Here are the top 15 high-paying jobs for women without a college degree:
Sound Engineer Technician
These professionals are responsible for setting up audio equipment, ensuring sound quality in a studio, performance hall or other venue, working the lights and syncronizing sound. The median annual salary for a sound engineer technician is $52,390 and those interested in pursuing this can either take online courses, get into an associate's program, or learn by trial and error by getting your own equipment and experimenting.
Hearing Aid Specialist
As a hearing aid specialist, you'd be evaluating the quality of hearing for patients, talking them through the best options and managing dispensing and maintenance in this job. The median salary for hearing aid specialists puts you at 52,770 per year, and the only education requirement starting out is a high school diploma. It's a good idea to pursue a trainee position and learn a lot via courses or on-the-job mentorship.
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Electrician
The median salary for an electrian is more than $55,000 per year, and you'd have a wide range of options in terms of duties and environments. Some electricians work independently with real estate developers and construction managers. Others work for major corporations. You can pursue a trade school program or go in as an apprentice with an experienced professional.
Sales Rep
This is a job that can hit various industries and businesses, and the options are almost limitless. The median salary for a sales rep is more than $58,500 and the minimum education requirement is a high school diploma. You can also boost your skills by getting an associate's degree.
Executive Assistant
Extreme attention to detail, great communication skills, ability to multitask, and a knack with project management are the key skills required to be an executive assistant. The median annual salary for an executive assistant is more than $54,000.
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Commercial Pilot
You can start off in this industry with a high school diploma and learn from a certified instructor. (If you're looking to work for an airline, be prepared to invest in a bachelor's degree. The requirements are different for major airlines.) As a commercial pilot, you can fly private jets for independent clients or you can work for a company providing services for their executive or travel needs. The average base pay for a commercial pilot is well over $80,000 per year.
Patrol Officer
This job requires a focus on public service and attention to law, and the median salary for a patrol officer is $61,380. If you're into making a difference, working to protect and serve and want to attempt to change the system, this might be the job for you.
Microblading Artist
You can earn up to $76,000 a year sculpting eyebrows that slay as a microblading artist. Some professionals work on their own, catering to clients via a salon or mobile services, and some work within a professional salon network. If you're looking for an example, check out Love and Hip Hop star Sierra Gates, who swears by the profitability and potential for flexibility with this career path. You can take courses and get experience by apprenticing with a pro.
Food Stylist
The average salary for the job of a food stylist is more than $62,000, and though some firms require a college degree for positions, you can still get your foot in the door at others with just a high school diploma. If you have an eye for aesthetics, don't mind positioning food for photographs, films and other productions, and know a bit about styling techniques, this is for you.
Image via Shutterstock
Licensed Practical or Licensed Vocational Nurse
Not to be confused with a registered nurse (RN), these profesionals support RNs in major functions such as checking vital signs, performing enemas, delivering medicines and massaging muscles--among other duties---and the role of a licensed practical or licensed vocational nurse requires no more than one to two years of education via a state-approved diploma or certificate nursing program. The median annual salary for an LPN or LVN is more than $42,000.
Funeral Service Manager
Compassion, creativity and great people skills are important for the role of funeral service manager, and it can bring in up to $66,666 per year. You'll need an associate's degree in funeral service or mortuary science which can take up to two years, and you'll also have to work as an apprentice or trainee.
Fashion Designer
If you have a natural knack for sewing, pattern making and textile sourcing, you're a perfect fit for fashion design. Though some designers study at top schools in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and Italy, you don't necessarily have to have a four-year degree to pursue this job and actually make good money doing it. You can take certifications or other courses to specialize in a certain type of fashion or audience to cater to. The median income for a fashion designer is more than $57,000 per year.
YouTube Personality
When you see the title, you might think it's a long shot. Think again. Top earners on YouTube can get from $50,000 up into the millions yearly. If you're great at video editing, engaging with an audience, offering content people love, and connecting with sponsors, the YouTube personality route might be a great path to pursue.
Insurance Sales Agent
Insurance sales agents earn a median salary of $50,600 and are responsible for selling auto, health, home or life insurance to consumers. Once you've passed the required tests, you can either work for a particular company or start your own.
Surgical Technologist
Surgery support professionals are a vital part of the success of medical procedures, and they are often responsible for tasks like sterilizing the operating room, setting out tools for the doctor, or prepping a patient. The median salary for a surgical technologist is $47,300.
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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
Kayla Nicole says she wore a dress that was once worn by Braxton herself for the Halloween costume. “It’s not a secret Toni is more on the petite side. I’m obsessed with all 5’2” of her,” she tells xoNecole via email. “But I’m 5’10'' and not missing any meals, honey, so to my surprise, when I got the dress and it actually fit, I knew it was destiny.”
The episode was the perfect way for the multihyphenate to take control of her own narrative. By addressing the viral moment on her own platform, she was able to stir the conversation and keep the focus on her adoration for Braxton, an artist she says she grew up listening to and who still makes her most-played playlist every year. Elsewhere, she likely would’ve received questions about whether or not the costume was a subliminal aimed at her ex-boyfriend and his pop star fiancée. “I think that people will try to project their own narratives, right?” she said, hinting at this in the episode. “But, for me personally – I think it’s very important to say this in this moment – I’m not in the business of tearing other women down. I’m in the business of celebrating them.”
Kayla Nicole is among xoNecole’s It Girl 100 Class of 2025, powered by SheaMoisture, recognized in the Viral Voices category for her work in media and the trends she sets on our timelines, all while prioritizing her own mental and physical health. As she puts it: “Yes, I’m curating conversations on my podcast The Pre-Game, and cultivating community with my wellness brand Tribe Therepē.”
Despite being the frequent topic of conversation online, Kayla Nicole says she’s learning to take advantage of her growing social media platform without becoming consumed by it. “I refuse to let the internet consume me. It’s supposed to be a resource and tool for connection, so if it becomes anything beyond that I will log out,” she says.
On The Pre-Game, which launched earlier this year, she has positioned herself as listeners “homegirl.” “There’s definitely a delicate dance between being genuine and oversharing, and I’ve had to learn that the hard way. Now I share from a place of reflection, not reaction,” she says. “If it can help someone feel seen or less alone, I’ll talk about it within reason. But I’ve certainly learned to protect parts of my life that I cherish most. I share what serves connection but doesn’t cost me peace.
"I refuse to let the internet consume me. It’s supposed to be a resource and tool for connection, so if it becomes anything beyond that I will log out."
Credit: Malcolm Roberson
Throughout each episode, she sips a cocktail and addresses trending topics (even when they involve herself). It’s a platform the Pepperdine University alumnus has been preparing to have since she graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism, with a concentration in political science.
“I just knew I was going to end up on a local news network at the head anchor table, breaking high speed chases, and tossing it to the weather girl,” she says. Instead, she ended up working as an assistant at TMZ before covering sports as a freelance reporter. (She’s said she didn’t work for ESPN, despite previous reports saying otherwise.) The Pre-Game combines her love for pop culture and sports in a way that once felt inaccessible to her in traditional media.
She’s not just a podcaster, though. When she’s not behind the mic, taking acting classes or making her New York Fashion Week debut, Kayla Nicole is also busy elevating her wellness brand Tribe Therepē, where she shares her workouts and the workout equipment that helps her look chic while staying fit. She says the brand will add apparel to its line up in early 2026.
“Tribe Therepē has evolved into exactly what I have always envisioned. A community of women who care about being fit not just for the aesthetic, but for their mental and emotional well-being too. It’s grounded. It’s feminine. It’s strong,” she says. “And honestly, it's a reflection of where I am in my life right now. I feel so damn good - mentally, emotionally, and physically. And I am grateful to be in a space where I can pour that love and light back into the community that continues to pour into me.”
Tap into the full It Girl 100 Class of 2025 and meet all the women changing game this year and beyond. See the full list here.
Featured image by Malcolm Roberson