If there's one thing I love to do when traveling anywhere, it's finding out about the black culture or communities of that region. Even in places where one might be apt to ask, "Are black people even living here?" I'm always curious to find out about the African diaspora and its history all over the world. And trust me, our footprint is everywhere---whether through ex-pats or our cultural and political influences. Since it's indeed Black History Month, here are a few must-see global destinations on my list to get beyond the usual museums and landmarks.
Italy: Rome and Tuscany
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Rome is a top-of-mind spot for travel to Italy considering it is indeed the capital, but let's veer off a bit from the usual gelato, pizza, and wine joints and get into a little history. Take a visit to the Arch of Septimius Severus, which was built in 203 A.D. in celebration of one of the emperor's triumphant battles. Septimus Severus was born in the Roman province of Africa and is described as a nomadic moor by several historians. Though his ethnicity in today's terms might be in question among some circles, it's still worth a trip (and a bit of research) while visiting the northwest end of the ancient Roman Square.
On another note, Rome is also the place where Berry Gordy, Billy Dee Williams, and Diana Ross filmed cult classic Mahogany. The theme song for the movie was a No. 1 hit in 1976, and was nominated for a "Best Song" Oscar that same year. Add a little glam to that suitcase and retrace some of the sites that Tracy, the lead character played by Ross, visited in that legendary photo shoot montage.
You can also take a trip to Tuscany, a hilltop city that includes Barga and the small village of Sommocolonia, where the legendary Buffalo Soldiers played a pivotal role in World War II. (See, Spike Lee's Miracle of St. Anna for a bit of dramatized back-story.) The town is full of beautiful cathedrals and restored castles, and local villages host antiques and food festivals.
Mexico: Veracruz and Mexico City
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Mexico has had its moments of issues with acknowledging citizens of African heritage as well as the African contribution to the country, but with a bit more understanding, more tourism support through travel, I think this can change. Veracruz, a port city has a large population of Afro-Mexicans, has a history impacted by Caribbean culture and foods brought by slaves from island nations. The first free slave community in the Americas was actually founded here and is called Yanga, named after Gasper Yanga who led the revolt for freedom. His statue stands in the city not far from Veracruz's other beautiful beaches, historic chapels, and San Juan de Ulúa, which was once a major fortress, prison and palace where slaves were traded.
Mexico City is where actress Lupita Nyong'o, a Mexican citizen of Kenyan heritage, was born. The Oscar-winning actress who won Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years A Slave (a film that made history as the first film directed by an African American to win Best Picture) spent time in a small Mexican town in her teens and told one publication she had to take a bus more than two hours away back to Mexico City just to find someone to braid her hair. In the city, you can visit the statue of Vicente Guerrero, the first (and only known or widely publicized) black president of Mexico, as well as enjoy their beach resorts (like the super-exclusive Nima Local House Hotel), Afro-Caribbean fusion restaurants, and street food spots in the Coyoacán or Michoacan markets.
Africa: Cairo and Ethiopia
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Everyone knows about Accra, Ghana, which hosts the return of thousands of African Americans to trace their roots, visit the slave castles, and be welcomed back to the native home of their ancestors. But there are other African locales that have a link to African-American history as well. Cairo, the capital of Egypt, has a metropolitan area that's the largest in Africa and was the place where Maya Angelou worked as an editor for the Arab Observer. While there, she counted as friends luminaries like David Du Bois (the stepson of W.E.B Du Bois), and she describes this experience in her book, The Heart of a Woman.
Also, many researchers and historians stand behind the premise that the ancient royalty of the country were indeed black, so when you're visiting the typical hot spots in Cairo like Tahrir Square and the massive Egyptian Museum, think on that. Stop by Khan El Khalili, a massive souk (or street market), for artisan goods, plan a luxe day trip through the desert, or drive just a couple hours away to enjoy nearby 5-star hotels like the Oberoi Sahl Hasheesh.
Ethiopia was once named the world's best destination for tourists---with its beautiful Simien Mountains National Park, majestic Blue Nile Falls, and widely visited Ethnological Museum within Emperor Haile Selassie's former palace---and it has a few historical ties to black Americans. Mignon Lorraine Inniss was a Caribbean-American scholar and educator who traveled with a delegation of African-Americans to the East African country to help with development efforts in the 1920s. She founded the first private co-ed boarding school there. Her husband, Arnold Josia Ford, who founded a black synagogue in Harlem, also helmed the development of a community of African Americans who left the U.S. and the racial discrimination of the time to settle on 100 acres of land gifted to them by Selassie. The historic Abyssinia Baptist Church in Harlem also has links to Ethiopia: The church was founded in conjunction with Ethiopian seaman in 1808.
More African Americans would travel to Ethiopia to relocate, and the emperor was a popular figure during the Harlem Renaissance. He had ties to key black American figures including Duke Ellington, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and legendary pilots John Robinson, who served in the Imperial Ethiopian Airforce, and Hubert Julian.
A few more things to try on a trip here---to add to visits to the aforementioned tourist spots---is to stay at the luxury Kuriftu Resorts or enjoy a camel walk with a registered tour group.
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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
This year's It Girl 100 is a mosaic of brilliance, spotlighting athletes, cultural disruptors, beauty visionaries, and boundary-pushing journalists who embody the spirit of "Yes, And." This digital celebration honors the women who embrace every facet of themselves, proving you can chase the bag and still honor your desire to live life softly.
The women repping for the Sports & Wellness category remind us that greatness is as much about self-mastery as it is about competition. The real flex? Wholeness, on and off the court.
Here's the roll call for xoNecole's It Girl 100 Class of 2025: Sports & Wellness.
Rapper and Basketball Player Flau'Jae
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Flau'Jae
Her Handle: @flaujae
Her Title: College Basketball Player
Who's That It Girl: Flau'jae Johnson moves between the court and the booth with rare ease, rewriting the rules on what it means to be multifaceted and unapologetically herself.
Professional Basketball Player A'ja Wilson
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A'ja Wilson
Her Handle: @aja22wilson
Her Title: Professional Basketball Player
Who's That It Girl: A’ja Wilson dominates the court with grace, grit, and unmatched power. We celebrate her as a generational athlete and leader who proves that confidence and compassion are a winning combination.
Professional Tennis Player Coco Gauff
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Coco Gauff
Her Handle: @cocogauff
Her Title: Professional Tennis Player
Who's That It Girl: We honor Coco Gauff for dominating across court and culture. At just 21, she’s collected two Grand Slam titles (US Open 2023, French Open 2025), risen to World No. 2, and launched her own management company — all while using her platform for purpose.
NYT Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Tunde Oyeneyin
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Tunde Oyeneyin
Her Handle: @tune2tunde
Her Title: NYT Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker
Who's That It Girl: Tunde Oyeneyin moves minds as powerfully as she moves bodies. We love her for turning motivation into a mission, inspiring millions to find their strength on and off the bike.
Professional Tennis Player and Entrepreneur
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Naomi Osaka
Her Handle: @naomiosaka
Her Title: Professional Tennis Player and Entrepreneur
Who's That It Girl: We celebrate Naomi Osaka as more than a champion, she's a trailblazer who became the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam and the first Asian woman to hit world No. 1. Her return to the court after motherhood and advocacy for mental health remind us she plays for legacy, heart, and purpose.
Sports Journalist and Broadcaster Taylor Rooks
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Taylor Rooks
Her Handle: @taylorrooks
Her Title: Sports Journalist and Broadcaster
Who's That It Girl: Taylor Rooks is redefining sports journalism with empathy and elegance. We honor her for creating conversations that humanize athletes and elevate storytelling beyond the game.
Track and Field Athlete Anna Cockrell
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Anna Cockrell
Her Handle: @annacockrell
Her Title: Track and Field Athlete
Who's That It Girl: Anna Cockrell runs not just with speed but with purpose. We honor her for her resilience on the track and her advocacy off it, proof that strength of heart matters just as much as strength of stride.
Professional Basketball Player and Comedian Sydney Colson
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Sydney Colson
Her Handle: @sydjcolson
Her Title: Professional Basketball Player and Comedian
Who's That It Girl: Sydney Colson is the WNBA’s comedic powerhouse and heart of the team. We celebrate her for blending humor, honesty, and hustle, showing that laughter is also leadership.
Professional Basketball Player Angel Reese
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Angel Reese
Her Handle: @angelreese5
Her Title: Professional Basketball Player
Who's That It Girl: Angel Reese is unapologetically fierce and proudly feminine. We love her for redefining what leadership looks like in sports and for reminding girls everywhere that confidence is their birthright.
Professional Basketball Player and Model Kysre Gondrezick
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Kysre Gondrezick
Her Handle: @kysrerae
Her Title: Professional Basketball Player and Model
Who's That It Girl: Kysre Gondrezick is a professional basketball player and model, selected 4th overall in the 2021 WNBA Draft. She has played for the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky
Track and Field Athlete Gabby Thomas
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Gabby Thomas
Her Handle: @gabbythomas
Her Title: Track and Field Athlete
Who's That It Girl: Gabby Thomas races with heart and intellect in perfect sync. We’re inspired by her brilliance both on the track and in public health, proving that excellence has no limits.
Olympic Gymnast Jordan Chiles
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Jordan Chiles
Her Handle: @jordanchiles
Her Title: Olympic Gymnast
Who's That It Girl: Jordan Chiles brings artistry and strength to every performance. We love her for her unwavering spirit and for representing the future of gymnastics with courage and joy.
Professional Tennis Player Taylor Townsend
Credit: Patrice Horton
Taylor Townsend
Her Handle: @tay_taytownsend
Her Title: Professional Tennis Player
Who's That It Girl: We celebrate Taylor Townsend for her dual mastery of motherhood and Grand Slam tennis. A former Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) doubles world No. 1 who claimed Wimbledon (2024) and the Australian Open (2025), she also returned to the tour as a mom, proving perseverance, power, and purpose can coexist.
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 xoStaff