We all know it's been rough this past year, and even 2021 has started off with quite a bit of ruckus. And there's always that sense of wanting to do whatever we can to ensure we're financially stable and able to take on whatever other craziness might be to come. So, anything that will allow us to either make or save money is a good look. So when I recently heard about a family member getting involved in a sou-sou, I was intrigued.
This wouldn't be the first time I'd heard of the concept. A few of my Caribbean friends and family have participated in a form of it they call "partner" (or "paht-nuh" if ya know patois. Big up yaself!) But what is a sou-sou or partner, you ask? It's an informal savings club, typically run by a "banker," that allows you to deposit money into a "pot," and once the pot grows, you get a certain sum of money when your "turn" comes around.
It's been called the "poor man's savings club," and it's something that has been embraced by Latin, Caribbean and African communities for generations. And the reason for it makes sense. Some have traced the concept centuries back, when West Africans pooled their money via an "esusu." Others might credit their popularity to the fact that many people of color faced extreme racism in the banking industry and could not utilize the traditional options for building savings. Add to that the fact that many did not trust banks, thus a sou-sou or partner was ideal.
I decided to get some insights from a few women on their own experiences with these sort of savings clubs. Here's what they had to say:
A Cautious Participant
My family member who recently participated in a partner told me that she'd had a bad experience in a previous one. (By request, I'm going to leave her identity anonymous.) She and her husband put in $400 but by the time it was their turn to collect on the $4,000 pot, people had dropped out of the group. They ended up getting a refund. After that experience, she just didn't take the whole concept seriously. "I really don't have time or money to waste, and I don't like when there's any sort of mix up or confusion when dealing with money," she told me. "We were able to get our money back because the person we were dealing with was honest. Thank God for that."
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This same family member decided to try again with a different group and a lower deposit. She knew another in-law who had already gotten her $4,000 share after putting in less than $200 three months earlier. "At least with this one, there's a clear system. They even have Zoom calls to explain things, and the leaders of it use a spreadsheet. There's a good number of people in the group to make the numbers make sense. The bankers also have rules, and when members of the group don't follow them, they are immediately refunded what they put in and removed. It's just $100 this time, so I decided to give it another try."
She added that while she has traditional bank accounts, participating in such a group has an allure because of the instant money available once your turn comes to cash in. "Who wouldn't want to get $4,000 after only investing a small sum? It's a nice bonus that can definitely come in handy."
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Generational Money Moves
Gaynete Jones, a podcast host and founder of Best, Periodt, a femcare brand, is from Bermuda and has always been an enterprising self-starter. The concept of a partner was one she too was introduced to by family. "My grandmother runs a savings club with family and friends. I love doing it as it's a great way to keep her mind sharp," Jones said. "My husband and I both participate with two 'hands' of $50 each, so we pay $100 each a week, and twice a year [we] both receive $2,500 back ($5,000 each). It's by no means our only way to save, but it's a unique way to stack coins that we enjoy participating in."
Jones explained that participants "get in" what they pay out since the partner runs 50 of the 52 weeks a year. "We've never had any delays or nonpayments, and we've been participating for years. The key is to participate with a group that is run by someone dependable, who vets trustworthy members—no complaints over here."
She uses the funds to nurture her enterprise projects. "Currently, my new business is the lucky recipient. While the $5,000 is only a drop in the bucket when looking at the capital required to run the start up, every bit counts. If you can find a trust-worthy group with a great track record (and you're dependable yourself), it's worth checking out for sure. I've heard horror stories from others participating in other groups, so I would never blindy recommend them. As with everything, do your research and determine if it's the best fit for you."
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Meet the 'Banker'
Shana Cole, founder of The Shana Cole Collection and Soignee By Shana Cole, is another island girl with a knack for financial savvy that started at a young age. Jamaican-born, she led a partner as a teen. "I started sou-sou when I was in high school. It was a way of savings for me. I used to save to buy my outfits and things that my parents wouldn't buy me. I've been joining with credible people since then and I now run a couple which are all successful."
Cole said she's been able to buy a car, get inventory stock for her business, finance awesome vacations and pay off debts. "I'm about to pay off my student loan [with savings from] my current one. I've even seen people use it for a down payments on a house."
Cole warns that those interested in participating must understand risks like a shady "banker" running off with the money, and her concerns echo that of experts who advise consumers to avoiding scams, especially savings group advertisements that are sent from random Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts.
Image via Giphy
So, should you join an informal savings group or "partner" to reach your financial goals during the pandemic? My verdict is to proceed with caution, do your research, and be sure you are comfortable handing your hard-earned money to the people involved. If you have doubts, just don't do it sis.
Financial literacy advocates have even said that some people looking to participate should instead invest in the usual options of interest-bearing savings accounts, stock market investments, small loans, or financial advisement from a certified professional to cultivate debt reduction plans. There are also a plethora of employment, housing, business, and other resources for people struggling financially due to the pandemic. (There are a few good ones here, here, here and here.)
All in all, as my Granny would say, "Don't write a check you can't cash, and don't get into a pickle you can't eat." If you're already in a financial bind, this definitely isn't a good option, and it really shouldn't be something you think of as a "get rich quick" solution. Traditional sou-sous do not focus on profit but on savings, so if you hear promises that you'll make a certain amount after a specific short period of time, you might have the making of a pyramid scheme on your hands and a great reason to just say no.
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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
Despite launching media careers from different pathways, the two New York-based women have forged a friendship where they can discuss their ambitions and challenges.
Both women are part of xoNecole’s It Girl 100 Class of 2025, recognized in the Viral Voices category for the impact they’ve made through storytelling, creativity, and authenticity. Together, they represent what it means to build an "It Girl" brand with integrity and depth. In the spirit of SheaMoisture’s "Yes, And" ethos, Les and Kayla embody the freedom to be multi-layered as women evolving boldly into every version of themselves.
This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity
On Forging Their Own Paths
Les Alfred: Being a Jane of all trades is incredibly challenging. And one of the challenges I've faced is that the scope of what podcasters now need to do has increased so much. When I first interviewed you in 2019, I was still very new at it, but I remember being on a Skype call with you from my bedroom in Seattle. That was how I ran the show. And that was good enough. That is absolutely not good enough these days. The scope and the quality keeps increasing, but the resources that you have don't necessarily increase in order to remain competitive.
I get asked so many questions from people who want to get into podcasts and they want to get started. Most of the time, I'm just like, 'I don't have tips for you.' Because, one, I don't know what it's like to start in this current environment. Two, I know what it takes to contend and be consistent in this environment. The barrier of entry is a lot higher in terms of having something of quality than it was before.
On Balancing Ambition and Rest
Kayla Greaves: I've had to make a very clear effort to slow down and just not take on as much. Yes, you're running a business, but you're also living your life. I had one of those days yesterday. I just laid down and listened to white noise for hours because I just needed my brain to just be clear. I called a friend. I cried.
I'm starting over again today. The sun is out. It's a new day. And that's just sometimes what you have to do. You can't show up for your audience or for other people, if you can't show for yourself. I think that creativity comes from a place of living your life and having genuine experiences, and then sharing those experiences through your art.
"I had to give myself permission to let myself grow publicly in ways that I'd already done personally."
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On Evolving Through Growth and Rebranding
Les: I didn't create Balanced Black Girl until 2018, but I started blogging and creating content and doing things under the Balanced brand in 2014. I was 24 years old at the time. Now, I'm 36. The things that were important to me, the perspective that I had and the stories I wanted to tell were entirely different. I think I had to give myself permission to let myself grow publicly in ways that I'd already done personally. The show isn't really about wellness anymore. And that shift started happening a couple of years ago.
When we started expanding into more lifestyle topics, more self-help topics [and] talking about entrepreneurship, the audience responded really well. That was when the show really started to grow and take off. And that was what got so much more engagement than the episodes back in 2020 when I was doing hour-long deep dives on gut health.
Rebranding the show was something I've been thinking about for a long time. When I was finally like, 'Oh, I need to do this,' honestly, was the 2024 presidential election. I was like, these people are about to be in here acting crazy. I do not feel safe with my business name being what it is. I don't want to be targeted for any BS. We saw what they did to the Fearless Fund.
"You have to balance your integrity with your income."
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On Integrity Over Income
Kayla: I have many other interests aside from beauty. I'm growing and I'm changing as a person. I'm not the same person I was when I started at InStyle in 2019 before the pandemic rocked everybody's world. I don't think reviewing every single lipstick that comes out is exciting or interesting, because everybody does it now, and everybody feels like they're qualified to speak on things that they're not qualified to speak on. I'm currently in that pain point of growth.
I don't think I have always been in environments where I've been encouraged to branch out on my own ideas. I finished Ina Garten’s memoir maybe a month ago. She kept repeating this quote in her book. She said, ‘What goes in early, goes in deep.’ Now that I'm on my own and I don't have the resources of a traditional media company, which is what I have become accustomed to, sometimes it's difficult for me to be like, 'Okay, just go ahead with the thing.'
I think, Les, just the other day, you reposted somebody saying that they let go of a five-figure deal and then got double the next day because it just didn't feel aligned for them. Those are the things that happen. I have to find a balance of, 'Okay, how do I keep myself afloat?' And that may mean I may not be balling out of control just yet, but I'm okay for now. I can buy myself nice things every once in a while, but you have to balance your integrity with your income.
Les: There are just certain lines that I'm not willing to cross. Especially when I created more wellness content, one of those lines was I will not promote any sort of weight loss product. All of these GLP-1s all want to advertise on my podcast. I actually have nothing against those types of products, but I don't ever want someone to look at what I'm putting into the world and think that I'm saying that they need to feel a certain way about their bodies.
Even if the money is great, that's not for me to say, and that's not the type of message that I want to put out here. Or, I had another kind of brand deal come through that would have required me to divulge things about my personal life that I just don't really want my audience knowing about me, and bringing them along on journeys that I just find personal and I want to keep offline. I don’t want to be known for dragging my mess all over the internet for a buck.
I don't want to be known for being an influencer. I would love to be 1,000% in on my podcast, scale it, have it grow to be a media empire where I'm producing and putting out other bodies of work. For now, until that other side of the business really picks up and gets to the point where I want it to be, I kind of need to play the influencer game a little bit to live in this expensive city. But I'm gonna do it on my terms. It's a constant compromise that I'm coming to with myself.
"You can never make a big vision come to fruition if you're sitting and you're waiting for somebody else to tell you exactly what to do."
Courtesy
On Mutual Admiration and Friendship
Les: Something that I really admire about you in having known you for the past couple of years is you don't wait for a roadmap. You jump in, you roll up your sleeves, and you do it. You can never make a big vision come to fruition if you're sitting and you're waiting for somebody else to tell you exactly what to do.
Kayla: Well, first of all, I want to say thank you for saying that, because that means so much to me, and it's very affirming. That's exactly how I feel about you. I remember, even at your first live show, you're like, ‘Oh my god, I'm so stressed. I don't know what I'm doing.’ And, the shit sold out. And, you know, and now, like, you see the growth of the podcast. And you have nearly 61,000 subscribers on YouTube. I just checked recently.
I talk a lot about people that really just need to not say anything on the internet, because it's so frustrating as somebody who grew up as a traditional journalist. You want people to fact check and ask thoughtful questions and have good conversations. I've never said that about you. I've always loved your podcast. And I've sent a lot of your episodes to friends when they're going through specific things that you're talking about.
This season has been a little bit slower to me, so you've been a constant source of inspiration, and it's just been such a pleasure to see your podcast grow despite the challenges you've had. I know it's not easy, but you continue to grow and continue to push through, and I really admire that as somebody who sat and cried yesterday and listened to white noise.
And this is why I tell you all the time, you really do inspire me. I love you a lot.
Les: Oh my gosh, I love you a lot. I'm so glad that the podcast brought us together.
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.
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