We owe a lot to influencers and I can personally say I owe a lot to black influencers. I mean, without some of the OG black influencers, I never would have left MAC's NW45 and gone on a journey of foundations that included stops at NARS, YSL and Christian Dior. The thing that has been great about influencers is they genuinely filled a gap left by women's publications. As a black woman, these women give me the beauty tips I never saw in Glamour, Elle, or whatever white woman's magazine I was reading in the '00s and '10s.

The black girl beauty and fashion influencers made the internet a little bit brighter and a lot more bearable. I feel like I spent far too much of my student loan and early salary on their recommendations. I guess that was a time when I was naive and reckless, but the truth is, influencers were a green light for most purchases I made. From makeup, clothes, restaurants, and as I got older, household furnishings that would help me make my house a home.