Black creators shape a disproportionate share of what trends online – in beauty, fashion, comedy, music and food – and are, on the best available evidence, paid less for it than white creators doing the same work. Any honest list of Black influencers has to hold both of those facts at once.
So this is two things. First, fifteen Black influencers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube worth knowing, grouped by what they create and linked to their live profiles rather than to follower counts that were out of date on the day they were written.
Second, the part brand guides usually leave out: what the pay gap research actually found, and what a partnership brief looks like when it pays fairly, books year-round and hires a creator for their expertise rather than as a gesture. If you are building the outreach side, our influencer outreach guide covers the mechanics.
Key Takeaways
15 Black Influencers Worth Knowing
Grouped by category rather than platform, because that is how a brand should shortlist. Handles link to live profiles so you can check current reach and recent work yourself.
Beauty
The category with the longest record of Black creators setting the agenda – and the clearest cases of brands being called out for shade ranges that did not serve them. Our beauty influencer list covers the wider field.
Jackie Aina — @jackieaina
Nigerian-American beauty creator whose advocacy for inclusive shade ranges changed how major brands launch. Recognised by WWD as an influencer of the year, and founder of the home-fragrance brand FORVR Mood.
Patricia Bright — @PatriciaBright
British beauty and fashion YouTuber who blends tutorials with money and business advice; author of Heart & Hustle.
Jasmine Brown — @jasmeannnn
Beauty, hair care and lifestyle videos, with a particular focus on natural hair and styling.
Bri Hall — @SmartistaBeauty
Makeup tutorials, natural hair care and lifestyle vlogs, plus a podcast about natural hair and personal experience.
Monet McMichael — @monetmcmichael
Makeup, self-care and fashion creator who launched a clothing collection with Amazon’s The Drop and has worked with major beauty and athleisure brands.
Fashion and Culture
Several of these names also appear on our fashion influencers and American influencers lists, which cover the wider field.
Lori Harvey — @loriharvey
Model and founder of the skincare line SKN by LH, with a feed of fashion, beauty and lifestyle content and a long list of luxury-house collaborations.
Elaine Welteroth — @elainewelteroth
Journalist, author and television host who became one of the youngest editors-in-chief in Teen Vogue’s history. Her account is fashion, culture and commentary.
Nara Smith — @naraazizasmith
South African-born model whose cooking-everything-from-scratch videos became one of TikTok’s most recognisable formats.
Fitness and Wellness
Massy Arias — @massy.arias
Dominican-American trainer known for a grounded approach to health; founder of a supplements company and a virtual training programme.
George Bamfo Jr — @georgebamfojr
Ghanaian-born former athlete turned celebrity trainer, with practical workout content and motivational coaching.
Austin Dunham — @Austindunham
Bodyweight training tutorials and motivation; his programme is built around getting strong without equipment.
Cranon Worford — @cranonn
Former Division I track athlete turned competitive powerlifter, sharing training sessions and meet preparation.
Comedy and Gaming
The categories where reach is largest and brand briefs most often go wrong, because humour does not survive heavy-handed approvals.
Drea Okeke — @dreaknowsbest
Nigerian-born comedian known as Drea Knows Best, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree whose relatable skits have made her a regular on brand and festival stages.
James Henry — @jameshenry
Comedian who first found an audience on Vine and has carried his sketch style through every platform since.
CoryxKenshin — @CoryxKenshin
One of YouTube’s biggest gaming creators, best known for comedic horror-game playthroughs and a fiercely loyal community.
What the Pay Gap Research Found
The most cited study is MSL U.S. with The Influencer League, published in December 2021 after surveying more than 400 US influencers alongside expert interviews and data from MSL’s own influencer platform.
The Numbers
35%
The gap between white and Black influencers. Where a white creator earned $135 for a collaboration, a Black creator working with the same brand earned $100.
29%
The gap between white and BIPOC influencers overall.
92%
The share of respondents who, asked for the one thing that would close the gap, named pay transparency.
Why It Happens
Opaque rates, informal negotiation, and gifting offered where a fee would be paid to someone else. Creators who do not know what a brand paid the last person cannot tell whether they are being lowballed – which is why transparency comes up again and again as the fix.
What It Means for a Brand
You can close most of it yourself, for your own programme, without waiting for an industry standard: publish a rate band in the first message, pay the same band for the same deliverables, and audit your own last year of creator payments. The last step is uncomfortable and almost always revealing.
How to Partner Fairly
None of this is complicated. It is mostly a matter of treating a creator partnership as a business relationship rather than a campaign moment.
Hire for Expertise
Book a beauty creator because they are exceptional at beauty, a comedian because they are genuinely funny, a trainer because their programme works. Their perspective will be in the content without being written into the brief – and a brief that asks a creator to speak for a whole community is a brief that should not be sent.
Book Year-Round
A brand that only calls Black creators in February is not partnering with them; it is borrowing them for a message. Build relationships that run across the year and across campaigns, and budget for repeat collaborations, which almost always outperform first ones anyway.
Get the Product Right First
Test for every customer
Shade ranges, hair types, sizing, fit. A creator should never discover on camera that your product does not work for them.
Listen to the feedback
If a creator tells you privately that something is missing, that is the cheapest research you will ever receive.
Do not ask them to cover the gap
Never ask a creator to promote a product that does not serve their audience and spin it as inclusion.
Protect the Partnership
Moderate your own comment section when a partnership attracts hostility, and say publicly that you stand behind the creator. Silence reads as agreement to everyone watching – including every creator deciding whether to work with you next.
Matching Creators to Campaigns
The category determines the format; the format determines what you pay for.
| Category | Formats that work | What to agree up front |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty | Tutorials, get-ready-with-me, honest reviews | Product testing before the shoot, usage rights |
| Fashion and culture | Styling, editorial shoots, commentary | Creative control, exclusivity window |
| Fitness and wellness | Programmes, challenges, routines | Claims you can substantiate |
| Comedy | Sketches with a light product role | Minimal approvals – humour dies in committee |
| Gaming | Sponsored streams, integrations | Length of placement, audience age |
Disclosure applies to every paid or gifted post; the FTC’s influencer guidance is the US reference, and platforms provide a paid partnership label. Put the wording into the agreement.
Reaching Out the Right Way
The first message tells a creator most of what they need to know about how you will treat them.
What the First Message Should Include
Specific work
Name a video or series. “Your wash-day series” shows you watched; “love your vibe” shows you did not.
What you are asking for
Deliverables, timing and usage rights, in plain terms.
The rate band
The single most respectful thing you can include – and the fix creators themselves ask for.
An easy no
Permission to decline keeps the door open for the next campaign.
Sending It
Management email for the larger names; a direct message for most micro and mid-tier creators, who run their own inboxes. The DMpro Chrome extension sends that first message from your brand’s own Instagram or TikTok account, drafting the opening line from each creator’s profile and spacing messages out under a daily cap – so a shortlist of fifty gets a considered first touch rather than a blast. Our Instagram DM outreach guide covers the wording in detail.
Start Every Creator Relationship With a Better First Message
Most creator relationships begin with a DM, and most DMs from brands are indistinguishable from spam. The DMpro Chrome extension helps the first message land: it reads each creator’s profile, drafts an opener that refers to their actual work, and sends from your own account at a pace you control.
It works on Instagram and TikTok, and when creators and their audiences reply, DMpro can handle the inbound conversations through the official APIs – free for the first 250 a month.
- A shortlist of creator handles, pasted or uploaded
- Openers that reference each creator’s own profile
- Instagram and TikTok outreach in one place
- Irregular spacing and a daily limit you decide
- Automatic stop when a platform signals a limit
- Every creator gets an individual first touch
- Nothing is shared – it runs inside your logged-in browser
- Inbound replies can be handled free up to 250 a month
- A campaign pauses if you close the browser
- You still write the rate band – no tool should set pay for you
Conclusion
The fifteen creators above are a starting point – some of the most influential voices in beauty, fashion, fitness, comedy and gaming. What decides whether a partnership with any of them works is not the list; it is how you pay, brief and book.
The research is clear enough to act on. Publish a rate band, pay the same band for the same work, audit what you paid last year, hire for expertise, book beyond a single month, and stand behind the creators you work with. Those are all decisions a brand can make this week without anyone else’s permission.
Personalised creator outreach on Instagram and TikTok, sent from your own account at a pace you set.
Get the DMpro extension