Nine mega-star influencers are joining forces to create a content house “just for the girls” called The Sweet Sisterhood. With a combined following among the influencers of tens of millions of fans and subscribers, the groups’ shared YouTube account already has 250,000 subscribers of its own. So, who are these mega-star influencers, and what is The Sweet Sisterhood? They’re Gen-Alpha girls between the ages of 8 and 12 who are forming a unique content house, and Teen Vogue has the exclusive inside scoop.
The Sweet Sisterhood is made up of Haven and Koti Garza, known as the Garza Crew; Ava and Alexis McClure known as the Mighty McClures; Scarlett from Scarlett and Tiania; Mila and Emma Stauffer; and Britain and Baylaa. Most of the time, people who collaborate through content houses move into those houses but with The Sweet Sisterhood, the kid influencers involved will be brought together a few times a year to film content and spend time together.
“All of our kids are in a very unique position that maybe a lot of other kids their age can’t relate to,” says Adrea Garza, the mom of 8-year-old twins Haven and Koti. As the Garza Crew, the pair have 5.1 million followers on Tiktok, 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube, and 309,000 followers on Instagram. Garza hopes that The Sweet Sisterhood will allow her daughters to spend time with other girls their age who can understand what life as a famous kid influencer is like – and that the content will be inspirational to all viewers.
“It’s really just about empowering girls and uplifting them,” Garza says. “We can help these young girls find a place to go where they’re actually going to get good advice, wholesome role models they can look up to. Stuff like that.”
The idea behind a content house is to bring influencers together to share resources and create content, with the hopes of gaining subscribers and followers that they may not otherwise have access to. Famous examples of content houses include the Hype House, the Sway House, and the Collab Crib.
“Overall, the idea of the content house is so you can have cross-promotion,” explains Anthony Ambriz, a Utah-based YouTube strategist who has worked with prominent family vloggers. “They can grow their following together and they get to grow faster because they’re collaborating.”
These houses have launched already-popular influencers into the stratosphere of fame, and viewers delight in seeing their favorite TikTokers interacting. But, content houses have also been a locus of controversy. The Hype House alone faced legal disputes, sexual assault allegations, and crumbling interpersonal relationships.
On April 9, Netflix premiered a new documentary called Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Child Influencing, which explores a content house of teenagers that resulted in a lawsuit with claims of an “emotionally, physically, and sometimes sexually abusive environment.” The documentary has reignited conversations around content houses. But it’s not only these houses that are coming under fire – the entire concept of child influencers is currently in question as four states have passed laws to legislate the profits of influencer kids and more and more parenting influencers take their kids offline. Even non-influencer parents are increasingly choosing to keep their kids’ faces off social media.
The moms involved in The Sweet Sisterhood are aware of the backlash against kid influencers and content houses, but they don’t think The Sweet Sisterhood will turn into another cautionary tale. “I think our content will speak for itself once we start actually posting and people see how just wholesome it is,” Garza says.
Ami McClure, mom of twin kid influencers Ava and Alexis, who have 2.4 million followers on Instagram, 4.1 million subscribers on YouTube, and 585,000 followers on TikTok, says she’s not concerned. “I know who our family is and what we do,” she says. She’s seen the documentaries – Bad Influence and the recent Devil in the Family, which explored the role of YouTube family vlogging in the downfall and eventual imprisonment on child abuse charges of former vlogger Ruby Franke – but she feels confident. “[Our kids] know that they’re a huge part of this business, but they also know it’s important to us that they’re happy, they’re living a normal childhood, and that we’re structured. We shoot content two days out of the week and we move forward with life.”
McClure says she’s actually glad for the scrutiny around child influencers. “I think the pressure needs to be on,” she says. “That way, hopefully, the families that are causing this bad spotlight can be rooted out. It definitely brings some scrutiny your way sometimes, that I think is warranted. But if you don’t have anything to hide, you won’t be fearful.”
For now, the plan is for the members of the Sweet Sisterhood to meet up several times a year at different locations around the country. The profits from their channel and brand deals will be split evenly five ways, the moms tell Teen Vogue, and then the moms will be in charge of distributing those profits to their kids. The group has formed an LLC and are working on an operating agreement, according to Garza. “But for right now, the five of us are close enough and friends enough that we just said, we’re going to take it day by day and just see how things go,” Garza says.
In the first few days since the launch of The Sweet Sisterhood, they’ve gained 250,000 subscribers on YouTube, 37,000 followers on Instagram, and 32,000 followers on TikTok.
And though both Garza and McClure spoke of the need to bring wholesome content to young girls online, the benefits of banding together can’t be ignored.
“As they say, a rising tide lifts all ships,” says Taylor Lorenz, a tech reporter and founder of User Mag, an online culture newsletter. Lorenz points out that a true content house is a house in which the members live, as opposed to The Sweetheart Sisterhood’s method of getting together a few times a year.
“What they have formed is essentially just a collaboration group. I think what they want is to have the content house label, but they don't want the liability and the logistical stuff that comes along with is,” Lorenz says. “And most collaborative groups fall apart because [they] don't have that cohesion. It’s like content house stolen valor.”
Regardless of the label attached to the venture, the moms and kids of The Sweetheart Sisterhood are committed. “My kid’s brand is their future,” McClure says. “To me, I would liken it to Tiger Woods or Serena Williams. When they were young and their parents were taking them to practice all times a day, making sure they were doing this because they were superstars. They knew they were going to do something. I see it the same way. I see the potential.”
