At just 22 years old, Illinois-native Corey Phillips is on a mission to elevate how his generation thinks about money. As the founder and CEO of Social Storm LLC, Phillips is the driving force behind an ambitious initiative dedicated to helping young people become financially literate and make empowering money moves. If all that sounds like a tall order for someone so young, Phillips will tell you that his age is very much the point.
“I started Social Storm because I saw a lot of people teaching about financial literacy who maybe worked on Wall Street and were typically older,” he explained. “And I really didn’t see a lot of young people be able to relate to them.”
Phillips saw an opportunity to upend that narrative and assume that educator role himself. “I felt I could share this information in a way that’s engaging, that’s fun, that’s exciting,” he said, believing that young audiences “can actually relate to me as someone closer to their age.”
Relatability would undoubtedly be an asset for Phillips and Social Storm, but there would be no escaping a certain skepticism. Popular memes to the contrary, age is more than just a number. Experience counts, too – especially when it comes to matters of finance.
“At first, some people would say, ‘What experience do you have? You don’t have the degree yet,’ he says. But the doubters quickly learned that nothing speaks louder than results. “Every time I do a presentation or interact with people, and they see my content, they’re excited, they want to get started and learn more information,” he says. “It’s about being able to show what I can do and showing the real impact.”
For context, let’s step back to the beginning. Phillips is the youngest of a set of triplets, raised in a close-knit Chicago household. His father is a retired police officer; his mom was a paraprofessional. Hard work and self-discipline were non-negotiables, a mindset that led to high achievement in academics, sports, and beyond. “My parents taught me how to carry myself, how to position myself in different rooms so that I can be successful at the highest level on all avenues of life.”
Phillips put those life lessons to work early. As a teenager, he juggled jobs in retail and fast food. Like many working low-wage jobs, he watched his salary evaporate as soon as the checks cleared. “I knew that eventually I’d have to stop working and go back to school,” he recalls. “I wanted to make my money last beyond the summer. I wanted to make this money work for me.”
That curiosity led him to study investing, diving headfirst into books, YouTube videos, investing tutorials – any resource to expand his knowledge and financial skills. With his mother’s help, Phillips set up a Roth IRA and a brokerage account. “I started contributing my paychecks from my part-time job and saw tremendous success.” Indeed, since 2020, the young investor has seen returns, not through luck or magic, but due diligence, strategic planning, and calculated risk-taking
In short, Phillips has fully earned the confidence and the capacity to advise others on their financial journeys. That sense of purpose powers Social Storm, his growing platform for financial empowerment.
“Social Storm is dedicated to teaching financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and professional development,” he says. “We typically do different events, speaking engagements, workshops, and collaborations where entrepreneurs can network and grow.”
By design, Phillips centers his financial education efforts on youth and young adults between the ages of 16 and 24, with a strong emphasis on engaging communities in Chicago’s South and West sides. His work particularly resonates with Black and brown individuals who are often underserved by traditional financial education channels. He says. “They’re highly ambitious, but they don’t know where to start.”
The scale is impressive. “I’ve worked with over 2,000 youth in the state of Chicago in 2024,” he notes, adding that Social Storm has been able to create a network of young entrepreneurs who participate in events and panel discussions that showcase exciting young voices in the city of Chicago. “That exposure shows young people that they have peers doing great things.”
Imagining the possibilities is key to Phillips’ engagement with young audiences. His goal, always, is to make financial empowerment and the tools to achieve it accessible and relatable. And his message reaches well beyond his peers to preschoolers to adults twice his age. “For the ages of between 45 and 60, it’s about how they shift their mindset about money,” he explains. “Showcasing that investing and building wealth is not just for the wealthy, but it can be for everyday people.”
Phillips learned that lesson early, putting it into practice as a serious investor at age 16. Today, at 22, he finds himself encouraging people to approach retirement age that it’s never too late to transform their financial approach to better provide for their families and lay the foundation for generational wealth.
“The best day was yesterday,” he says, “but the next best day is today.”
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Meet Corey Phillips Social Storm’s 22-Year-Old CEO is Creating a Youth Wave of Financial Literacy in Chicago
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This content is sponsored by Manulife | John Hancock . Black Enterprise is committed to transparency in all sponsored partnerships. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the sponsor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Black Enterprise.