A boutique firm built on relationships, cultural intelligence, and execution.
Founded in 2020, The XLS Group advises organizations and leaders working across sectors, geographies, and stakeholder groups, from corporate boardrooms to foundations, public institutions, and cultural communities.
Independent counsel for consequential relationships.
Most important outcomes depend on the right people coming together at the right moment, with a shared reason to act. Our work is to make that happen deliberately: identifying the partners worth pursuing, positioning our clients to engage them, and building relationships that hold.
We are equally at home with institutional stakeholders and cultural leaders. That range lets us connect corporations to communities, foundations to champions, and leaders to the platforms that suit them.
We keep our client roster deliberately focused, so every engagement receives senior attention from start to finish.
Relationships are built with intention, not by chance.
Map
We assess the landscape: the stakeholders, interests, and openings that matter to your objective.
Position
We sharpen how you show up, so the right partners recognize the value of engaging.
Convene
We make considered introductions and structure engagements that serve every party.
Steward
We sustain the relationship, so value compounds long after the first agreement.
Organizations and leaders with consequential relationships to build.
Rooted in four cities. Working across borders.
Our relationships run through New York, Panama City, Lagos, and Johannesburg, giving clients informed access across North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
We work in English and Spanish, and have advised clients across more than eight countries.
Xiomara Small
Founder & Principal
Xiomara Small is a global strategic advisor, cultural diplomat, and entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience spanning international partnerships, commercial strategy, strategic communications, and social impact. She serves as Honorary Advisor of Commercial Affairs to Nigeria and South Africa for the Republic of Panama and leads The XLS Group, an independent strategic advisory firm. Her career includes leadership at Global Citizen and collaborations with leading international institutions. Her work connects business, influence, and opportunity across international markets.