Lifestyle Influencer & Creator Marketing Executive
Kudzi Chikumbu: Biography at a Glance
- Kudzi Chikumbu is a lifestyle influencer who shares the transformative power of being a creator on the internet and beyond.
- Currently the Global Head of Creator Marketing at TikTok, Kudzi is responsible for connecting and building the creator community while advocating for diversity, inclusion, and representation online.
- He has been listed in Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list and The Hollywood Reporter's Next Gen: Hollywood’s 35 Rising Executives 35 and Under.
- Kudzi also advocates for making the world of luxury lifestyle more inclusive which is on full display with Sir Candle Man, his candle-loving account which aims to bring a new, relatable, diverse, and inclusive voice to the fragrance industry.
- He released his book, Let It Burn: Illuminate Your Life with Candles & Fragrance, which offers a guide to loving candles and using the magic of fragrance to help create beautiful spaces in your life.
- In sharing his journey into the world of fragrance, Kudzi candidly discusses breaking into historically non-inclusive spaces and the power of making simple choices to elevate your life.
- A torchbearer for authenticity, Kudzi is a sought-after speaker who inspires professionals and creatives to embrace their personal stories to drive impactful results.
Videos
Biography
Empowered by his message that "authenticity is your cheat code to success", Kudzi Chikumbu is a lifestyle influencer and the Global Head of Creator Marketing at TikTok where he is responsible for connecting and building the creator community through creator marketing, partnerships, and creator education all while advocating for diversity, inclusion & representation online. Kudzi's passion comes from his background as a creator where he learned first-hand how video content can help you find your tribe, feel a sense of worthiness and encourage people to live more authentically fulfilling lives. He currently works at the intersection of digital content, community, and communications to help change the face of culture online by discovering and amplifying diverse trailblazing talent. As a speaker, Kudzi focuses on inspirational career advice to motivate young professionals and creatives to embrace their personal stories to drive impactful results.
Kudzi was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in South Africa which informed his strong views on race relations and diversity across the world. He began his business career as an accountant and management consultant at Deloitte in South Africa. After which he enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he completed his MBA before starting his career in the entertainment industry.
A torchbearer for authenticity, Kudzi is also an advocate for making the world of luxury lifestyle more inclusive which he displays in his candle-loving accounts as "Sir Candle Man" which aims to bring a new, relatable, diverse, and inclusive voice to the fragrance industry. Sir Candle Man has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, WWD, NY Mag, and on The Rachael Ray Show. Kudzi released his book, Let It Burn: Illuminate Your Life with Candles & Fragrance, which offers a guide to loving candles and using the magic of fragrance to help create beautiful spaces in your life.
Kudzi lives in Los Angeles and has been listed in Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list, The Hollywood Reporter's Next Gen: Hollywood’s 35 Rising Executives 35 and Under. He received ADCOLOR's Innovator Award, a distinction that recognizes "an employee who embodies progress and imagination," and who consistently "stands out among peers as an inclusion game changer and brilliant pioneer in their role, creating breakthrough developments and/or improvements, whether tangible or intangible." More recently, Kudzi was awarded AdWeek's Experiential Executive of The Year, The Culture Creators Tech Honoree, and Variety's Hollywood's New Leaders.
Topics
Reach Your Target Audience: The Impact of Niche Communities
With more scrutiny on marketing budgets and recent technology privacy restrictions, it’s harder for marketers to reach their desired target audience. Despite the challenges, Kudzi Chikumbu - known as Sir Candle Man online - has built the exemplary type of engaged niche community many marketers are looking to reach.
In this conversation, Kudzi teaches organizations and creators how to build niche communities, how to sell to them, and how to keep them engaged. Audiences walk away with a fresh playbook on how to approach marketing in an authentic and effective way.
The Power of Authenticity: Fostering Diversity and Creativity
As a black, gay man working in tech, Kudzi Chikumbu stands out every single day. Instead of caving to the pressures of a world full of trends that promote replicating and copying others, Kudzi focuses on authenticity. He makes a point to bring his full self to work and encourages everyone to do the same, whatever their identity is.
Based on his own experiences in the workplace, Kudzi shares how diversity leads to creativity and discusses the power that comes from bringing together different perspectives to achieve success.
Create Your Dream Job: How to Launch Your Career and Find Your True Purpose
When Kudzi started his career, he didn’t set out to become the Global Head of Creator Marketing at TikTok - partly because neither the role nor the company existed at the time. However, Kudzi was preparing himself for this role throughout his life simply by living authentically.
After working as an accountant and consultant at Deloitte, he took a leap of faith to follow his long-time ambition to monetize his creative mindset. In this talk, Kudzi meets the audience where they are - a generation that is obsessed with being influencers and creators online - and demonstrates how the principles that make a successful creator can lead to a successful career in any industry. He leaves audiences with the 5 guiding principles that have led him through the pivotal moments along his journey as a creator and an executive:
- Have a clear why. This is your guiding light.
- Have a creator mindset - you can create your best life. Take action.
- Be authentic and trust your instincts.
- Build a community. We are stronger together so make friends, help others, and ask for help (in that order).
- Pivot when you need to. You can change your why.
Audiences will walk away with actionable takeaways to bring their full selves to everything they do and, in turn, create the life and career they want.
Showing Up Online: How to Build An Authentic Digital Presence
Whether building your personal brand or managing a global company, social media is essential. As Global Head of Creator Marketing at Tik Tok, Kudzi Chikumbu is equipped to provide audiences with a crash course in how to show up digitally - and the perils of doing it wrong. From expanding your customer base to building a network to self-expression, he explores the limitless potential of the full digital landscape. In this talk, Kudzi will provide a step-by-step guide to finding your audience and connecting with them authentically online.
Audience takeaways include:
- How and where to start telling your story
- How to stand out with all the noise and connect with an audience
- How to be ahead of the game
- How to fix it when things go wrong
- The often-missed secret to success when building a brand online
The Future of Digital: Emerging Trends and Communities on Social Media
In this ever-evolving conversation, Kudzi talks audiences through the latest trends in social media and discusses the obstacles and opportunities for your organization to get ahead in the digital space.
