Black History Month | Innovator: Krysle Walter

Krystle Watler is the Head of Integrated Marketing Communications, North America, for TikTok for Business, where she leads external marketing across all channels. She translates business objectives into compelling go-to-market strategies, develops content that connects and drives action, and oversees a digital tech stack that enables smarter measurement, learning, and optimization.

Previously, Krystle served as Head of Creative Agency Partnerships, where she deepened engagement with the creative agency community, increased fluency on the platform, and equipped partners with the knowledge and inspiration to drive business results for their clients. In this role, she launched TikTok’s first-ever creative education program for agencies, led the company’s first partnership with Ad Age—which introduced the inaugural Best Use of TikTok award—and steered TikTok’s partnership with The One Club for Creativity’s One Creator Lab, a 20-week, tuition-free upskilling program preparing creators to join brand and agency teams. These initiatives helped agencies produce standout campaigns that deliver commercial impact while nurturing the next generation of industry talent.

Before joining TikTok, Krystle was Managing Director, Americas, at Virtue, the full-service creative agency born from VICE, where she led the regional P&L and oversaw teams across business development, account management, strategy, creative, production, HR, and finance. Earlier, she served as Managing Director, North America, and previously led Business Development for the region. Krystle also held business development roles at Arnold and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal, after beginning her career in corporate banking at Citigroup in New York and Goldman Sachs in London.

A proud Spelman College alumna, Krystle has been recognized on the Adweek 50 list of top media, marketing, and technology leaders (2020), named one of Ad Age’s 2019 Women to Watch, and was a 2019 AdColor Rock Star Award nominee.