-------------------
TikTok
Head of Global Creative Lab
TikTok
Director of Creator Community
Kinney is currently Global Head of Creative Lab at TikTok. At TikTok, he is focused on innovations and experiences that inspire, educate and unlock the possibilities for marketers and businesses of all sizes to reach their full potential on the platform and connect with its unique creative community. He believes regardless of the medium, creative work must have an emotional soul that resonates with the audience to be effective. Previously as Executive Creative Director at Tribal Worldwide/ DDB Group, he led creative teams on high-profile brands including Adidas, AT&T, Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Mars Petcare, Cadillac, National Football League, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Wounded Warrior Project, Nickelodeon, Intel, Pepsi, Diageo, Philips, UNICEF and Neutrogena. Kinney has taught portfolio classes at Miami Ad School and has guest lectured at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He’s both won and judged at the industry’s top award shows, including being amongst Adweek’s "Creative 100" list. But above all, he loves making work for humans, not robots.
Kudzi Chikumbu is the Director of Creator Community 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 started as a digital creator himself so his passion comes from his deep love of the power of user-generated video content to create authentic and impaction engagement between audience and creator. He has helped develop content strategies for top and emerging online creators and develop TikTok creator and community strategies. Kudzi has built and launched first of their kind creator initiatives such as the TikTok #MakeBlackHistory Creator Summit, TikTok's Trailblazer List initiative, and numerous efforts to uplift diverse creators into the mainstream through marketing and PR elevation opportunities.
Kudzi was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in South Africa where he began his business career as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting in South Africa. He then moved to the U.S. where he enrolled at Stanford Graduate School of Business. After which, he moved into the world of online video first at musical.ly and now at TikTok. Kudzi holds an MBA from Stanford and a Bachelor in Business Science (Finance & Accounting) from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He was named as one of Fortune's 40 Under 40 in 2020, won the ADCOLOR Innovator Award in 2020, and was named one of the Next Gen Execs by The Hollywood Reporter in 2019.
Host, Author, Innovation Advocate
Chris Denson, innovation expert, Innovation Crush podcast host, and author of the #1 bestseller, Crushing the Box: 10 Essential Rules for Breaking Essential Rules, delivers keynotes that are informative, engaging and entertaining. He merges his experience advertising and marketing expertise, POV as an innovation expert, and his comedic talent to deliver memorable messages to audiences across industries, at home and abroad. He is also skilled at leading insightful conversations, moderating panels and providing continuity as the MC/host for conferences and workshops.