rewardStyle, the Dallas-based brand that pioneered the influencer innovation industry, is expanding its executive leadership team with an industry veteran.

Catherine “Kit” Ulrich has been appointed the new general manager of LIKEtoKNOW.it (LTK), rewardStyle’s fast-growing shopping app that allows influencers to monetize what they’re wearing and sharing. In her new role, Ulrich will oversee all aspects of LTK and its team, accelerate its consumer base, and grow the economic opportunity for influencers and retail partners.

The high-traffic LTK app made Instagram shoppable when it launched in 2017, giving users the ability to instantly purchase real products in fashion, beauty, home, and family that they viewed on high-profile accounts. Powered by first-of-its-kind technology, in its first nine months, LIKEtoKNOW.it welcomed 1 million shoppers.

The news of Ulrich joining the LTK team comes on the heels of rewardStyle kicking the app up a notch amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Co-founder and president Amber Venz Box announced the launch of LTK Shopping Videos, which she said would continue to ramp up sales within the app. Bloggers, vloggers, Instagrammers, and YouTubers can now produce, monetize, and share two-minute videos featuring beauty how-tos, home tours, quick DIYs, capsule wardrobes, and more within LTK.

As of the launch date, some 5,000 retailers were integrated in the LTK Shopping Video feature, from Chanel to Walmart and Adidas to Ulta. In the first half of 2020, consumers purchased more than $500 million in products through the app, accounting for half of all sales for rewardStyle.

rewardStyle said its influencer marketing platform as a whole projects $2.5 billion in retail sales this year.

“Our mission is to empower influencers to be as financially successful as possible,” Venz Box said at the time of the launch. “The expansion of our fastest-growing product, the LIKEtoKNOW.it app, will multiply the opportunity for influencers around the world.”

That’s notable considering Ulrich is joining the team at a time of exponential growth.

She brings more than 15 years of experience in tech and consumer products to the end-to-end content monetization platform, most recently serving as managing director and venture partner at FirstMark Capital, which has a portfolio that includes Pinterest and Shopify.

She has also previously been the chief product officer at Shutterstock and served in the same role at WeightWatchers.

At Shutterstock, Ulrich led product strategy and execution across the company’s offerings and brands. At WeightWatchers, she was head of all global digital and retail innovation and experiences.

Venz Box, who founded the company with her husband and now CEO, Baxter Box, called Ulrich a world-class leader capable of leading LTK as it becomes a dominant source of sales in the wide world of influencer shopping. Finding someone perfect for the role has been her top priority.

“From being the youngest-ever CPO of a publicly-traded company to overseeing funding for some of today’s most successful brands,” she said, “Kit comes to rewardStyle as an extraordinary product visionary and I am thrilled to add her skillset to our talented team to fuel LTK’s transformational growth.”

Ulrich herself lauded LTK’s multi-sided marketplace that solves real problems for consumers, influencers, and brands. Her VC background has allowed her to recognize rewardStyle’s organic growth—and she plans to take LTK to the next level.

“This was a rocket ship opportunity and as Sheryl Sandberg has said, ‘When you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship… get on,’” she said in a statement. “LIKEtoKNOW.it has incredible brand power and is sitting in the middle of powerful, converging trends around global shopping.”

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