Welcome to Changemaker Stories from LOCAL – an ongoing series of personal interviews with leaders driving change across every industry and discipline. Because change shouldn’t mean going it alone.
Kimberly Hill blends entrepreneurial spirit with deep operational experience across some of the world’s most high-growth environments. With eight years at Amazon and two at TikTok, she’s built programs, launched categories, and scaled communications strategies that bridge internal operations with external community building.
She brings a rare combination of creative vision and practical execution. Whether she’s developing go-to-market strategies for TikTok Shop logistics or running a storytelling candle business on the side, Kimberly is driven by curiosity, cultural intelligence, and a belief that the strongest brands start with people.
My career path has never been conventional, but it’s always been intentional. I see myself as someone building a toolkit. Every role I’ve taken — from recruiting at Amazon, to co-founding a new category, to leading go-to-market and communications at TikTok Shop — has been about learning a new skill, gaining a new lens, adding a new tool. I’ve always known that one day, I want to be a full-time entrepreneur and teacher. That north star has shaped my path. It’s why I made the leap to TikTok after eight years at Amazon. I wanted to immerse myself in social commerce. I wanted to move fast. I wanted to learn how brands connect with people in real-time. And I wanted to bring all of that back to what I build next.
I treat my side hustle like a classroom. In 2020, my sister and I co-founded a candle brand that merges scent with storytelling. It started from grief — we lost several family members in quick succession, and we wanted to honor them. We pivoted into something playful and layered: candles that match the tone of different books, from moody romance to energizing nonfiction. We wanted to create a platform that celebrates up-and-coming authors, especially those like my sister. It became our little experiment in brand-building, community engagement, and curiosity. We tested messaging with influencers. We launched a YouTube channel. We even created a lo-fi study playlist. All of it helped us figure out how to connect with a niche audience in an authentic way.
Everything I learn in one world feeds the other. Running a self-funded business changes how I approached my work at TikTok. And vice versa. When I was working on Fulfilled by TikTok, I drew directly from our candle business playbook. I pitched small business owners on becoming ambassadors, just like I had with book influencers. I asked them to speak in their own voice. And when they did? The response doubled my pipeline. It reinforced something I already believed: that community and peer storytelling are often the most powerful growth engines.
On the flip side, working inside TikTok taught me to embrace speed. We were shipping updates every two weeks. 70% ready was enough. That used to terrify me. But I’ve come to see that getting something out and learning from it beats over-perfecting every time.
"The candle side and the corporate feed each other. One teaches me to move fast and be scrappy. The other shows me what's possible at scale."
To navigate fast change, I built my own think tank. I intentionally created a small circle of trusted peers with strong points of view. We rarely agree. That’s the point. When I’m launching a new comms strategy or deciding how to roll something out, I turn to them for pushback. It keeps me sharp. I also have what I call my board of directors — a few people I lean on for emotional support, gut checks, and mental breaks. And I make time for myself: workouts, mindfulness, therapy, an executive coach. I garden. I’m learning to swim. I go to the beach. These aren’t luxuries. They’re what let me stay creative and grounded in a high-speed environment.
Culture doesn’t happen by accident. You have to build it. When I was building out our business development team, I made reflection and recognition part of the structure. We started every daily stand-up by sharing wins. We paired people into buddy systems. And when I saw someone struggling to find a win, I pulled them aside, dug into their pipeline, and helped reframe what progress looked like. That built confidence. It built trust. It made space for people to be human. And that space made it easier to talk about the losses, too. My personal motto is: everything is a win. Either we succeed, or we learn. That’s the kind of mindset shift I try to model and encourage.
When you’re communicating change, the "why" has to come first. People don’t adopt a new process just because you tell them to. They adopt it when they understand the purpose behind it. When we needed to change our tracker system at TikTok, I made sure to clearly articulate the benefit. Why this mattered. What it would unlock. Then we followed that with education. Lunch and learns. Walkthroughs. Clarifications. But it only worked because we started with culture. We led with the "so what."
The hardest thing to communicate? Consumer messaging. With employees, there’s more room for nuance. You can clarify. You can deliver a message in your own tone. People know you. With consumers, you often only get one shot. If your message isn’t clear — if it isn’t relevant or it misses the mark — the feedback is immediate, and it's public. Especially in social commerce, especially on TikTok. That’s why I obsess over clarity, empathy, and trust in all my messaging work.
In-person work isn’t always easy, but there’s magic in proximity. I personally prefer hybrid, but I’ve seen the value of being together. Walk-and-talks. Casual debriefs. A glance across the room that lets you know someone’s not doing well. Those things matter. They make it easier to build camaraderie, step in for support, and diffuse tension. The buddy system I created? I’m not sure it would’ve worked as well virtually. There’s just something different about shared space.
Want to build a culture that can move fast without burning out? Invest in curiosity. At Amazon, one of our leadership principles is "learn and be curious." Another is "leaders are right a lot" — which really meant you have to be wrong a lot first. I’ve carried those ideas with me. At TikTok, I tried to build space for experimentation even if the pace is relentless. Personally, I block time to reflect. I write down what I learn at the end of each day. I track my decisions and their outcomes. I believe that when people feel safe enough to learn out loud, change becomes less scary and more collaborative.
Curiosity, again and again, is the spark. For legacy organizations trying to change, I always come back to this: know your values, then layer in curiosity. You might value growth, or commitment, or family. Ask yourself what happens when you bring curiosity into those values. How does being generous shift when you’re also curious? What might change if you approached your work with less judgment and more wonder? It sounds small. But in my experience, that shift can unlock something big.
And when in doubt? Go to your ‘pocket of peace.’ For me, that’s nature. The ocean. A hiking trail. Or this wellness resort outside of Phoenix where I go to unplug and recharge. I don’t bring a screen. I bring a journal. I walk. I try new things. And I come back with a fresh lens. Inspiration isn’t always found in a brainstorm. Sometimes, you find it in the quiet, when you finally make space to listen.
