Spotlight: The Buzz on Tina Wells

The final pick of YPNation's "Young Professional of Color” series is Tina Wells, CEO of the New Jersey-based Buzz Marketing Group, the number one resource for all things involving youth marketing. Wells has more than a decade of expertise in youth trends, and an impressive portfolio of more than one hundred partnerships.
 
Why is the YPNation spotlight on Tina Wells?
Wells went from being a teen product reviewer to running the show at Buzz Marketing Group. Her position is a natural extension of her passion for youth trends, and pop culture. Signaling her success are the partnerships she has developed with well-established corporations, including Time Inc., PBS, Verizon, American Eagle, Proctor & Gamble, Reebok, OPI, Steve Madden and Aveda
 
Along with her work at BuzzMG, she is also the creator of Mackenzie Blue, the adventurous book series about middle school life. It's targeted at 8- to 12-year-old girls. The series launched in 2007, and is the result of extensive research on young girls and their moms. The latest installment of the series, Mackenzie Blue: The Secret Crush, was released in December 2009.
 
BuzzMG also engages in initiatives to help improve the quality of life for children, teens and young adults. These initiatives include Friends of the Orphans, a charity which supports orphaned, abandoned, and disadvantaged children in Latin America and the Caribbean, and SisterHood, a New Jersey–based charity helping to improve the quality of life for women and children by offering a day care program, job training, and a shelter.
 
How did Tina Wells get her feet in the game?
Wells was a teen--16 to be exact--when she started writing product reviews for The New Girl Times, a division of Seventeen Magazine. It wasn't long before Wells became a sought after voice by manufacturers seeking the youth perspective on their products. Wells launched BuzzMG, in 1996, when the demand became more than one teen could handle. When asked about launching a business at such a young age, Wells told WomenWhoLauch.com: “I truly believe that by being an entrepreneur at a young age, my naivety saved me. If I had launched as an adult, I wouldn’t have gotten here, where I am today.”
 
BuzzMG evolved from a few friends helping to answer the overflow of product review request into a multi-million dollar empire. Now, with a network of 9,000 teen consultants or “Buzz Spotters,” Wells is the go-to person for fashion, beauty, entertainment, business and lifestyle companies looking to develop their youth-centered marketing strategy.
 
Despite her early start, Wells didn't skip college, or graduate school. She graduated with honors from Hood College, in Frederick, Md., with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Communication Arts, and then went on to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business for a degree in marketing management.  
 
What else is there to know about Wells?
 
Featured in:

• Essence 40 Under 40
• Billboard's 30 Under 30
• AOL's "Black Voices Black Women Leaders in Business" top ten list
• Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30

Other Accolades: 

• 2009 Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award
• Appointed to the National Board of Directors for the Friends of Orphans
• On the Board of Directors for the Philadelphia Orchestra

 
Check out this feature on Tina Wells:
 

 
Don't miss the other "Young Professionals of Color" features in this series: Vashtie Kola, party promoter, former music label executive and designer; Jamail Larkins, pilot and First Ambassador for Aviation & Space Education; Leanna Archer, 14-year-old wunderkind who started her own line of hair and body care products; and Tracey Webb a philanthropist who created the blog Black Give Back, which chronicles philanthropy in the black community.
 
(Photo credit: Autan; creative commons)