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Crystal Black

Fractional CMO and AI Strategist at Crys Black Consulting

Denver Metro Area, United States

Crys Black is a fractional CMO and AI strategist who helps small businesses and early-stage technology companies cut through AI hype, build real marketing foundations, and operationalize AI so they can grow. She started her career as a programmer, holds English degrees, and brings both the technical and the human side to every engagement. Her trademark is making AI accessible and non-judgmental, meeting people exactly where they are.

She is also a speaker and workshop leader. As lead instructor for Women in AI Labs, she runs hands-on sessions that get people experimenting with AI instead of fearing it, and she serves as Treasurer on the Executive Board of Rocky Mountain AI (RMAI), the nonprofit behind RMAIIG. She writes on AI, marketing, and the future of work for Colorado AI News. Her talks and workshops cover building custom GPTs that actually work for a business, using AI video and avatars to scale trust, and guiding teams through the messy middle where AI is reshaping how we work.

Based in Denver, Colorado, Crys believes AI should give people their time, their creativity, and their full selves back.

Available For: Advising, Authoring, Consulting, Influencing, Speaking
Travels From: Denver, Colorado
Speaking Topics: The Jobs Aren't Disappearing, They're Shape-Shifting; Think Like a Director, Not a Developer; GenAI and the Human Spark

Speaking Fee $5,000 (In-Person), $2,500 (Virtual)

Personal Speaking Website: crysblack.com
Crystal Black Points
Academic 0
Author 34
Influencer 56
Speaker 6
Entrepreneur 0
Total 96

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Featured Videos

AI in Action: Marketing Teams of the Future
July 24, 2026
AI Isn't Magic: The Ethics of AI
July 24, 2026
AI for Good, Main Stage Moderator
July 24, 2026

Featured Topics

The Jobs Aren't Disappearing, They're Shape-Shifting

The future of work talk that swaps dread for a plan. I walk your people through what AI actually changes about their work, what it doesn't, and how to stay the person who's impossible to replace. No fear, no hype. Everyone leaves with a clear sense of where they add value and what to do Monday morning.

Think Like a Director, Not a Developer

Nobody needs to write code to build things anymore. Vision and direction are the new technical skills, and your audience already has them. I show how to go from an idea to a working thing by directing AI instead of programming it. Builders, marketers, and operators leave believing they can make, not just imagine.

GenAI and the Human Spark

Embracing AI without losing what makes us human. A warm, honest talk for audiences who want the upside and intend to stay themselves while getting it. I cover where AI genuinely helps, where the human has to stay in the seat, and how to keep creativity, judgment, and trust at the center. People walk out excited and grounded, not anxious.

Company Information

Company Type: Individual
Theatre: United States
Minimum Project Size: $1,000+
Average Hourly Rate: $200-$300
Number of Employees: 1-10
Company Founded Date: 2012
Media Experience: 3 Years
Last Media Interview: 03/11/2025

Areas of Expertise

Agentic AI 30.03
AI 30.32
AI Ethics 30.19
AI Governance
AI Orchestration
Business Strategy
Change Management
Creativity
CRM
Customer Experience 30.01
Digital Transformation 30.04
Diversity and Inclusion 30.07
Education 30.07
Entrepreneurship 30.06
Future of Work 30.02
Generative AI 30.13
Innovation 30.03
IT Operations 30.60
Leadership 30.31
Management 30.25
Marketing 30.22
Personal Branding 30.10
RPA 30.24
Sales
Startups

Industry Experience

Cross Industry
Healthcare
High Tech & Electronics
Professional Services

Publications & Experience

34 Article/Blogs
My Co-CEO Is Three Years Old. It Still Does the Same Three Things.
Linkedin
August 18, 2026
About three years ago, when custom GPTs first showed up, I built a co-CEO. It was one of the first things I ever made with AI, and it was good on day one.

See publication

Tags: Agentic AI, IT Operations, Leadership

A New Client Found Me Through ChatGPT
Linkedin
August 05, 2026
Last week I asked a brand-new client the question I always ask: "How did you find me?"

I was expecting the usual answers. A referral. LinkedIn. Maybe one of my talks. Instead she said, "I asked ChatGPT who could teach our team AI, and it gave me your name."

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Tags: AI, Marketing, Personal Branding

The Tool I Demoed on Thursday Didn't Exist at Breakfast
Linkedin
July 30, 2026
On Thursday afternoon I had a call with Charity E. Corkey. On Thursday morning, somewhere between coffee and my first meeting, I built the thing I ended up demoing to her.

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Tags: AI, Innovation, RPA

Crystal Black
Linkedin
July 20, 2026
Three weeks ago I spent an entire day building nothing.

Eight hours on the couch, and at the end of it I had only just started to build the app, the vault, and some clever automations. What I had was three sentences:

Make more money.
Build more repeatable business.
Get my life back.

That list turned out to be the most important part of the whole build.

See publication

Tags: Digital Transformation, Future of Work, Generative AI

My Second Brain Told Me to Raise My Prices and Take Sundays Off
Linkedin
July 20, 2026
I run a fractional CMO practice, teach AI workshops, sit on community boards, and take a lot of meetings. Every one of those meetings produces notes. Every project produces documents. And for years, all of that knowledge went somewhere to die: a folder I never reopened (or when I did I couldn't find the note anyway), a transcript I never searched, a great idea I forgot by Thursday.

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Tags: AI, Leadership, Marketing

I Asked Three AI Tools to Show Me a CEO. Here's What Happened.
Linkedin
July 10, 2026
I was standing in front of a room full of people at the Loveland Library when I said, "I'm going to ask this tool to show me a CEO. Before I hit enter, tell me what you think it's going to look like."

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Tags: AI Ethics, Diversity and Inclusion, Generative AI

Human Input: The conversation we keep having about women and AI is missing half the story
Import from wordpress feed
July 02, 2026
Crys Black revisits Reese Witherspoon's controversial AI remarks. The actor urged women to embrace the technology, but new research reveals why access and upskilling are only part of the answer.

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The Fractionals United SMB AI Guide (Marketing & GTM Chapter)
Fractionals United
July 02, 2026
Fractionals United gathered a lineup of fractional executives to build a 75-page AI playbook for small and midsize businesses. I authored the Marketing & GTM chapter on brand, content, and voice, where my one rule is simple: AI is not a marketer you hire, it's a power tool that makes you a faster one. You stay in the driver's seat. It hands you a rough draft in thirty seconds so you can spend your time making it good, starting with the AI you already pay for in your CRM and Canva.

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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Generative AI, Marketing

I Was Going to Vibe Code It. My AI Talked Me Out of It.
Linkedin
June 11, 2026
I had a plan. I was going to open Lovable, describe the thing I needed, and have a working prototype in an afternoon. If you know me, you know this is my default move. Vibe coding is my love language.

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Tags: AI, Digital Transformation, Marketing

Human Input: Why graduates booed AI - and what both leaders and Gen Z should learn from it
Import from wordpress feed
June 09, 2026
The Class of 2026 is entering a difficult job market and an AI-shaped future. The boos were a demand for agency, honesty, and trust - but also a reminder that skepticism works best when paired with curiosity.

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Think Like a Director, Not a Developer
Linkedin
June 02, 2026
Recently, I watched a room of go-to-market leaders build a fully playable Snake game from a single prompt. Under 60 seconds. The arrow keys worked. The snake grew. Somebody died on the first try and the whole room laughed.

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Tags: AI, Digital Transformation, Generative AI

I Built a Cash Register Game for a 21-Year-Old on His First Job
Linkedin
May 26, 2026
He's 21. It's his first job with a cash register.

That combination is more stressful than it sounds. When you're new, every transaction feels like a test you haven't studied for. The line gets long. Someone hands you a $50 bill for a $7.43 purchase and your brain just... stops. You smile and start counting on your fingers and hope nobody notices.

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Tags: AI, Customer Experience, Education

Human Input: The harassment tax: What women pay to be visible in AI
Import from wordpress feed
April 27, 2026
The future of AI needs more women building, questioning, explaining, and leading. That won’t happen if visibility keeps coming with an added tax.

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Pic of the Week: AI, SheBuilds, and International Women's Day
Import from wordpress feed
March 13, 2026
SheBuilds in Boulder showed what can happen when women get time to build.

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AI in Education: Cheating, Learning, and Fair Assessment
Meetup
March 04, 2026
AI tools are rapidly entering classrooms through students, teachers, and school policies.

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Tags: AI, Leadership, Marketing

Valentine’s Day Surprised Me Last Year. This Year, I’m Trying to Top It With Video.
Linkedin
February 12, 2026
How do you show romance to someone who already lives it? I’m not naturally distilled for big romantic gestures, so when I do something, I want it to be meaningful, not performative.

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Tags: AI, Leadership, Marketing

Human Input: Who holds the levers? Power, trust, and the new AI governance mess
Import from wordpress feed
February 09, 2026
The Silicon Flatirons Flagship Conference focused on the emerging “have and have not” divide in artificial intelligence. Crys Black shares her thoughts.

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AI for Good: Startups featured in RMAIIG's showcase follow up with us and share a few of their favorite customer stories
Import from wordpress feed
January 31, 2026
Six Colorado startups are using AI to help survivors, improve literacy, connect people to benefits, support the neurodivergent, make public meetings easier to follow - and assist nonprofits in using AI. Here are a few of their favorite user stories.

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Human Input: MAICON 2025's 'Move 37' moment that marketers can’t ignore
Import from wordpress feed
October 29, 2025
The premier AI marketing conference turned from promise to execution, featuring a wake-up call as AI agents become buyers, video costs collapse, and trust becomes the product. Leaders must plan for job redesign, not just new tools.

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Supercharging Your AI-Powered GTM Strategy with Automation
Linkedln
October 22, 2025
I get asked a lot about how to really operationalize AI into the business systems. By now, most of us recognize the power of Generative AI (GenAI) to transform our business operations. Whether it’s research, ideation, writing, or analysis, the speed and efficiency gains from GenAI tools are undeniable.

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Tags: AI, Leadership, Management

The End of SEO Traffic as We Know It: How Marketers Can Adapt for a No-Click Future
Linkedln
October 16, 2025
There has been a lot of chatter for a year now about how Generative AI would change the face of search. For years, SEO has been the engine behind driving traffic to websites. Marketers learned to play the game—stuffing our content with keywords, optimizing for algorithms, and writing in a way that made content more findable, if not exactly easier to read.

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Tags: AI, Leadership, Marketing

Human Input: Why, in the age of AI, one should Give First: Startup communities run best on generosity
Import from wordpress feed
October 11, 2025
At Silicon Flatirons, Brad Feld reminds Colorado’s next generation of founders that giving first isn’t altruism - it’s how communities, including AI startups, build lasting momentum.

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AI and the Hero’s Journey: Are We Masking Our Diverse Selves?
Linkedln
September 06, 2025
When I was 12 years old, I discovered The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley—a book where a girl, not a boy, slays dragons. As a young reader, I was exhilarated. It felt like a thrilling departure from the traditional stories I’d known: girls were finally allowed to take on the heroic journey, just like boys.

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Tags: AI, Leadership, Marketing

What The Vibe Games Taught Me About Play, Personas & Dad Jokes as a Creative Force
Linkedln
July 25, 2025
It was called The Vibe Games—an event for folks in product roles, designed to stretch how we think about creativity, AI, and human-centered problem-solving. Three of us went in knowing only that we’d be vibe coding live in front of a crowd for 45 minutes. No prep. No idea what problem we’d be asked to solve. And yes, there would be a twist.

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Tags: AI, Leadership, Management

Fractional, Focused, and Allergic to Busywork
Linkedln
May 25, 2025
I started my tech career working on web-based systems—writing code, running software upgrades, and building things that (hopefully) didn’t break. These days, I wear a fractional marketing and operations hat. And while the work looks different, it’s still my IT roots that shape the way I solve problems.

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Tags: AI, Leadership, Marketing

2 Videos
The AI Toolkit Every Fractional Exec Should Know—with Crys Black
Female Fractionals with Amanda Nizzere
April 24, 2025

The AI Toolkit Every Fractional Exec Should Know—with Crys Black
The AI Toolkit Every Fractional Exec Should Know—with Crys Black
Female Fractionals · Apr 24, 2025Female Fractionals · Apr 24, 2025
Show publication
What happens when a fractional CMO meets the rise of AI? Magic—and massive efficiency. You'll want to grab a pen and paper for this one!

In this episode of Female Fractionals, host Amanda Nizzere sits down with the dynamic Crys Black, a fractional CMO and RevOps leader at Crys Black Consulting. Crys shares how she leverages over a dozen AI and tech tools to run her business, amplify client results, and build an AI-powered digital twin to manage her social presence (yes, really!).

You’ll hear how her nonlinear career—from IT to marketing to fractional life—intersects with her love of experimentation, and how AI has not only improved her workflows but also helped her create a custom Valentine’s Day album.

Whether you're overwhelmed by the pace of new tools or just wondering where to start, this episode will give you inspiration, a real-world roadmap, and full permission to just start playing.

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Tags: AI, Leadership

Lessons Learned from Building Many Aligned GTM Infrastructures
Content Strategies
December 26, 2023
Crys Black, a marketing expert with a diverse background in technology, photography, and English, has witnessed the challenges and successes of various startups and growth-oriented companies. Through her experiences, she has come to understand the importance of creating an aligned go-to-market structure within an organization. In this thought-provoking discussion, Crys shares her insights on what an aligned go-to-market structure entails, the role of the CEO in establishing alignment, the significance of transparency, and the power of quality content in empowering sales conversations,

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Tags: Marketing

Thinkers360 Credentials

2 Badges

Radar

Blog

Opportunities

1 Business Consulting
Fractional CMO & AI Strategy for Small Business and Early-Stage Tech

Location: Denver, CO / Virtual    Fees: $200–$300/hr; projects from $1,000+

Service Type: Service Offered

Fractional CMO and AI strategy for small businesses and early-stage tech. I help you cut through AI hype, build real marketing foundations, and operationalize AI so it actually moves the business. Part strategist, part builder, always practical. Available now for ongoing or project engagements.

Respond to this opportunity

1 Keynote
AI Keynotes & Hands-On Workshops for GTM and Leadership Teams

Location: Denver, CO / Virtual    Fees: $5,000 in-person / $2,500 virtual

Service Type: Service Offered

Book me for AI keynotes and hands-on workshops that leave your team building, not just taking notes. I cover practical AI for go-to-market and leadership teams, from custom GPTs to using AI without losing the human part. No hype, no jargon, real things people can use the same afternoon. Now booking 2026, in person or virtual.

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Events

1 Physical Event
Pavilion Women's Summit (part of GTM2026)

Location: New York City, NY    Date : September 28, 2026 - September 28, 2026     Organizer: Pavilion

Crys Black speaks at the Pavilion Women's Summit, part of GTM2026 in New York City, a gathering of women revenue and go-to-market leaders. Her session focuses on practical AI for GTM teams, cutting through the hype and putting AI to work in real marketing and sales workflows.

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1 Online Event
Pavilion AI in GTM School

Location: Zoom    Date : July 29, 2026 - September 16, 2026     Organizer: Pavilion

Crys Black is an instructor for Pavilion's AI in GTM School, a virtual program for revenue and go-to-market leaders. She teaches across the Foundations, Build, and Vibe Coding cohorts, getting teams hands-on with AI they can actually use in their day-to-day GTM work.

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