by Makula Dunbar

As CEO and Founder of Think Tank Digital — a marketing and promotions firm — it’s rare that Tynicka Battle feels like the odd one out. She’s used to being the one who calls the shots and runs the show. Though two weeks ago, standing in Highline Ballroom surrounded by hundreds of teenage girls, she didn’t feel as powerful.

“I felt like the old lady in the room,” she said. Nonetheless, T. Mills —a 22 year-old rocker/rapper who performed that night — was someone Battle knew very well. T.Mills along with Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Ledisi, Timbaland and many more artists are clients of Think Tank Digital.

Five years after its Founding, Think Tank is a top competitor in the world of digital marketing. Thriving largely off of the rise of digital media and an excellent track record, Battle remembers when Think Tank was just a thought.

When she graduated from Rutgers University in 1996, she immediately put her psychology degree to use. Hired straight out of college, she worked in an outpatient facility supervising patients that suffered from clinical depression and in some cases suicidal ideation. “I think I realized really quickly that I didn’t want the rest of my life to be about that,” she said.
Later, Battle transitioned to a career where she was happier, focusing on research and library science. She worked at Rutgers and Princeton University. “I was very good at finding citations in online databases. I got several promotions, new jobs and raises, “she remembers. “One of my supervisors told me ‘you know you ought to get your library science degree.’ She thought she was complimenting me, but I remember it being a really sad moment. I didn’t want to be a librarian.”

From library science she ventured into marketing —a professional area with more opportunities and career choices. “I did think I was really good at the research aspect [of library science] and using online databases, so I basically figured out what I really wanted to do was marketing. I just had an aptitude for the online side of things.”