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The head of Twitter’s Niche talent service is leaving, and Twitter is already looking for a replacement

Kristen Lachtman is heading to join other Niche co-founders at their new video startup, Brat.

Actor and internet star Josh Peck takes a selfie with fans at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards in LA.
Actor and internet star Josh Peck takes a selfie with fans at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards in LA.
Actor and internet star Josh Peck (R) takes a selfie with fans at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards in LA.
Rich Fury / Getty

The head of Niche, Twitter’s talent agency for social media influencers, is leaving the company — and Twitter is already looking for a replacement.

Kristen Lachtman, who took over the organization in September, alerted colleagues internally on Tuesday that she was leaving, according to sources. Lachtman is headed to Brat, a social media video startup founded by Niche’s co-founders Rob Fishman and Darren Lachtman, Kristen’s husband, according to a source.

Kristen Lachtman, head of Niche, is leaving Twitter.
Kristen Lachtman
Twitter

While the news is just now official, it looks like Lachtman’s departure was in the works for a while — Twitter already posted a job opening for “Head of Creators & Niche” to report directly to Kay Madati, Twitter’s content partnerships boss. A company spokesperson confirmed Lachtman’s departure.

Twitter first acquired Niche back in 2015, and it was believed that the service, which connects social media influencers like Josh Peck or Casey Neistat with brands that want to pay them to promote their products, would primarily help Vine, the Twitter-owned looping video app that was breeding a new wave of internet stars.

It never worked out for Vine — Twitter closed the app for good in 2016 — but Niche is still around and connecting internet stars with brands to promote content on a bunch of different platforms, not just Twitter.

With Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube all fighting for content from these internet stars, Niche looks like it still serves a useful purpose inside Twitter, even without Vine in the mix.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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