When she became beauty director of Teen Vogue in 2012, Welteroth was the first person of African-American heritage to serve in the role.
She is credited for the notable increase of Teen Vogue coverage of politics and social justice, encouraging readers to become civically engaged, specifically during the 2016 U.S.
presidential election.
Under Welteroth's leadership of Teen Vogue's shifting format, the magazine developed its first YouTube channel, featuring content on diverse subjects from campus style to cultural appropriation.
The final print edition of Teen Vogue was December 2017.
On January 11, 2018, Welteroth resigned from Teen Vogue and moved to California and signed with CAA.
In June 2019 her memoir, More Than Enough: Claiming space for who you are (no matter what they say), was published by Viking.