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Kenyan-born photographer Polly Irungu lands top White House job
Kenyan-born journalist Polly Irungu becomes the first official photo editor for the office of US Vice President Kamala Harris.
What you need to know:
- Born in Nairobi, Ms Irungu has lived around the world, from Kansas to Oregon, Washington, D.C., Arkansas, and ultimately to Brooklyn, New York.
- She is also a 2022 IWMF Gwen Ifill Fellow, a programme designed to address the lack of diversity in leadership positions across newsrooms in the United States.
Kenyan-born journalist, Polly Irungu, has landed the first official photo editor job at the White House, US.
She made the announcement on her Twitter account yesterday noting that she was the first person to hold the position in the Office of Vice-President Kamala Harris.
“I’m excited to announce that I’m the first official photo editor for the Office of the Vice-President to the Biden-Harris Administration. Honoured and grateful is an understatement,” she wrote and attached a photo of her standing outside the official residence of US President Joe Biden.
She joins fellow Kenyan Joy Ngugi at the White House. She works as a video producer and editor in the Office of Digital Strategy in Biden’s administration.
Ms Ngugi also announced her new job on her Twitter handle in January last year.
Ms Irungu is the founder of Black Women Photographers, a global community and directory of over 1,000 black female photographers that advocates their recognition and right to jobs.
Achievements
As a self-taught photographer and writer, she is a woman of many achievements with her work being published in numerous publications including the New York Times, Reuters, Global Citizen, BBC News, MEFeater, Refinery29, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed and CNN.
She most recently worked as a digital editor at New York Public Radio (WNYC). In 2017, she completed a degree in journalism at the University of Oregon.
Born in Nairobi, Ms Irungu has lived around the world, from Kansas to Oregon, Washington, D.C., Arkansas, and ultimately to Brooklyn, New York.
Currently, she is a part of Twitter and LinkedIn’s creator programmes and a teacher at the International Centre of Photography.
She is also a 2022 IWMF Gwen Ifill Fellow, a programme designed to address the lack of diversity in leadership positions across newsrooms in the United States.
In a LinkedIn post earlier this week, Ms Irungu celebrated her mother, Dr Jane Irungu, who also landed a new position as Utah State University's first vice-president of diversity, equity and inclusion.
