Biden's Govt Poaches Kenyan Journalist

Kenyan-born photojournalist Polly Irungu has landed a lucrative job in US President Joe Biden's administration.

Taking to her social media platforms on Friday, July 29, Irungu announced that the White House government has appointed her to be the first photo editor for the office of US Vice President, Kamala Harris.

She added that the new role was evident in the Biden administration's trust in her impressive skills in the media industry.

"New chapter, 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 announced.

The news comes as she celebrated two years of founding the Black Women Photographers, a global community and directory of over 1,000 black photographers across the world.

Launched in July of 2020, Black Women Photographers (BWP) is a global community of over 1,000 active members from around the world and aims to disrupt the notion that it is difficult to discover and commission Black creatives.

Through honest dialogue via social conversations and workshops, the platform seeks to ensure that more Black women and non-binary photographers are empowered to make the industry as colourful as it ought to be. 

"Black Women Photographers is a home for Black women to receive proper recognition, and most importantly, get hired. Dedicated to providing a resource for the industry’s gatekeepers, it supports its members through promoting their work in an active database distributed to photo editors, directors, curators, and art buyers," it describes.

Irungu is a celebrated and accomplished photojournalist with more than 15 awards and honours. She held several roles in her career with some of the world's biggest companies after she attained a Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oregon.

During her tenure as content creator at Twitter, she was selected for the first class of Hosts for Twitter's Spaces Spark Program, a three-month accelerator initiative that is designed to discover and reward great Spaces on Twitter with financial, technical, and marketing support.

She was also a content creator at LinkedIn, one of 100 US-based creators accepted into LinkedIn's first class of creators. The professional networking platform had announced that it was investing Ksh2.97 billion (US$25 million) into a 10-week program providing 100 U.S. creators with grants, coaching and networking support.

Other companies she has worked with include WeTransfer, the National Press Photographers Association and New York Public Radio where she was the digital editor.

Some of her works have been featured in global media houses such as The New York Times, Reuters, BBC News, CNN, the Washington Post and BuzzFeed.