Kenyan-born American journalist and photographer Polly Irungu has announced her departure from the White House where she served former Vice President Kamala Harris as her official Photographer and Photo Editor.
Polly Irungu has been serving Kamala Harris for the last three years, since 2022, when she beat the odds to get selected as the first photo editor at the White House. The former Vice President had initially appointed her to document her ‘campaign story’.
In an emotional statement, Irungu reflected on the journey she had under the wings of the former Vice President, admitting it had never crossed her mind she’d serve in the highest office in the world.
“While I developed a love for visual storytelling and worked at McDonald’s in school to save up for my first camera, I never thought my passion would take me to The White House. After nearly 3 years, today was my last day. Thank you, Mr President, Adam and Lawrence,” she wrote hours before Trump was sworn in.
Kenyan Polly Irungu who works for US Vice President Kamala Harris
The good work she has managed to attain in her life can largely be attributed to her travelling exploits worldwide. Other than in Nairobi, she lived in both Kansas and Oregon, having arrived in the US at the age of 4.
She has studied at the University of Oregon and lived in New York City working as a digital content editor at the New York Public Radio. Irungu’s works shot to prominence in 2020 when she was featured in a Nasdaq campaign dubbed Amplifying Black Voices.
Later on she started an online directory of Black Women Photographers, with the aim of creating an online marketplace where people can find and hire black women photographers for jobs. Today, the group operates with more than 1,200 members from over 50 countries.
Some of its members have landed jobs with The New York Times and others with The Washington Post magazines.
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