Kenyan-American journalist Polly Irungu who has been working at the White House has announced her exit from the office.
Irungu who has been the official White House photographer and photo editor for Vice President Kamala Harris made the announcement Monday just a few hours before the inauguration of the newly-elected president Donald Trump.
Irungu has been serving in the office since 2022 when Kamala tapped her to document her "campaign's story”.
“Time flies! Today is my last day at the White House serving as the Official Photo Editor for Vice President Kamala Harris and as an Official White House Photographer,” she wrote.
Reflecting on her journey, Irungu expressed gratitude to the outgoing president saying she never imagined working at the White House.
“When 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.
Irungu was born in Nairobi but later moved to the US at the age of 4 where she was raised in both Kansas and Oregon.
After completing her studies at the University of Oregon, she moved to New York City and took a job as a digital content editor at New York Public Radio.
While working at WNYC, she continued to pursue freelance photography, selling shots of New York City to clients such as Refinery29 and BBC News.
Some of her work was featured in a Nasdaq campaign dubbed, Amplifying Black Voices, documenting Black Lives, in 2020. The pieces were displayed at the Nasdaq Marketsite Tower in Times Square.
In response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Irungu started Black Women Photographers, a "global community and database of Black women and nonbinary photographers."
The group currently has more than 1,200 members spanning 50 countries.
Black Women Photographers is credited with helping members get jobs with the Washington Post and The New York Times, and also provides classes and grant opportunities.
