Zakiyyah Woods

Zakiyyah Woods (b. 1984) is a photojournalist from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. As a child of the 90s, Zakiyyah became acutely conscious of the one-sided ways news and movies portrayed he beloved Bed-Stuy and neighborhoods like it and knew she wanted to contribute towards correcting the narrative long before she was able to articulate the desire or how to execute it. 

Zakiyyah attributes her love of photography being rooted in repeatedly flipping through old family photo albums stored in her Nana's living room cabinet during her childhood. She enrolled in her first photo class at Benedict College, an HBCU in Columbia, SC, where she learned how to see the world through her viewfinder  and continues using her storytelling skills behind the camera as a Masters of Engagement Journalism candidate at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in NYC. Zakiyyah actively seeks to blend the practices of Engagement Journalism and photography to give a platform to communities often overlooked or unheard.  

Zakiyyah is an FAA certified drone pilot, a member of Black Women Photographers, Diversify Photo and The Luupe. She also holds active membership in the New York Association of Black Journalists and is the 2022-2023 president of the Newmark Association of Black Journalists. In June 2023 she was selected as one of the many talented artists featured at the annual Photoville Festival in Brooklyn, NY. A few days after Photoville's opening weekend, Zakiyyah began a ten week summer internship as the first visual editor intern at WNYC/Gothamist.com.  

Zakiyyah's work has been published in Reuters, Business Insider, Gothamist/WNYC, The Luupe, The New York Times and NPR. Some of her clients include Volunteers of America NYC and Community Heroes Photoville exhibition. 

Zakiyyah is available for assignments.