all photographs by Cassidy Araiza
Kristen Joy Watts is a creative director at Instagram, where she has launched and built global equity initiatives including Black Visionaries, Design For All and Runway For All.
KJW is a creative director with an entrepreneurial spirit and a long-term commitment to equity.
During KJW’s time at Instagram, she has championed emerging artists and designers, initially leading the art and fashion editorial for @instagram while helping the team build the largest social media account in the world.
Next, she launched @design, developing and expanding upon the core belief that everyone is worthy of great design. Inspired by its community, she launched Black Visionaries, an ambitious effort that centers Black creativity. Black Visionaries, now in its third year, includes editorial, partnerships, and mentorships for creative voices like Taofeek Abijako and studios like Morcos Key. It is guided by the curator Antwaun Sargent and administered in partnership with Brooklyn Museum. KJW has diverted millions of dollars to Black artists and designers through this program’s commissions, features, and no-strings-attached grants.
KJW also directs global Instagram in-app artist collaborations, such as commissioning The New York Times bestselling author and artist Chanel Miller to mark International Women’s Day. And, she leads technologically experimental partnerships with artists and museums, such as the AR effects Instagram created for Takashi Murakami’s new show at the Broad.
Before she joined Instagram, KJW was an associate creative director at R/GA. There, she was a social media trailblazer, launching award-winning campaigns and communities on new channels such as Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter, for brands including Tiffany, Converse, and Nike.
KJW began her career at The New York Times, where she was part of the small team that launched Lens, a groundbreaking photography and photojournalism blog. She contributed creative direction, reporting, writing, photo-editing, multimedia production and community management – all in service of Lens’s mission to tell the stories behind the photos in the nation’s newspaper of record.
Two years ago, KJW was part of the small team that launched 15 Percent Pledge, a not-for-profit that has already carved out more than $10 billion for Black-owned businesses. And as a proud member of the disability community, KJW also consults and volunteers for numerous organizations dedicated to serving it. Among these is Summertime Gallery, a gallery and workspace for artists with intellectual disabilities in Brooklyn.
KJW received her M.A. from Columbia University and her B.A. (Honors) from Victoria College at the University of Toronto. She has a rescue German Shepherd named Wombat and currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, where tumbleweeds tumble in search of a song.