Chaya Howell is a recognized creative advocate, educator, researcher, futurist and advisor. She is the Principal Advisor for Marginalized in Mind. As a high school student, she was part of the second cohort of Teen Art Gallery, an organization run for teens by teens that featured young artists (ages 12-19) in New York City galleries. She credits this experience as her early desire to highlight others through creative means. Howell's formal education began with the support of the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Rochester Institute of Technology. Through both institutions she planted her design and photography community. After graduating, her career was ignited as an employee for companies ranging from small to large in size, including MGM+, Complex Networks, WorkOf, and Push for Pizza (led by the same founders of EXTRA, the credit-building debit card). She eventually became a Producer at Dippin' Sauce, a subsidiary of production agency, thelab. There she worked with Victoria's Secret PINK on imagery for their e-commerce website, and developed a love for crafting succinct operational workflows. As time progressed, Howell went on to work with Trunk Archive as a Creative Liaison and Archivist. In this title, she was able to work directly with the some prominent names in photography such as Sharif Hamza, Miles Aldridge, Elinor Carucci, Rodney Smith, Elizaveta Porodina, Braylen Dion, and hundreds more under Thursday's Child. During this time, Howell crafted the first iteration of Marginalized in Mind, which was a bootleg job board on social media platforms. This exposure led Howell to both the Wall Street Journal as a Features Photo Editor, handling photo illustration and traditional photography, and to Free Juice as a founding Board Member of Art Direction and Recruitment. Through both experiences she grew her Rolodex to a substantial group of researchers, journalists, graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, art directors, advertising agencies, producers, retouchers, publications, and other thought leaders. Due to her desires for expansion, she transitioned out of the Wall Street Journal's Features team to collaborate with the likes of NeueHouse, Wonderful Machine, Snap Collective, and more. Howell is currently a Board Member for Photography Network, a Research and Policy Fellow for the Future of Employment and Income, and visiting Director of Operations for a graduate program within the School of Visual Arts.
She has been named a "Creative Genius" by Pixelz' Top 50 E-Commerce Professionals for her transdisciplinary work within creativity, and has judged on panels for New York Foundation of Arts, Brooklyn Arts Council, American Photographic Artists, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and AIGA NY. Additionally, she has been invited to engagements by the Lede Company, International Center for Photography, Indigo Alliance, Lucie Foundation, Black Women Photographers, Diversify Photo, and more.
Howell is an eternal student to creativity and pedagogy. She lives in New York City, but works globally.
Like the nodes below, Chaya is an ever-growing connector; from art to theory, from theory to community, from community to self, from self to education... and so on. She collaborates in all appropriate directions through her practice, Marginalized in Mind.
Right now, she is currently learning about sociology, inclusive design, philosophy, AI ethics, and anthropology (follow along here).
Stay tuned to hear more of the initiative that combines these interests of hers.