Shawn M. Pridgen, Founder + Creative Director
Shawn Michael Pridgen is a decorated documentary photographer and small business owner. He is dedicated to promoting racial equity and actively contributes his work to local nonprofits, activist organizations, and corporations that share his mission. Shawn aims to challenge traditional thinking, beginning with the gatekeepers. He focuses on highlighting underserved and marginalized communities, providing them with representation and visibility in the ongoing struggle for sustainable racial equity.
More About Our founder
Shawn Michael Pridgen (b. 1983) was born in San Clemente, California. After graduating from DePaul University with a B.A. in Political Science & International Relations in 2010, he attended DePaul's School of Public Service. He completed coursework toward a master's in public service administration (MPA) in 2014. While completing his master's, he worked as a Research and Policy Intern for the Chicago Housing Authority (2009-10), as a Clerk and Coordinator for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Office of Chief Counsel (2010-12); as a Human Resources Administrator, for the U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. Department of Justice (2012-13); and as a Legal Team Assistant, for Target Corporation (2013-14). From 2016 -2017, he was a Consultant for Northwestern University and became a Shared Services Coordinator for Octave Group until 2018. The following year, he served as a Business Coordinator for CNN. He was a Legal Personnel Assistant for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in Manhattan (2019-20) before beginning his photographic career with the outbreak of the Black Lives Matter protests (2020 -21).
In 2020, he created ShawnMPridgen LLC, a small documentary photography business focused on racial equity. His imagery has since appeared in INQUE Magazine, Harper's, The Guardian, Outside, The Washington Post, Bicycle, The Point, Hearst Publishing, Tracksmith, and GearPatrol.com. He actively contributes his work to local nonprofits and activist organizations. He actively collaborates with corporate entities to contribute to the continuing struggle to provide representation and commercial visibility of underserved communities, take a stand in the fight for racial justice, and create sustainable and actual racial equity, domestically and internationally.
Collaborations with organizations include Patagonia, The Laura Beya Collective, Justice For George NYC, Warriors in the Garden, Riders 4 Rights, UnitedNY2020, Freedom March NYC, Signs for BLM, Bicycle Film Festival, Prospect Park Organization/NYC Parks, Bike for Good Glasgow West (Scotland), and many others. In 2021, Shawn's work appeared in the #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Crisis exhibition in Manhattan, NY.