Kyndell Harkness is the first Head of Culture and Community at the Minnesota Star Tribune. Her cultural transformation work started in the newsroom after the murder of George Floyd and is now moving to a company-wide effort.

Before this new role, Harkness helped to coordinate visual on-the-ground coverage of the George Floyd protests as well as ensuring that picture selection kept community impact in mind. Because of that work, she was awarded the Jim Gordon Editor of the Year award and Newspaper Editor of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association as well as being a part of the Star Tribune team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news.

Harkness has worked as a photo editor for more than five years, coordinating coverage of the Ryder Cup, two Olympics, a Super Bowl, Final Four and breaking news such as Prince’s death. Before that Kyndell spent more than two decades as a photojournalist, working 15 years at the Star Tribune covering communities across the state.  She has also taught as a photo instructor at a high school journalism camp called J Camp for 16 years that champions diversity of voices.