Zakiya’s path into fashion was anything but conventional. She began her studies in broadcast journalism, certain she would spend her career behind a news desk or producing her own shows. It was a dog-eared copy of Vogue — read cover to cover, then read again — that quietly changed the course of everything. Drawn to the intersection of visual storytelling and culture that fashion offered, she pivoted to earn a Bachelor’s in Fashion Marketing and Management, determined to bring her editorial instincts into a new arena.
She paid her dues the way New York demands — through years of unpaid internships at City Magazine and Nylon, absorbing everything the industry had to teach her about craft, pace, and precision. From there, she built a career that has taken her across editorial, advertising, e-commerce, and campaign production, styling for brands including J. Crew, Target, Tahari, Adrianna Papell, Robert Graham, Adore Me, Olivia Palermo Collection, Hanes, Champion, and FullBeauty Brands, among many others.
Her editorial work has appeared in GQ, Elle Mexico, L’Officiel Homme, Nylon, Zink, Bello, August Man Malaysia, Inked, and Redbook, among others. On set, she has collaborated with photographers including Andrew Kuykendall, Shannon Greer, Kristiina Wilson, Yossi Michaeli, Spencer Ostrander, and Marco Zambelli, and worked alongside some of New York’s most respected hair and makeup artists.
Today, Zakiya is expanding her practice into art direction — bringing the same conceptual rigor and aesthetic precision she has honed on set to the earlier stage of the creative process, where campaigns are conceived, visual worlds are built, and brand identity takes shape. She is also the voice behind Broke Rich Auntie, a personal media project exploring fashion, culture, and the creative life.
