Kim Johnson Flodin is a native Californian who became interested in photography as a child, but it was in college that her passion for journalism sparked a career in visual storytelling.

She began her career as a photographer in Wichita, Kansas, in 1990, where she covered 40 days of abortion protests in Wichita, known as the Summer of Mercy. At The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, she covered the first free elections in South Africa. She went on to photograph refugees in Thailand, tensions from the Northern Ireland independence struggle for The Sacramento Bee, then wildfires, major league sports, the Academy Awards, and other entertainment awards shows for The Associated Press.

In 2010, she became a photo editor and later a multiplatform regional news editor, directing reporters, photographers, and video journalists in coverage of breaking news, such as Hurricane Harvey, mass shootings, college and major league events, and enterprise projects. During protests in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, she edited photos that were part of The AP’s winning entry for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.

Currently, Johnson Flodin is the morning deputy director of news, U.S. newsgathering, at The Associated Press, where she is part of a leadership team that oversees the United States' news report in all formats. She and her husband, web developer Scott Flodin, live in Chicago. Their daughters, Isabella, 22, and Simone, 20, attend college.