Born in Bauchi, Nigeria, Zalanga emigrated to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1994. She now resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is 24 years old. Zalanga began taking photographs of marches, protests, and direct actions after Michael Brown, Jr. was killed in Ferguson, Missouri. She has documented freedom fighters in the Twin Cities, Ferguson, St. Louis, Baltimore and Selma. Zalanga’s work has been featured on AJ+, The Twin Cities Daily Planet, The Guardian, Nightline, Upworthy, MPR, and NPR. She says that her work is intended to highlight the humanity of black activists and provide an alternative narrative to that of the mainstream media.