Syreeta Gates didn’t find the archive—she became the archive. Raised in South Jamaica Queens with a camera in one hand and a Source magazine in the other, she’s been preserving the stories we live since before knowing it could be a career.

She earned a degree in Urban Youth Culture from Hunter College (because she invented the major), then went on to NYU for her Master’s in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation. After that, built her own lane. Syreeta founded The Gates Preserve—a company committed to archiving the worlds we shape, and making sure they last forever.

Gates’ has produced and led archival research on docs like Ladies First, Black Pop, The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion, and A Ballerina’s Tale, and is currently producing her first feature, Shaping the Culture—a deep dive into the history of hip-hop journalism, from copy machines to tweets.

As the first Black woman on LEGO® Masters (U.S. Season 2), Syreeta flipped her love of storytelling into bricks (LEGO® bricks that is). She’s the founder of Most Incredible Studio, which creates cultural compositions and collectible artifacts that turn memory into experience and IP into tangible form. And also produces Yo Stay Hungry—a live culinary showdown where rap meets recipes and food becomes freestyle.

Gates’ featured in and produced for Netflix’s Ladies First and has been recognized by NYT, Vogue, Forbes, Black Enterprise, RedBull, and Refinery29. Her work lives on the page too—in books like Fresh Fly Fabulous (Elena Romero & Elizabeth Way), BLK MKT Vintage: Reclaiming Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Stories (Jannah Handy & Kiyanna Stewart), The Quarter-Life Breakthrough (Smiley Poswolsky), Creating Innovators (Tony Wagner), and Stand Up! (John Schlimm).

Everything Gates’ touches—films, food, bricks, or books—starts with the same questions: how do we make memory visible? how can we create what’s missing?