[6][7] She became executive director of the International Institute in San Francisco in 1932,[8][9] and was president of the local chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

[12] During World War II, she organized the Pacific Coast Committee for American Principles and Fair Play,[13] hoping to mitigate some of the impact of the internment of Japanese Americans, and worked on war relocation issues at the YWCA's national headquarters in New York.

[14] "She was among those who really went to bat for persons of Japanese ancestry at the outbreak of the war," commented an obituary in the Pacific Citizen newspaper.

[15] In 1948 she testified before a Congressional hearing on housing issues in San Francisco,[16] and spoke on a panel at the national meeting of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in Salt Lake City.

[15] In 1960, after she died, the JACL encouraged donations to the Annie Clo Watson Scholarship for Social Workers as a memorial.