Mutiti became the third director of Yale's graduate graphic design program, following Professor Sheila Levrant de Bretteville’s historic thirty-two year tenure.

[14] Mutiti previously served an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Graphic Design department, where she taught between 2017 and 2022.

For example, in a 2014 exhibition at Recess Art, Mutiti drew for inspiration from the space of an African hair braiding salon, as it might be found in New York City or Harare.

Mutiti recreated aesthetic markers such as "walls painted in acid green or bright orange, magazine cut outs of celebrities, hair product models, flyers and posters from evangelical churches... [and] the ubiquitous small black television set on top of a cabinet playing Nollywood movies.

In 2015, as part of Performa, she worked together with Chimurenga and Pan African Space Station to create a functional pop-up salon which hosted a series of conversations.