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Taryn Finley

@_tarynitup

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culture reporter/that girl.
midwest kid in a brooklyn world.
a way with words in: @refinery29, @ebonymagazine, @huffpost and more.
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Today marks one year of our trauma-informed creative writing programs for youth in detention and reentry. The idea for Next PAGE was sparked by the father of a 14-year-old who got locked up after struggling in school. With every student who has selected a journal and begun thinking through their stories, we’ve refined our curriculum around the young people who write with us. Beyond the classroom, we stay connected with students and help them access support and opportunities. Next PAGE started with a grassroots running community that believed in our mission before we’d even begun. In 2025, five runners, supported by @harlemrun, took on the NYC Marathon. By race day, they’d raised $9,136.51 to launch our first workshop at an East Harlem reentry site. On October 22, 2025, we welcomed our first students for what was supposed to be a 7-week pilot. Seven weeks became eight months. Many students advanced at least one grade level in reading and writing, with some jumping five or six grade levels. Students who skipped other classes kept returning to ours, sometimes staying for hours afterward to write and talk. (See their reflections on slides 7 and 10.) Next PAGE has always been about more than just reading and writing. It’s about emotional literacy: the idea that if you can come to terms with your past and how you feel about it, you can write yourself into a different future. It’s the work of a lifetime, but for 62 students across three boroughs, that work began this year. We expanded into NYC’s juvenile detention facilities, including the very site where that 14-year-old was once held. Now, in another full-circle moment, this year’s marathon team includes one of our graduates. On November 1, @waynegzzzz will run his first marathon so more young people can have the opportunities he experienced in our workshops. Our team aims to raise $15,000 to expand programming for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth across NYC. Support our mission at the link in bio. All donations are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor @opus1foundation. Pilot workshop photos: @afariahshotit. 2025 marathon photos: @flimediainc for @harlemrun. Close-up photograph of a student holding a handwritten note beside a blue sensory ball during a Next PAGE creative writing workshop. White text reads: “1 Year. 3 Boroughs. 62 Students.” A small Next PAGE logo appears at the bottom right.
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What if the art on your wall could hold cultural, emotional and financial value? A growing generation of Black collectors is thinking beyond decoration and asking what it means to own the work of Black artists while those artists are still building their legacies. @_tarynitup looks at the people trying to shift who gets to collect, preserve and ultimately benefit from Black art. Read the full story in the WayMaker Money Issue.
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Every issue starts with an idea. The writers are the ones who give it shape. For our Money Issue, this group of talented writers brought perspective, reporting and lived experience to conversations about ownership, wealth, culture, opportunity and the decisions that shape how we move through the world. We’re grateful for the voices behind these stories and the thought they brought to every page. Meet the writers of the WayMaker Money Issue and read the work they helped bring to life. Get your copy of The Money Issue at the link in bio!
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Some Yard lessons come from class.The rest? You learn the hard way. 👀🎓 For ‘The Yard Decoded,’ HBCU alums are helping the next generation navigate the Yard... from dating and early classes to campus etiquette, Homecoming and everything orientation leaves out. We may rep different schools, but the culture will always speak the same language. Tap the link in bio for the full conversation on EBONY’s YouTube... your attendance is strongly encouraged. 📚🖤
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Every HBCU has its own rhythm, but the lessons that shape us on the Yard tend to travel. Through ‘The Yard Decoded,’ we’re bringing HBCU grads together to pass the game back... sharing what they learned, what they’d do differently and the wisdom they wish they had sooner so the next generation can thrive from day one. So before you head to the Yard, consider this required viewing. Tap the link in bio to watch the full video now on EBONY’s YouTube and take notes. 🎓🖤
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Welcome back to Hillman College! The reboot of “A Different World” is officially here and writer Taryn Finley (@_tarynitup) couldn’t help but reflect on the original show and its influence. From the historically Black college she chose to the career she pursued, “A Different World” was there to show her a multidimensional reality for young Black people that she might not have encountered otherwise. Now, she hopes the reboot can do the same for this generation. “The original ‘A Different World’ showed us how HBCUs pour into our community. The sequel is pushing us to see how we can pour back into them,” Finley writes. Swipe and click the link in bio to read more. 📷: Netflix / Getty Images
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The World Afro Day 2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the global day dedicated to celebrating natural afro hair, culture, and identity! I saw a post on threads today that said I am seeking a hairstylist who specializes in natural hair on black women and I said hell yeah ! When I chose to stop doing all hair on a day to day bases it was never because I’m not good at it but this is my love letter to black women . I know others have Afros too but don’t act like yall don’t know . Cheers to 10 years ! #worldafroday #naturalhair #afro #afrohairstyle #rvahairstylist
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The folks came thru to eat, drink, and kiki with the queens (and a few kings) at my house in Brooklyn this Labor Day weekend! It was niiiiiice! #labordayweekend #laborday
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And another one! ✨ Just wrapped production on a 6+ month process of leading the latest issue of USA TODAY’s Go Escape: Florida & Southeast. Seeing months of planning, assigning, editing and production finally come together in print never gets old. Inside, we’re journeying through pivotal Civil Rights landmarks, visiting Florida wildlife sanctuaries giving retired exotic animals a second chapter, eating our way through North Carolina on a Top Chef-inspired road trip, exploring Georgia’s take on biophilic living and checking out Chattanooga’s transformation into North America’s first National Park City. I could keep going because there’s so much more inside but I’ll just stop there. 😂 Shoutout to the talented writers I worked with on this issue and, as always, a HUGE shoutout to the editors, leadership, design team and everyone behind the scenes who helped bring it all to life. Couldn’t ask for a better group of people to work with every day. ❤️ Go Escape: Florida & Southeast is on newsstands now! ✈️
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We have finally closed the chapter on @loveislandusa season 8 so you know @_tarynitup & @kenyattavictoria had to come back for #ChronicallyConnected to dissect all things reunion. Sol quite literally left a mark last night and it might’ve been for the worst. What do y’all think? Can she come back from the L she took?
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082226. | the goddess yacht club. 🛥️🥂💫 POV: it’s your birthday + you’re overdue for a little yacht sh*t.
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