Zeba Blay

Zeba Blay is a Ghanaian-American writer, film and cultural critic, and former senior culture writer for The Huffington Post. She coined the hashtag #CarefreeBlackGirl in 2013 and published her accompanying debut essay collection Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Pop Culture in 2021.

Early life and education Blay was born in Ghana and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. She took a film class in high school that helped her develop an interest in film criticism.

In 2013, she received her bachelor's degree from The New School's Eugene Lang College, where she created an original concentration in cultural criticism.

She has named Toni Morrison, Janet Mock, Manohla Dargis, and Greg Tate as writers who influenced her work.

Career Writing Blay's writing has been in published in The New York Times, The Village Voice, IndieWire, Film Comment, and others. She was a culture writer at HuffPost from 2013 until 2021. Vogue, and Vox. She was a writer for the web series MTV Decoded, hosted by Franchesca Ramsey.

She coined the viral hashtag #CarefreeBlackGirl on Twitter in October 2013. She also includes her personal experiences with anxiety and depression.

She uses her personal Instagram as an archive for images related to Black expression, emotion, and care.

Personal life Blay resides in New York City.

Works