Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Payton Selby is an MFA Candidate at Columbia University pursuing a degree in Creative Nonfiction Writing. Payton is the Director of Columbia University’s Incarcerated Writers Initiative, Associate Director of The Columbia Artist/Teachers and Editor in Chief of the Exchange Journal, a publication of writing and art from incarcerated authors. She teaches journalism, poetry and essay writing to formerly incarcerated writers and is an English tutor with Armory College Prep. She is an alumni of NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and received a degree in Politics and Journalism with a minor concentration in Social Cultural Analysis. Awarded the Hearst Award (Pulitzer Prize of Collegiate Journalism) for feature writing, Payton is a passionate chronicler of the intersection between politics, personal storytelling and the arts in her writing. However, first and foremost she is an intersectional feminist and advocate for those disempowered under modern capitalism and for the Black community.