I've Returned to Big Daddy Algorithm.

Rebuilding on Instagram After Being Deplatformed

N3VLYNNN

Some of you may know that I joined Substack in April of 2023, the morning after I got permanently suspended from Instagram for sharing the stories of black detrans lesbians.

As a multi-disciplinary Artist, Instagram was my original platform for N3VLYNNN, where I shared pole dance, visual art, writing, and fashion design.

Additionally, I had two linked accounts: one for my Women’s Wellness brand, Haus of Isis, and a Facebook account to manage the business page for my documentary film, Reflections Unheard: Black Women in Civil Rights.

When N3VLYNNN got cancelled, everything else got wiped out too—even though I didn’t speak about gender critical topics on my other pages.

Overnight, I lost thousands of followers, and a curated Artist platform that I’d been crafting for 8 years. I managed to get my Haus of Isis page back, but my original Artist account is gone. To this day, I am still locked out of my Film’s social media page.

Thankfully, I have always maintained my own official website, which is the true digital home for my professional Artist portfolio. I also have an (inactive) Youtube channel. So, not all of my work was demolished. But, a lot of it was.

For a couple of years, I didn’t want to go back to Instagram because I didn’t feel that it could hold space for who I am as an Artist. But recently, that’s changed.

I am primarily back on Instagram because I have reignited my pole dance practice, and I am finally in a place to express myself and cultivate my Artistry in ways that have been inaccessible to me for the past few years. As always, my Instagram is a discovery platform for my pole dance, visual art, fashion, and writing.

It is the space where I get to say things that cannot be said through words.

Exhibit A is the impromptu photo shoot I recently did at the park, where I’m sure I looked like an absolute madwoman, sitting alone and laughing out loud while taking self-portraits of me luxuriating in the Santa-Clausness of my hair.

Writing is something that comes very naturally to me, but I see it as just another medium of expression. There are a lot of other dimensions to my creative spirit, and it can feel very stuffy to limit myself to the written word.

I love my blog, and I plan to keep writing—but what I create here does not capture the full spectrum of my talent.

I also believe that my readership will have more room to blossom in the ways I am desiring, if I can create channels to share my other gifts with the world.

It stings that I cannot reference some of the old works I once created for Instagram. And, rebuilding from zero on a platform that values Artists even less than it did when I first joined, feels like climbing an impossibly steep mountain.

If there is any place where I feel the oppressive weight of censorship, and the ugly side of capitalism—it is through the Instagram algorithm.

For the past 10 years, a number of people have told me I’m going to “blow up”. Although I am wildly flattered over these comments, and I’ve always believed I deserve a larger audience, it’s still a hard sell for me to buy, because I fundamentally question if the world is ready for my voice.

Although I often wonder if I will be forever be pushed into relative obscurity, I know that I have something special to offer, and sooner or later, the right people will find me. For now, I use the most suitable platforms for what I do, knowing that my success will not be rooted in superficial mechanics, but in something deeper and timeless.

I outlined some other ways to grow my platform without social media in my 2023 post on this subject, “Turning My Back on Big Daddy Algorithm”. I tested my own methods throughout the following year, and…voila! They worked.

When you’re an Artist like myself who actually pushes boundaries, you also have to get creative with how you expand your reach. You will have to carve a unique path, because most conventional wisdom will not apply to you.

One day, I’d love to create a workshop to share more of my “secrets” for creatives like me who go against the grain.

For now, if you’d like to follow me @n3vlynnn_ you’re welcome to. I’ll see you there.