Jordan Marie Finley is a sophomore majoring in the CCS Writing and Literature and BFA Acting programs at UC Santa Barbara. Jordan is a Black woman and her pronouns are she/her/hers. Jordan’s Hogwarts house is aptly Slytherin, for cunning and ambition. She has been writing since she learned how to hold a pencil and developed a permanent bump on her right ring finger from spending so many hours writing stories by hand as a kid. Today, Jordan mainly writes poetry and plays, three of which have seen productions so far: Feliz Cumpleaños (California Playwrights Project), Why We March (UC Santa Barbara), and The Love Project (California Playwright’s Project). She is passionate about using performance as a vessel for social justice and change. Jordan would feel that her dreams for writing and acting have come to fruition if she were to become an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner, a bestselling author, a published playwright, or any combination of these events. Jordan is thrilled and grateful to be in the Gabler Promise Scholars program working on her craft and producing Hail Mary alongside her peers and friends.
Creative Writing Sample
Queen of Monaco Street is a profile of Jordan’s late grandmother, Mary Wyatt. It was written to reflect the history and, frankly, magic that is rooted in Point Loma, California and lives on through her family.
Year-long project
My year-long project is a creative nonfiction/poetry book about high school Varsity cheerleading’s impact on my perception of my body image and my Blackness. The work explores growing up as the baby girl in my family, navigating our upbringing in a white neighborhood and predominantly white school districts, and the relationships throughout my life that shaped who I am as a daughter, athlete, writer, friend, and human. My brother, Jackson Finley Illustration, created the cover design of an art deco-style cheerleader with an afro and hoop earrings. Hail Mary is equally an expose and elegy to my time in the sport.
