Taryn Phaneuf is an independent journalist based in St. Paul, Minnesota, reporting on the food system and how communities interact with it, including the challenges it presents and solutions they need. In particular, she's interested in the role of science, public policy, and culture in shaping how we produce and eat food. Her work appears at MinnPost, Minne Inno, TheAtlantic.com, Crosscut, Civil Eats, and The Inlander, among others.
Taryn earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and sociology from the University of Minnesota in 2011. She started her career at the Minnesota Daily – an award-winning student-run publication. Later, she was a projects reporter at the Bowling Green Daily News in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where she reported stories showing the human impact of state and local policy, working closely with staff photographers to tell visually focused stories. While on staff, Taryn reported on conditions at two dysfunctional county-funded animal shelters – stories which preceded systemic changes at the facilities. She started her career as an independent reporter while living in rural Washington.
Born in Fargo, North Dakota, and raised on or near Air Force bases on the east coast, Taryn is more likely to claim Minnesota as home because that’s where she met and married Ben, learned to tell stories, and fell in love with the outdoors. The Phaneufs often travel the country to rock climb, backpack, and mountain bike. Over the years, they’ve climbed tens of thousands of feet of rock and explored the mountains by bike, boot, crampon, and snowshoe.
Taryn also seeks opportunities to work with other journalists. She returns to Kentucky annually to volunteer as a writing coach at Mountain Workshops – a weeklong bootcamp for visual journalists orchestrated by Western Kentucky University and held in a different community around the state each year, documenting place and people at a point in time. She teaches participants techniques for developing a story, interviewing for narrative, and writing visually as they complete an assignment.
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Taryn earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and sociology from the University of Minnesota in 2011. She started her career at the Minnesota Daily – an award-winning student-run publication. Later, she was a projects reporter at the Bowling Green Daily News in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where she reported stories showing the human impact of state and local policy, working closely with staff photographers to tell visually focused stories. While on staff, Taryn reported on conditions at two dysfunctional county-funded animal shelters – stories which preceded systemic changes at the facilities. She started her career as an independent reporter while living in rural Washington.
Born in Fargo, North Dakota, and raised on or near Air Force bases on the east coast, Taryn is more likely to claim Minnesota as home because that’s where she met and married Ben, learned to tell stories, and fell in love with the outdoors. The Phaneufs often travel the country to rock climb, backpack, and mountain bike. Over the years, they’ve climbed tens of thousands of feet of rock and explored the mountains by bike, boot, crampon, and snowshoe.
Taryn also seeks opportunities to work with other journalists. She returns to Kentucky annually to volunteer as a writing coach at Mountain Workshops – a weeklong bootcamp for visual journalists orchestrated by Western Kentucky University and held in a different community around the state each year, documenting place and people at a point in time. She teaches participants techniques for developing a story, interviewing for narrative, and writing visually as they complete an assignment.
Follow her work or get in touch:
