Ana Homayoun

Last week, I had the joy of visiting Fast Company/Inc Magazine offices in NYC to speak with their wonderful staff about social media, technology and kids. I was in conversation with Christine Haughney Dare-Bryan, the award winning investigative reporter and Editor at Large of Inc Magazine who also, fun fact, created the series Rotten. She asked terrific questions, and engaged an audience filled with recent college graduates, mid-career journalists as well as parents of young children, teens and young adults, all who brought thought-provoking questions.

A wonderful part of my work is visiting with companies. As part of my visit, they purchased multiple copies of both Social Media Wellness and Erasing the Finish Line, and both were gone by the time our conversation was through. 📚📚📚

It was especially fun to touch on three of my four books, including my latest, Erasing the Finish Line, where the introduction describes being bombarded with viral college acceptance videos, and one of the four pillars (also, ironically, Acceptance) discusses the impact of social media socialization on every aspect of teen and young adult life.

This company visit was also personally reflective for me. The Fast Company/Inc offices are in the World Trade Center buildings that were rebuilt after 9/11 along with the memorial center and museum. In 2001, I was 22 years old and had recently graduated from college. Up until two weeks before 9/11, I took the subway into the World Trade Center every working day, walking the stairs now exhibited in the 9/11 museum. Visiting the same site 22 years later, knowing how so many lives including mine were forever impacted big and small ways, is something I don’t take lightly. It provided a moment of extra gratitude that I didn’t realize I needed in the midst of all the hecticness of a book launch and back-to-school.

This week, Erasing the Finish Line is officially launched into the world. When a friend found out the book was featured on Good Morning America, she said, "A twenty year overnight success!"

I started thinking about the seedlings of this book in 2018, when I spent much of the summer in Charlotte, NC interviewing educators, non-profit directors, parents, students and community members for a needs assessment. That work - long story for another day - was the impetus for creating and piloting the first iteration of the Life Navigator School Advisory Program in 2019-2022.

I had the idea to interview former students for the book and other young adults (plot twist!) because I knew that their stories, that I had heard informally over the years, were meant to be highlighted. Getting to visit with them again, after all those years, feels like a gift.

This book really is a culmination of over twenty years of work directly with students and in schools. It is meant to spur conversation and a reexamination of how we support student wellbeing and overall wellness and long-term academic success by helping every kid and young adult develop their own blueprint.

Thank you to all of you who have bought the book, shared the book, are showing up at events and asking great questions - it means the world.

On sale everywhere you buy books.

Visit erasingthefinishline.com to let us know you've purchased and get access to bonuses including the exclusive online conversation on September 6 with Farnoosh Torabi where we'll talk about all things books, publishing, and kids.

What an incredible honor to have my new book, Erasing the Finish Line, featured on Good Morning America this morning.

I am so grateful to get the message of the book of moving beyond the faulty finish line of college admissions and focus on the underlying skills around systems, connection, perspective and acceptance as a way to help all kids and young adults develop their own blueprint for success.

On sale everywhere you buy books.

Ana Homayoun talks new book 'Erasing the Finish Line' The academic adviser's book seeks to redefine what success means for kids and what it could look like in a classroom setting.