‘Humans of NY’ Shares Albany Woman’s Life Story

It's the story that took the internet by storm. And we're learning that it all started in Upstate New York.

If you're anything like me, you've followed stories on the Facebook and Instagram account of Humans of New York. If you've never heard of Humans of New York before it started a photography project back in 2010.

Photographer Brandon Stanton explains on the Humans of New York Facebook page that his initial goal was to photograph 10,000 random New Yorkers, but it turned into more when he started interviewing his subjects. He would share their photos along with a quote or short stories that he gathered about their lives.

A few months ago Brandon came across a woman who took social media by storm. He shared a photo of a woman who called herself Tanqueray and shared her incredible life story.

Tanqueray explained that she was a burlesque dancer back in the 70s and the flood gates opened. The explicit story of Tanqueray, also known as Stephanie, was then shared thousands of times.

Unfortunately, since Stephanie's first story her health has deteriorated immensely. Brandon Stanton has spent some time with Stephanie and is currently sharing the rest of her story in a series of 32 posts on the  Humans of New York social media pages.

In the second installment of ‘Tattletales From Tanqueray,’ we learned that Tanqueray is originally from the Albany area. She shared stories from her childhood, like shopping in the Downtown area of Albany with her mother. Tanqueray says:

There used to be a store in downtown Albany called Flah’s. And in the 1940’s if you didn’t buy your clothes from Flah’s-- you weren’t affluent. My mother only shopped at Flah’s.

Follow along as Brandon tells Tanqueray's story from start to finish on the HONY account.

As mentioned earlier, Stephanie's health is declining. Brandon is doing his best to make sure that she will be able to live out the rest of her days comfortably. If you have the means to, there is a GoFundMe account currently collecting donations for Stephaine called "The Tanqueray Trust." They're looking to raise $1,000,000.

As of Tuesday morning, September 22nd, at 9:30 am they have raised $615,127.