For Merlyn Oliver and Lauren Riley, Brooklyn isn’t a trend, it’s home.
The co-founders of The Brooklyn Mavens, a digital platform dedicated to spotlighting the borough’s culture, small businesses and everyday storytellers, aren’t newcomers documenting a scene from the outside. They’re natives reclaiming a narrative they watched shift in real time.
“Being a maven is being an expert,” Riley said. “When we started the brand, we really wanted to highlight Brooklyn from the perspective of some Brooklyn natives.”
Riley was born and raised in Brooklyn, just like her parents. It wasn’t until she left — first for college in a rural town and later for a job in Philadelphia — that she realized how deeply Brooklyn shaped her.
“Moving to Philadelphia was kind of a culture shock for me,” she said. “Even though it’s a city, it felt smaller and more spread out. As someone who doesn’t drive, I missed being able to walk to the supermarket, take the train anywhere, and knowing it runs 24/7. It really hit home for me how much of a Brooklynite I am.”
Oliver’s story begins further south.
“I’m Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-raised,” she said. “A part of who I am is being an immigrant and being Jamaican — that’s why I live in Flatbush. My whole upbringing was around Caribbean people.”
She recalls the sensory soundtrack of a Brooklyn summer: reggae drifting from passing cars, the bass of Biggie echoing down the block, and the ease of walking “two blocks up and getting some jerk chicken.”
“You honestly couldn’t get that experience anywhere else,” Oliver said.
The two met in high school, attended college together, and were roommates, a foundation that would later anchor their business partnership.
“We don’t think we could do this with anyone else,” Oliver said. “We balance each other out.”
The Brooklyn Mavens didn’t start as the cultural storytelling hub it is today. In 2016, it launched as “BK Fashion Mavens,” a fashion-focused brand. But the founders quickly realized Brooklyn was bigger than style.
“There was more to Brooklyn than just fashion,” Oliver said. “And people couldn’t remember the name.”
They rebranded as The Brooklyn Mavens — broadening their mission to reflect the full spectrum of the borough’s communities. That shift also manifested personally. After both women moved away after college, they returned home to a noticeably changed borough.
“When we came back, we noticed there was a shift in how Brooklyn felt,” Oliver said. “People would come to Brooklyn and only feature Williamsburg or Bushwick. That was kind of annoying because people associate Brooklyn with just one neighborhood.”
With Brooklyn as the city’s most populous borough, the founders saw an opportunity to showcase its depth, from Flatbush to Sheepshead Bay and beyond.
“It’s like a love letter to our borough,” Oliver said. “People from here can see neighborhoods they’re familiar with, and people who come here can learn more about it.”
With over 80,000 Instagram followers, the platform now features neighborhood tours, small businesses, cultural commentary and personal storytelling series like “My Brooklyn” and this month’s “Brooklyn By Us,” which spotlights Black-owned businesses and the stories behind their founders.
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They find their stories all over.
“Sometimes it’s just Googling,” Oliver said. “We take a lot of suggestions from the community. Our DMs will be flooded. Family members will call, like, ‘Can you feature this place?’”
One of their signature formats grew organically. While filming a breast cancer awareness video with a survivor from Sheepshead Bay, Riley ended up recording an impromptu neighborhood tour.
“People wanted more of that,” she said. “So that’s how it started.”
The founders say they try to avoid skewing toward one type of content and instead listen closely to their audience.
“The community will tell you exactly what they want to see,” Riley said.
Behind the curated feeds and neighborhood reels is a reality many creatives know well: both women still work full-time jobs.
“We still have our nine-to-five,” Oliver said. “But we see [The Brooklyn Mavens] now from a business perspective.”
As the brand grows, so do its complexities; from building a team to navigating boundaries with businesses they’ve formed friendships with over the years. Still, their friendship remains steady — a dynamic they credit as essential to the platform’s longevity.
“Lauren is really realistic,” Oliver said. “Sometimes I do the most. She’ll say, ‘Girl, that’s not going to work.’ And I’ll be like, okay, let me simmer down.”
At its core, The Brooklyn Mavens is about respect.
“As long as you respect the borough and you’re open to learning about the culture, you’re a maven,” Oliver said.
Looking ahead five to 10 years, the founders envision The Brooklyn Mavens as something bigger — perhaps even a television component — but still grounded in their original mission.
“When people think, ‘I’m going to Brooklyn,’ we want to be the first ones they think about,” Riley said. “Anyone who wants to come to Brooklyn or New York should know about the brand.”
