00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Christina. Welcome to Essence Wellness House. This amazing segment is Mountaintop
00:14Moves, brought to you by Ford Bronco. This May, Ford launched the We Do campaign for the all-new
00:212021 Bronco Sport. The campaign showcasing Black women embracing the great outdoors in the all-new
00:27Bronco Sport, going off-roading, hiking, biking, running, and revealing a new feeling and triumph
00:34as they honor their connection to nature and their sense of adventure. Today, we have three
00:39amazing trailblazing Black women who lead organizations that are featured in the campaign
00:44to join us for a conversation about Black women in the great outdoors. Please welcome J.L. Alexander
00:51of Black Girls Run, Monica Garrison of Black Girls Do Bike, and last but certainly not least,
00:57group map of Outdoor Afro for this Mountaintop Moves conversation. Hey, ladies. Hey.
01:04Look, so I just got to go ahead and jump right on into it. If you had to describe in your own words,
01:12how important is it for Black women to get out and connect with the great outdoors?
01:17Yeah, so I'll jump in. Black Girls Run is the dopest running crew. That's what I call us. And so we are a
01:23movement of Black women across the country that are motivating women to make health and fitness a
01:29priority. And we do that through the sport of running. And we also do that by increasing the
01:33awareness of the health disparities that impact the Black community. So we say, let's preserve the
01:38sexy and no woman left behind. And we give women that empowerment and that safe space to hit the
01:44pavement and become the best version of themselves. Yes, I love it. How did you get started?
01:50Well, personally, I started running in 2010 when I hit my then heaviest weight. And so running was
01:58an outlet for me to really become healthy and active. And then I started with Black Girls Run
02:05about a decade ago and became owner about three years ago. And so really was able to marry my personal
02:11and professional relationships to really lead the organization. And I'm just still running and really
02:17empowering women across the country. So yeah, so becoming healthy was my motivation to join Black
02:23Girls Run. Oh, I love it. Rue, Miss Matt, what about you?
02:29Well, thank you so much for having me. Outdoor Afro celebrates and inspires Black leadership and
02:37connections to the outdoors. And the thing that I love about this organization is that it's for the
02:44entire Black family. So we have people who are as young as two and old as 82 who get out and hike and
02:52bike and camp and bird and do all kinds of things that really we've always done. It's just that Outdoor
02:58Afro set out in 2009, just as a blog on my heart, just to tell a new narrative about how we can really be
03:07our whole selves in the outdoors. And I've been so thankful to see over all of these years, how people
03:14have absolutely gotten their nature's swagger back. And we now have a participation network of about 50,000
03:22people. We are 33 states and we have offices headquartered in Oakland, California, and in
03:29Washington, DC. So we're just so thrilled to be able to work alongside organizations like this one to help
03:36people get outside and be strong, beautiful, and free. Yes, I love it. That is so, so amazing.
03:45All right, Ms. Monica, girl, you got to tell me about your organization.
03:50Oh, I don't know if I can follow those two amazing introductions.
03:52You can follow it.
03:54But yeah, happy to be here, of course. Black Girls Do Bike is spreading bike girl magic, that's what we call it,
04:00all over the world. We're taking on women who are finding that cycling is a great way to get in shape.
04:08It's a great way to handle their mental stresses. Sometimes on the weight of the world is on your
04:13shoulders. The best thing you can do is hop on your bike and just go for a ride. And we're focusing
04:18on women of color because obviously we're underrepresented in the cycling community. So we're just being the face
04:24of cycling for women of color and letting them know that we're here. There's a space for you there and
04:29we can help you jump over those hurdles to get you on your bike. Now, how did you get started?
04:35So I started this in 2013 after a summer of riding and finding that cycling was a great way to like
04:43calm myself mentally, get out of a physical rut. I realized there weren't many women on bikes that
04:50look like me. And I thought that that should be me. And so I started Black Girls Do Bike simply as an
04:55online space, but it quickly became a way for people to connect, you know, in their towns and
05:01ride together and network and fellowship and, you know, basically be comfortable on the bike no matter
05:07where they were. And we have now 100 chapters. We just crossed that barrier last year. We are servicing
05:14about 27,000 women around the world. And we just started our London, UK chapter, which is more than I
05:21could have ever dreamed.
05:22Wow. Congratulations. I mean, this is all so amazing because these are all the things that I really love
05:29to do. I love being outdoors, but again, it took me a little while to get there. So what type of events
05:35in meetings do your organization hold? How can we get engaged in those? Because for me, it took me a
05:43while I had to find a whole group because I didn't want to go by myself, especially when it comes to,
05:47you know, riding bikes. I was like, okay, we're going two miles, 20 miles. Oh, no, I ain't doing that.
05:54You know, you bring up a really great point, you know, because we found that, you know, there's a lot
06:00of intimidation out there. Just even knowing where to go. Can you park there? How much is parking?
06:06And so we have outdoor Afro leaders who we train as your ambassadors to nature. And we hope that when
06:15you get outside with us that one time, that you'll have that know-how about how to do it again and again
06:21with your family and your friends without us. And so if you just go to outdoorafro.com, outdoor Afro
06:28across all the platforms, outdoorafro.com will point you to your local meetup group,
06:33and you will be able to connect in with an outdoor Afro leader in your area. If you don't have an
06:40outdoor Afro leader in your area, I encourage you to apply to be an outdoor Afro leader because
06:46anyone can be a leader and an inspirer in the outdoors, we believe. And we're here to help you
06:52along the way. Yes. Ms. J. Yale? Yeah, same here. We have that same kind of setup, if you will,
06:59at the local level. If you're looking to get involved, we have Black Girls Run ambassadors that lead
07:03our local cities. We have about 75 cities across the country. So if you're looking for a group to
07:09get involved in and run with and, you know, meet up at a parking lot at 4.30 a.m. to get six miles,
07:14we can do that for you. So it's just a matter of figuring out where you are and where you want to
07:19fit in. And then we also host national events across the country. So we, you know, pre-COVID and
07:25whatever new space we're heading into now, we partner with races across the country to bring more
07:30Black women to those events. You know, our last race was February 2020 at the Miami Marathon. We
07:36had 800 women down there running a half and a full. So we want to create spaces and events for women to
07:43come together. And we call them Black Girls Run meetups and basically like big old family reunions
07:47on the pavement. So we can figure out a space just like, you know, outdoor Afro. We can figure out a
07:53space where you can fit in and get active and feel comfortable. Yes. All right. Last but not least,
07:59Miss Monica. Yeah. So very much the same blackgirlsdobike.org. If you connect with us
08:06there, you can find our list of chapters so that you can find what's closest to you. We have all of
08:12our chapters nationwide hold a monthly No Woman Left Behind ride. So that's very beginner friendly.
08:19And we expect women of all, you know, all skill levels to show up for that ride. And it's kind of
08:25like an iron sharpens iron. Everyone helps one another. You know, if your seat's too low or your
08:30bike tires need air, we're filling in those gaps and helping each other. We call our leaders sheroes,
08:36play on the word heroes. And they really are sheroes. They do it all. They are my inspiration.
08:43So find your local chapter, find your local shero and make the connection.
08:47Well, let me just say that you ladies are my sheroes. I am so happy for the charge that you
08:54guys lead every single day. Cause I know it's not easy being a mom, being an entrepreneur,
08:59being a wife, all that amazing things. I just want to say thank you so much. And again,
09:05thank you to Ford for bringing this inspiring conversation to Essence Festival. And I'm super,
09:11super excited to announce that Ford will be donating $20,000 to each of your organizations
09:18here today. That's right. And that's a total of $60,000 to support black women and their love
09:25for the great outdoors through outdoor Afro, black girls run and black girls do. Bye.
09:32I'm so excited.
09:34We continue the great work. We are so proud of you guys. We celebrate you and we encourage you
09:39guys to keep going and live out loud.
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