Though Jay Ell Alexander grew up playing basketball and exercising regularly with her two athlete parents, endurance running wasn’t part of her life until her late 20s.
After meeting her future husband and putting on what she calls “some happy, healthy weight,” Alexander began experiencing headaches and high blood pressure. Her doctor said she was too young for medication and recommended running instead. Alexander signed up for the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K and has been running ever since.
Soon after, Alexander linked up with Black Girls Run! a company founded in 2009 to encourage and motivate Black women to lead healthy lifestyles. At first, Alexander did marketing and PR work for the organization; she eventually purchased the company in 2018 and launched its nonprofit arm the same year.
Black women are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, lupus and several types of cancer than other racial and ethnic groups, according to Boston University’s Black Women’s Health Study. This has more to do with long-standing societal racial disparities and inequities than genetics or lifestyle. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 80% of African American women are overweight or obese, compared with 60% of white women. Black Girls Run! aims to combat these statistics.
“We rank at the top of the chart for [many] chronic diseases,” explains Alexander, who is also the founder and CEO of branding and public relations firm The Vaughn Strategy. “We’re trying to change that narrative.”
The organization’s for-profit arm handles race events, conferences and merchandise while the nonprofit arm is its footprint in communities. The nonprofit hosts trainings for BGR’s roughly 248,000 members across the country and provides snacks, clothing and shoe stipends, race registration scholarships and professional development opportunities for volunteers.
Next year, for BGR’s “Sweet 16” anniversary year, it will take part 16 events across the country, including the Allianz Partners Richmond Marathon.
