The Trillfit Pledge Is Fighting for Racial Justice in Fitness Studios Across the Country
Around the time that Boston-based fitness studio Trillfit had to shut its doors due to the pandemic, an onslaught of racial injustice came to the forefront of the nationwide news cycle. As the first Black woman-owned workout space in the area, founder Heather C. White saw an opportunity to help other wellness studios create change and work towards diversity. Starting Friday, White and Trillfit are launching a pledge that calls on the fitness world to actively fight for equality.
The idea came to White after her studio hosted regular community conversations about racial justice and self care. “We were addressing the news cycle and how leaders in the community were taking care of their wellness while also doing the work of protesting and organizing and advocating for change,” she says. “Each week, they started growing.” In addition to chatting with fellow studio owners, White spoke with her community and clients about what a sense of belonging means to them. After months of talks, Trillfit had garnered an active audience of boutique studio owners and wellness practitioners, many of whom came to White looking for advice on how to affect change.
“After George Floyd’s death, we saw a lot of brands posting black squares, but also coming to us with questions about how they can support [racial justice] in a way that’s not performative,” says White. Since Trillfit was already known as the most diverse studio in Boston, White figured that she and her team could build a pledge that normalizes the tenets of their own mission and values, then send it to organizations to sign. “We want to build this as an ultimate piece of collaboration to bring folks together to move forward,” she says.
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