Courtney Phillips is the co-founder of Gumbo Media, a storytelling platform and content engine that expands the narrative of Black life. She’s also the creator of GumboFit, a unique community powered by Nike Running that thoughtfully bridges the worlds of underrepresented populations and the fitness mainstream through a diversity of programming and content curation, while prioritizing the coalescing of Black and Brown fitness and wellness enthusiasts across Chicago to start, with a particular focus on South and West-side communities.
In this episode, Courtney and Kristen talk about how Courtney’s built a grassroots community for running, why running isn’t as accessible to Black and Brown communities as you may think, and what her big goals for the future are.
Resources
- Find out when you can run with Courtney Phillips and GumboFit on their Instagram (and Courtney’s on IG @courtneynphillips)
- Learn more about GumboFit in this awesome video with Nike, “Sport Changes Everything”
- Courtney and her co-host Ian Gonzales just launched their podcast, The Runner’s Club. Check it out, subscribe, and download right here.
- Other Black and Brown fitness and running communities Courtney recommends checking out: 7 on Sundays, Black Chicago Runners, Men Run Deez Streets, and Running Diversity (and scroll through who @GumboFit follows for even more inspiration)
- Bonus read: With Each Run, A City Shaken By Racism Is ‘Finding The Greater Good’ (NYTimes)
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