Business
Toni Carey and Ashley Hicks – creators of Black Girls Run
Toni Carey and Ashley Hicks creators of Black Girls Run. PHOTO/black girls run
Toni Carey and Ashley Hicks are on a mission to encourage African American women to make fitness and healthy living a priority.
Back in 2009, Carey and Hicks started a blog titled Black Girls RUN!, where they shared their running adventures and what they were doing to be healthy. Hicks was spurred to start running because she was facing her own weight loss challenges. Hicks, who used to play soccer during her collegiate years, started gaining weight after college.
Nearly four out of five African-American women are overweight or obese, according to the Office of Minority Health. Black Girls Run! was created to lower that rate, and subsequently decrease the number of women with chronic diseases associated with an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle.