AV alumna Jay Ell Alexander, BA Communication ’08, joined !, a national running organization, as a PR intern in 2012. In 2018, she bought the company and has been the owner for the last six years.
“I was looking for hands-on work after graduate school and really immersed myself in learning every end of the business,” said Alexander. “From merchandise and working with our local groups and sponsorships to understanding how to work with corporate partners and building relationships.”
She added, “The consistency and passion that you need to run a business does not happen overnight, and my time as an intern and contractor with Black Girls RUN! was planting those seeds for me to have what I need now.”
Black Girls RUN! aims to bring Black women to the pavement in terms of endurance, as well as raise awareness of the health disparities that they face.
“Black women are at the top of the charts for most chronic diseases and there’s a stigma that we just don’t care about our health, but we do. We’re trying to change that narrative and show that Black women can be healthy,” said Alexander, who is also a member of George Mason’s .
“Working for entrepreneurs, you become a jack of all trades very quickly. George Mason and a dynamic group of communication professors really prepared me for that,” she said.
Her time at George Mason gave her a strong foundation for the tech savviness she would need to helm Black Girls RUN!
“I learned everything from writing code and how to build a website to going out and being a one woman show with a camera and mic,” explained Alexander, who received a Top 40 Under 40 Award from George Mason’s Black Alumni Chapter. “I didn’t have to pay for a new company website. I just do it myself because I have the skills from those classes at George Mason.”
Black Girls RUN! has roughly 248,000 members, 75 groups across the country in most of the major cities, and year-round national conferences. Members participate in national meetups and training for a 5K or a half marathon.
“These are races that we partner with across the country where you come out and meet Black Girls RUN members and we just create a community within the race that people want to come out and be a part of,” said Alexander.
Since 2021, Black Girls RUN! has been in a partnership with Saucony, the running shoes, clothing, gear, and accessory company, and produced a custom shoe, the , which has sold thousands of shoes. The shoes also come with a custom shoebox and key chain.
In 2020, Saucony reached out to the organization to make a donation to their Black Lives Matter movement.
“[Saucony] was really trying to make an effort to build up their initiative with supporting minorities. Those conversations we were having continued to happen and our relationships continued to blossom,” said Alexander.
“The shoe really has been the cherry on top of all the work that we've done over the last three years. This was [Saucony’s] first time doing a pink shoe.”
Black Girls RUN! and Saucony have a multi-year deal and another collaboratively designed shoe will be released in 2025.
“Jay Ell is a super leader. That was always a natural trait that she carried. She really brings people together; she's a facilitator, organizer, and very much so just had a strong suit in terms of operations,” said alumna LaShonda Wilson, BA Communications ’08, who was Alexander’s college roommate and is also godmother to Alexander’s children.
“All of us working together were able to create an organization that was foundationally sound and we all took turns in the various leadership roles,” said Wilson, who along with Alexander and their peers started , a hip-hop dance group at George Mason in 2005, which now has a spin-off nonprofit called Dance Foundation Inc. for alumni.
“My friends and I were those kids that used to stand in line all day to buy Jordans and now my shoe is sold out. Life has just come full circle for me and it’s kind of surreal,” said Alexander.