Communication Department

Communication alumna went from intern to CEO of national running organization

Shayla Brown — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 17:02:22 +0000

Communication alumna went from intern to CEO of national running organization Shayla Brown Wed, 10/23/2024 - 13:02

��AV alumna Jay Ell Alexander, BA Communication ’08, joined Black Girls RUN!, 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.”

Jay Ell Alexander at one of the Black Girls RUN! marathons. Photo provided.

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 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

“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 Endorphin Speed 4 BGR, 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.

Jay Ell Alexander at a shoe signing event. Photo provided.

“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 Urbanknowlodgy 101, 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.

Topics

Communication Department

Black Alumni Chapter

Alumni

Women's Health

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

A Mason legacy pursues passion for journalism

Sarah Holland — Wed, 17 May 2023 17:32:21 +0000

A Mason legacy pursues passion for journalism Sarah Holland Wed, 05/17/2023 - 13:32

Four years ago, Brad Byrne walked across the stage of EagleBank Arena for his high school graduation. This week, he will once more cross the EagleBank stage as a ��AV graduate.

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

In high school, as a part of the yearbook staff, Byrne would attend conferences and hear journalism professionals talk about their work. For him, it was like a light bulb turning on. “This is what I want to do with my life,” he said. “I want to tell other peoples’ stories to the world, because everyone has a story.”

This week Byrne is seeing that dream come to fruition as he graduates from Mason with a bachelor of arts in communication with a concentration in journalism.

Byrne has a story, too: an incredible family legacy of Mason alumni going back to the 1980s when his parents both attended Mason. Multiple family members are Mason graduates or expected Mason graduates—Byrne is currently joined on campus by his brother and sister, and two cousins. “Mason has always been a part of my life,” he said, recalling going to basketball games with his family as a kid. “We're all from Northern Virginia, so for us Mason is right next door. It’s a great cost-effective option to get a great degree.”

During his time at Mason, Byrne found his niche in Student Media and worked with Fourth Estate—Mason's student-run newspaper—throughout college, becoming the sole editor-in-chief for the 2022-23 academic year.

“We had a lot of challenges, but to persevere through that as one of the first solo editors-in-chief in many years and still put out important stories for the Mason community is one of my greatest accomplishments from my time here,” he said.

The connections and opportunities available through Mason have been vital to Byrne’s past, present, and future successes. “I made lifelong friends in the newspaper and had incredible opportunities Department of Communication, like having a one-on-one interview with Senator Tim Kaine, and studying in France for two weeks.”

Brad Byrne, '23, is heading to Columbia University for graduate studies. Photo provided

With an eye for storytelling and a passion for hard-hitting journalism, Byrne is heading to Columbia University’s Journalism School in the fall to pursue his master’s degree. It’s another full-circle moment for him. “I got my acceptance into the program at Columbia six years to the date from my first Columbia conference, so I guess it was fate.”

He hopes to one day become a correspondent for a major news publication.

“Whatever I’m doing, I really want to make a difference in the world.”

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Supporting underserved graduate students focused on health equity research

Shayla Brown — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 19:24:51 +0000

Supporting underserved graduate students focused on health equity research Shayla Brown Tue, 12/06/2022 - 14:24

Photo by Getty Images

The Communicating Health Equity and Healing Justice Research Lab (CEHJ) came to life on ��AV’s campus in October 2021.

“It started out an all-Black women endeavor, but now it has expanded to Black and Brown men as well as alternative gender identity individuals,” said Akila Ka Ma’at, the director of the lab and core faculty member with Women and Gender Studies Program and the Communication Department.

The lab allows students to engage in the production of research projects and contribute to data collection efforts through an immersive experiential learning and training experience. Its members focus on the mental and reproductive health of Black women as well as identify factors related to internalized racism.

Ashley Dawson, who joined the lab as an undergraduate student, is getting her master’s in public health with a concentration in health promotion. She hopes to become a public health consultant as well as a program developer so she can provide health intervention for underserved communities.

“Currently, we’re working on the impact of the “Strong Black Woman” stigma on the birth outcomes in Black women,” said Dawson. “This allows us to address the intersectionality and social determinants that are either negatively or positively impacting prenatal health.”

Sahana Natarajan, who recently graduated from Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, is currently working as Mason affiliate faculty in collaboration with the CEHJ research lab.

“Health communication was something I had never really done before. Despite that, Dr. Ma’at believed in my potential and went to great lengths to mentor me,” said Natarajan. “I’m still in the process of learning how to lead. I’m starting to lead my own projects.”

Natarajan is currently working on a pilot testing a survey to access racial stress and related factors among prenatal Black Women.

“This lab is really about team collaboration. Along with that, addressing health disparities. If that’s something that’s important to you, I think the lab will really benefit you in terms of increasing your abilities and your impact in the world,” she said.

Mason sociology student J Orisha is also a part of CEHJ and working on this project. “I think it’s important that there be more spaces like this for students. [My research interests have] honestly been changing the more involved I get on campus and meet more professors, but it’s centrally around African American/Black studies and anti-racist, decolonized research,” said Orisha.

“It’s an open environment where you mess up, great, you learn and keep moving. I never experienced that in the other schools,” Orisha said. “They’re actually trying to listen to their students. They really do care, and I really, really appreciate it.”

Ma’at hopes to collaborate with more disciplines and more community stakeholders. She wants the lab’s research to extend into the African diaspora and include immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

The CEHJ Research Lab meets on Tuesdays from 2-3 p.m. and Thursdays from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Robeson Room 240A in the Johnson Center.

Topics

African and African American Studies

Women and Gender Studies

ARIE

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Research

Communication Department

Communication Department

Communication alumna went from intern to CEO of national running organization

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A Mason legacy pursues passion for journalism

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Supporting underserved graduate students focused on health equity research

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