surround yourself with cheerleaders that cheer you on and speak your name louder even when

you're not in the room.

Hey, hurdlers.

Emily Abadi here bringing you episode 118 of hurdle.

A wellness-focused podcast where I sit down with inspiring individuals to talk about everything up from their big wins to how they've gotten through some of life's toughest moments.

On the show, you can expect vulnerability, motivation, and candid discussions with everyone from top athletes to aspiring entrepreneurs on what it really takes to follow your passions.

My mission is simple.

To inspire you to be your best self, move move with intention and have some fun along the way

today's episode i am chatting with j l alexander she is the CEO and owner of black girls run

an organization whose a goal is to encourage afric encourage African-American women to make fitness and

healthy living a priority. In today's episode, we talk about some staggering statistics,

according to the CDC, 80% of African-American women are overweight. And so BGR, Black Girls

Run, they want to create a movement to lower that percentage and subsequently

lower the number of women with chronic diseases associated with an unhealthy diet and sedentary

lifestyle in today's episode j l gives me her entire backstory we talk about everything from her

upbringing having two extremely active parents going off to college and like

me, also gaining a fair amount of weight. And what I found really refreshing and interesting

about JL's story is that it's a prime example that carrying weight can feel different for different

people. So for Jail, she was extremely happy in college, even with, you know, this little extra

love, so to speak,

whereas I, for instance, felt really stuck and alone and knew that I needed to make a change

at that time. J.L. goes on to tell me that after college when she got into the working world,

...