From: FitX
Date: June 30, 2020
Subject: FitX Newsletter #9 - May 27th: Diversity in Fitness & Wellness


FitX Members & Friends, 

­ƒôà FitX x BLM

The FitX board supports and stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, the Black students in our club, at Ross, and in the broader wellness community. The systemic racism and violence across our country occurring now and in the recent past is abhorrent and needs to end. 

The ability to workout is a privilege that not all Americans have the freedom to do because of socioeconomic barriers as well as cultural and race barriers that prevent all from being included and/or feeling included. Fitness and wellness require time. Time is a bi-product of privilege. However, there are ways for organizations and companies to deliver products differently, show up in communities, consider program design for diverse audiences, and in general - meet people where they are at. As a FitX board, we believe in trying to democratize fitness and make wellness accessible to all members of society. 

We will use this newsletter to continue the necessary dialogue around the systemic racism that our society faces. We will provide ways for members to diversity their newsfeed about the wellness industry. We will ensure at least one of our action-based learning projects this year is with a Black-owned business and/or focused on DEI within the wellness space. We will ensure our guest speakers and programming include the BIPOC community.

In addition to educating ourselves broadly, we’ve been focused on being part of conversations around racism within the wellness industry. Some resources we’ve found particularly educational to listen to and engage with are below. Let us know your thoughts, we’d be happy to discuss, learn, and grow together. 

  1. Webinar: Reimagining Fitness: Designing an Anti-Racist Industry

  2. Webinar: W+G TALK: There's a Diversity Problem in Wellness

  3. Podcast: White Privilege In The Wellness Industry Ft. Dana Samuel

  4. Article: Diversity in Wellness Is More Than A Moment, Its a Movement

We are committed to taking action as a club through our platform and our programming. We are reminded that “imperfect action is better than perfect inaction” (this was first said by Harry Truman, but we recently heard by Victor Self, the VP of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Barry’s in the first webinar hyperlinked above!). 

FitX Board: Sonja Manning '21, Meredith Chapekis '21, Elise Gordon '21, Alex Bozzo '21, Caitlin Sugar '21 and Rohan Kalra '21

­ƒæÅFitX Feature: Henry Health - Mental Health for Black Men (Featuring MBA Intern Allie Taikowski ‘21)

Q: So Allie, what is Henry Health?

A: Henry Health is the leading provider of culturally intentional mental health services. Our disruptive digital platform provides a comprehensive suite of teletherapy services and self-mastery tools for diverse populations who are underserved by traditional resources. Henry just launched its first digital community, Men Thrive, which provides content (i.e. podcasts, meditations) created and cultivated for Black men to help them show up whole, operate with joy, and live with power. 

Q: What is the scope of your project this summer?

A: This summer, I'm getting the incredible opportunity to shadow our CEO, Kevin Dedner, and work with him on a range of projects from strategic planning to creating a pricing strategy for our different distribution channels. 

Q: What has been eye-opening so far given the movement in our country?

A: I'm bearing witness to the discrimination from investors faced by a Black founder and CEO who is trying to raise funds, underscoring the responsibility we have as future business leaders to call this out and create systematic change.

If you want to learn more about Allie’s work this summer, send her a note!
 

ÔÅ® Industry Highlights

  • BIPOC brands to be aware of: Now more than ever it’s important to support minority-owned Fitness brands. FitX dug in and found these 10 activewear brands founded by black entrepreneurs. Personally, we’re loving the awesome prints on the yoga pants from Culture Fit and the joggers from Just LFT. Looking for more ways to support black-owned wellness brand? check out this list and start to follow them. 

  • Activewear + Content + Lululemon + MIRROR = 500M Acquisition: At FitX we’ve been following our friends at MIRROR closely after our Trek and event on campus with their VP of Marketing last year, so we were excited to see the news of their recent acquisition by Lululemon.

  • Cross Fit Founder Out: CrossFit founder’s controversial comments regarding the protests of the death of George Floyd and others have led to major brands like Reebok and Rogue Fitness from ending ties to the CrossFit brand. 

  • FitBit pivots into Ventilators: The wearables company recently acquired by Google quickly received approval for a low-cost ventilator to help support the medical community against COVID.

  • COVID’s Impact on the Future of Fitness: Fitness was already evolving prior to the pandemic but Covid-19 has certainly accelerated the rate at which brands have adopted digital fitness. It will also have an impact on how and why consumers exercise in the future. 
     

­ƒôê Financial Highlights 

  • Iconic Brand Files for Bankruptcy: Unable to withstand the COVID-19 shutdowns, 24-Hour Fitness has filed for bankruptcy. The company owes over $1.4B (not including lease obligations) and will be closing over 130 locations. Gold’s Gym will also be filing bankruptcy for similar reasons.

  • More Zen, More Ca$H: Headspace added $47.7M in funding, extending the $53M Series C round it raised in February. 

  • At Home Health: Tomorrow Health, a startup reimagining at-home healthcare, launched with $7.5M in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

  • Mark Walhberg Fitness IPO: Australian based F45 is backed by Wahlberg and had plans to IPO earlier this year until COVID hit, but the brand is rallying and according to Bloomberg is prepping for the public markets.

  • Public Parks get a Financial Boon: Senate passed the Great American Outdoor act which adds $9.5 billion dollars in funding to support National Parks. We love to hear this!
     

­ƒÿ£FitX Fun Facts (We’ve got two this issue!)

  1. Ready to return to the gym? How about in your own workout bubble? Check out what this Redondo Beach gym is doing to prepare for reopening. 

  2. Avoid the gym and workout outside...but watch out for the zombies? A new leader topped the App Store in the Health & Fitness category - Zombies, Run! The app provides an immersive audio adventure centered around stopping a zombie apocalypse


Feedback, thoughts, or partnership ideas for us? Send a note to Sonja.