This Juneteenth, it’s not only important to commemorate the value of Black liberation, but health and wellness as well — according to this New York city-based fitness club.
Blaque — known as the first luxury fitness experience designed by Black people, for Black people — understands that our community has specific needs for wellness services because of the disproportionate rate at which preventable diseases affect us. This is what prompted the platform to launch The BLAQUE Movement App — the first all-in-one fitness app that caters to Black people.
“Our mission [at BLAQUE] is to help Black people live their best lives through optimal fitness and wellness,” the company shares. “Our app-driven coaching program is built by fitness and wellness professionals and provides a customized, interactive and focused approach on cultivating members’ optimal well-being.”
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According to BLAQUE, the new app’s features include on-demand fitness content, in-app nutrition coaching programs, self-care coaching, meditative morning audios and community group chats.
The need for platforms like BLAQUE is what will help Black communities all over manage their battles with preventable health-related illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and stroke — which we’re more likely to succumb to than other ethnic groups. The only surefire way to help prevent chronic illnesses like these from developing is through fitness and wellness-based practices.
In honor of this year’s Juneteenth holiday, BLAQUE founder T’Nisha Symone wants to use the app’s launch as an opportunity to raise awareness around our well-being in Black communities. According to her, the movement that BLAQUE is promoting will help center sustainable fitness and wellness in our lives.
“As we approach Juneteenth this year and acknowledge the liberation Black people have had and continue to work toward, I’d love to shed light on the integral role of fitness and wellness in the pursuit of Black liberation,” she tells AfroTech. “With the pursuit of Black justice, equality, and ultimately liberation at a collective high, there is an integral role that the fitness and wellness of the Black community plays.”
“This Juneteenth, as we commemorate those whose liberation from slavery was won 156 years ago and continue to fight for the liberties yet to be realized, we should all continue to pursue the fullness of that liberation,” she adds. “We cannot achieve that without optimal Black fitness and wellness. ”
Symone has worked with hundreds of individuals over the last decade, but her focus has always been on changing gym culture for Black people to offer us an inclusive space to work out in.
Last year, BLAQUE was able to raise $60,000 through crowdfunding to help launch their first location, but the fitness club pivoted to developing a digital platform in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Symone and BLAQUE were able to partner with AMEX last November and she was even included in their 100 for 100 program as a 2021 Founder of Change.
With the launch of its new app, BLAQUE is helping to envision a better future for Black people “filled with joy, expression, innovation, liberation and abundance,” its website states. The goal now is to boost the power of health and wellness to help the Black community lead better and fuller lives.
For more information about BLAQUE and its app, click here.
