About
Black Girl Swim Club expands your range on swimming, travel and wellbeing. We share stories for the culturally self-aware woman on an odyssey to move through the world and the water with more ease and flair.
I started Black Girl Swim Club because I finally decided it was time to learn to swim as an adult!
Growing up in South London, I did have swimming lessons in primary school, but continuing to swim as a leisure activity wasn’t something I did, and I knew loads of other black women related to this. During a short stint working at a leisure centre, I came across this poster with alarming statistics around how many black people drown compared to others! I was working closely with the children’s swim school there, and it got me thinking that I needed to create a comfortable environment for myself and other adult black women to learn to swim.
Check out the video where I first shared my vision for BGSC on TikTok!
Founder story
Soon after, I wrote out a manifesto that embodies the essence of BGSC, callled…
Let go of your fears & go with the flow
Many of us black girls don’t swim. Maybe we’re worried about our hair, or our families instilled fear around water, or we just haven’t felt safe as women around the water, perhaps for cultural reasons. This club is about letting go of our fears and restrictions and learning together. Swimming is a life skill and for various cultural reasons, most of us just aren't getting in the water! A study from Drowning Prevention Week shows that 80% of black children and 95% of black adults do not swim. This is very alarming! But the vision for Black Girl Swim Club is for black women all over the world to embrace the physical, mental & spiritual benefits of going with the flow of water—also, to take up more space in nature!
Together we’re learning how to swim and connecting with nature, travelling to lakes, hot springs and the sea, unearthing the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of going with the flow of water.
It’s never too late to learn something new!
