Molly Barker is the founder of Girls on the Run, a nonprofit organization that has inspired millions of girls across North America to find strength, courage, and joy in being themselves. What began in 1996 as a small running program in Charlotte, North Carolina, grew under Molly’s vision into an international movement, recognized for transforming the way girls see themselves and their potential. With its unique blend of running, discussion, and self-discovery, Girls on the Run has become a touchstone for empowerment, teaching girls that they are more than enough just as they are. 

Molly’s professional journey is deeply intertwined with her personal one. A recovering alcoholic, she speaks candidly about her path to sobriety and the ways her own healing has shaped her vision of leadership, belonging, and wholeness. Her vulnerability and honesty have helped dismantle stigma and opened doors for others to see recovery not as weakness but as a profound act of courage. 

In addition to her work with Girls on the Run, Molly is a writer and storyteller. Her memoir, Running Home, traces her journey of unraveling inherited expectations and learning to come home to herself—a theme that resonates across her work with girls, women, and communities. She continues to create spaces where authenticity and connection can thrive, whether through curriculum development, speaking, or her writing. 

Today, Molly lives in Charlotte, where she balances her passion for community work with her love of cycling, time outdoors, and being a grandmother. Her life’s work remains rooted in the belief that when people are free to show up fully as themselves, they not only transform their own lives but also ripple freedom outward to others. 

In 2009, Toni Carey and Ashley Hicks-Rocha created Black Girls RUN! (BGR) in an effort to tackle the growing obesity epidemic in the African American community and provide encouragement and resources to both new and veteran runners.  

The mission of Black Girls RUN! is to encourage African American women to make fitness and healthy living a priority. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 80% of African American women are overweight. BGR! wants 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. But when it first began, BGR was a blog group where women began sharing the empowering feeling that running gave them and tips for keeping their hair nice. Sweat and humidity make hair control problematic, but running gave women the sense that they were in control of their lives which was much more liberating than controlling hair.   

Quicky, the group grew to 25,000 and the BGR organization was born.  

Now BGR is improving the lives of thousands of women across the country while taking creative and untraditional approaches to getting more minorities outdoors. Black Girls RUN! is not only responsible for the dramatic increase in minorities in the running community, but has also influenced the influx of initiatives and running groups geared towards increasing minority participation in road races across the country. 

Toni Carey serves as Head of Strategic Communications at Yoga Alliance and is a recognized leader in the health and wellness industries—most notably as the co-founder of Black Girls RUN!. With more than a decade of experience in marketing and communications strategy, her previous roles include Director of Marketing at The Public Good Projects (PGP), where she developed innovative campaigns to address some of the nation’s most pressing health challenges. Prior to that, she led the marketing strategy for Michelle Obama’s Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA). Toni has worked with numerous consumer and non-profit brands with an intentional focus on ensuring that the stories of marginalized communities are seen and heard. She was also named one of the “50 Most Influential People in Running” by Runner’s World and received Toyota’s Standing O-Vation Award presented by Oprah. She holds a B.S. in Mass Communications with minors in Marketing and Spanish from Middle Tennessee State University, as well as a M.A. in Strategic Communications from Seton Hall University. 

In her current work, she continues to advocate for the health and well-being of the global majority and their access to health and wellness interventions that have been and continue to be co-opted by dominant culture. 

Jessie Zapo aka Jessica Zapotechne is an ultramarathoner, Performance Running Coach, Community Builder and artist. She helped launch the community adidas Runners in the US in 2017, after leading and building several running communities in New York City over the previous decade. Jessie served as a Performance Running Coach and Captain for AR New York City from 2017-2022, and then stepped into her current role leading adidas Runners communities for North America, including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami.  Jessie is also the founder and coach of Girls Run NYC, an all Women’s running collective that was created to empower and uplift Women and remove barriers to entry into running for Women of all ages, abilities and walks of life. Girls Run NYC is currently in it’s eleventh year running.   

Alongside of her work in running, Jessie has a background in youth development and mental health, working as an art therapist in New York City for over 15 years.  Jessie enjoys giving others tools through creativity and sport for living their strongest, healthiest lives.   

Most importantly Jessie loves to help others challenge themselves to break barriers and imagine and accomplish new goals, while uplifting and championing others.  She believes in the transformative power of running as a means of connecting people to themselves and each other.  

New York Road Runners (NYRR), the nonprofit that “runs” New York City producing 60 annual adult and youth races including the TCS New York City Marathon, has hosted the Mastercard New York Mini 10K, the world’s first women-only race, since 1972. Originally known as the Crazylegs Mini Marathon, named for the miniskirt—at the time a symbol of women’s liberation, the race was founded by Kathrine Switzer, Nina Kuscsik, and New York Road Runners’ president at the time, Fred Lebow, to empower women in sports during a time when they faced discrimination and had limited opportunities for athletic participation. 

The Mini 10K challenged norms at the time that discouraged women from running longer distances, demonstrating women’s capabilities and desire to participate in road races. 

The first edition of the race saw 72 women cross the finish line, and three weeks later, Title IX was signed into law, guaranteeing girls and women the right to participate in school sports and creating new opportunities for generations of women athletes. The Mini 10K was also a catalyst to bringing the women’s marathon to the Olympics, which finally happened in 1984 in Los Angeles. 

Since 1972, New York Road Runners has hosted 43 Mini 10Ks, garnering nearly 250,000 total finishers. The most recent edition in 2025 was the largest in event history, drawing nearly 10,000 finishers and a world-class professional athlete field, including 16 Olympians and Paralympians representing 11 countries. 

The race now also features an accompanying Girls Run, one of one of more than 20 free Rising New York Road Runners youth events the nonprofit hosts during the year, with kids running alongside the professional and adult participants for a fun and rewarding experience that encourages them to be physically active and builds their confidence to cross any finish line. 

RUN’s mission is to support vulnerable refugees, particularly women, to rebuild resilience and nurture self-reliance for a more hopeful future. Founded in 2015, RUN has grown to support over 300 refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong through four key pillars: access to health and essential services, rebuilding strength through sport, preparing for the workforce through education, and creating overseas resettlement pathways.RUN utilises a trauma-informed, holistic, and individualised approach to address the needs of its beneficiaries from 22 countries. Women represent 70% of adult participants, almost half of whom are single mothers or alone without children. Most participants have endured severe human rights abuses, including torture, rape, and other forms of violence. All RUN participants are provided with with consistent access to inclusive, trauma-informed, and structured sports programs that actively build resilience, enhance physical fitness, and improve mental health outcomes. Key programmes are weekly “Hiking to Heal’, which is a women-only group of 40+ women, aimed at hiking and exploring nature to recover from trauma, as well as Mixed-Gender Track Training for 40+ participants, allowing women victims of violence to transition into a mixed gender environment. All refugee athletes also participate in competitions, spanning from 5 km to 100 km, enhancing community spirit and achievement. The Education Programme, central to RUN’s strategy, equips refugees with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to secure meaningful employment upon resettlement abroad. All adult participants take part in this tailored programme, designed around each individual’s education and work background, skills, goals, and potential pathways. It provides not only academic preparation but also empowerment and confidence building. Education initiatives span four integrated streams: in-house English and Computer Literacy classes; vocational training to develop job-related skills and experience; support for employment, internships, volunteering, or tertiary education.Through this comprehensive approach, RUN ensures that each participant maximises their potential, strengthens employability, and expands opportunities, particularly for resettlement and long-term integration abroad, including through Canada’s Private Sponsorship Resettlement programme.