For all the grad girls who have been stuck behind their desks this semester…. 👀
Starting on June 1, we’re bringing back the annual 30 miles in 30 days virtual walk/run challenge. 👟
This challenge is designed for aspiring or current women in graduate school who want to build consistency with movement in a simple, supportive way. In the past 3 years alone, we’ve organized over 100 participants to walk/run over 1,100 miles!
For those of you in/near Philadelphia PA, we will be meeting on June 13 at 10 am for an in-person meet up. Grad Girls don’t let grad girls walk alone. We will meet at 30th St. Station (East Entrance) and end at Reading Terminal Market.
It’s really hard to believe that this is the third year of doing this challenge. Over the year, the event has grown exponentially with more participant and even more miles logged. In 2021, 40 participants in the GGW community helped us to walk/run 731 miles in total. What will we be able to do this year?
The 30 miles in 30 days walk/run challenge is designed to help grad students prioritize their physical wellness and to do so in community. One person who completes the challenge will win swag from the woman owned fitness brand @getlukafit AND Grad Girl Wellness stickers.
To participate: 1. Download the Nike Run Club App on your phone 2. Go to this link
For extra motivation, request to join our private a Facebook group called “Grad Girl Wellness 30 in 30.” A community of like minded people is always useful when you need support for staying accountable to your goals. This group is intended to be a place to stay encouraged and to ask questions to fellow 30 in 30 participants.
For the past 10 weeks, I participated in a salsa performance class cycle through the Baila Society (BASO) that culminated in a dance showcase. The design of the program was to allow participants to train like professionals and to get a taste of what it would be like to actually be a part of the dance company. The showcase event took place in a professional black box theater, and there were professional photographers and videographers to capture the entire night. I was kind of disheartened because I messed up at the very beginning (the part that I knew the best and that we’ve been practicing the longest), but I reasoned with myself that I: 1) finished strong 2) should be proud of myself for completing the process.
The training experience was especially trying at the beginning because the instructors front loaded the choreography and left the remaining few weeks to clean things up. At times, I found myself being really frustrated because we would learn a lot of choreography at one time, and I struggled to keep up. On top of that, since salsa is a partner dance, it was a little embarrassing to go from partner to partner making it known that you didn’t know what the hell was going on–some people were more understanding than others but that’s for another post. Secondly, this took up way more of my time than I expected. Not only did we have official once a week practices with our instructors but we were also expected to have extra practices with our partners–ya’ll I didn’t know this for signing up and my reading definitely suffered.
Fast forward to actually getting the video. The mistake I made at the beginning was really minor and the rest of my performance definitely made up for it. I knew that I was in the front row for a majority of the show, so even though being so much in the spotlight made me a bit nervous, it was also motivation to make sure I knew what I was doing. It worked out because I did pretty damn good and got great pictures. Check out the video below.
Now that it’s all said and done, I can tell that my confidence as a dancer has definitely improved. I am also a far better social dancer. I wasn’t sure how learning choreographed moves would help with the impromptu-ness of social dancing but somehow the skills transferred. At the end of the night, I danced with the team’s instructor, and I felt like an absolute boss. I’m learning how to notice subtle cues the leads offer with their hands. I make eye contact, which is a huge deal. My styling has improved so that I don’t have dead hands and arms when I’m dancing.
Salsa dancing (and all dancing in general) is great cardio, and wearing heels gives me a good leg workout (and irritates my hamstrings). It seems that many people have an aversion or temerity towards dancing in heels whether it be street stilettos or any type of ballroom dancing, but honestly, the benefits are worth it. It’s also a great confidence boost.
What’s next for me in the salsa streets? Since I’m still studying for my qualifying exams, I definitely can’t make anymore long-term commitments, but I would like to continue social dancing as a way to maintain the relationships I’ve built during the performance class and to continue to improve my social dancing skills. I really enjoy the weekly class I was taking before, so I will continue with that, and I’m contemplating moving up to the ‘advanced’ section. It will be a bit of a challenge, but honestly, intermediate is a bit boring at this point.
As a continuation of my guest post on Black Girl Does Grad School, I wanted to share a little more practical reflections on what it’s like to have locs and a live an active lifestyle in graduate school. Now that I think about it, three years ago when I started my locs, I was under a lot of stress (professionally and personally), so it really was an ideal time for me to start a major overhaul in my life generally.
This is Loc Crush. She is my actual loc crush. When I started my locs, I bought a picture of her to the salon. #goals
Things I love about having locs
They’re low maintenance. I don’t have a lot of free time and when I do, I don’t want to spend it on hair–sorry, I’m just not that person. I wash my hair about every two weeksI spray my hair with ‘distilled’ water aka I boiled it in my tea kettle and oil my scalp about every other day. When I workout, I put it in a ponytail and go about my business. That’s it.
I can do it myself. I’m a relatively crafty person, and I like making things with my hands. When I do my retwists, it never looks as sleek as the salon, but its decent. Admittedly, I worry that I’m messing up my parts especially in the back where I can’t see, but overall, I can feel my way through. I like to catch up on This is Us or How to Get Away With Murder while I do my hair, so it’s not a miserable 1.5 hours.
They’re affordable. I get my hair done professionally about once a quarter because it’s nice to know that I got a good wash. I would do it more, but I pay about $135 for a wash, retwist, style and tip. It’s a really nice salon and they do exceptional work, but my pockets can’t handle anymore. Other than that, the products I use are super cheap–coconut oil, olive oil, Sheamoisture shampoo and (deep) conditioner and Talia Waajid retwist gel.
I’m not going to lie, having locs is not all coconut oil and lavender. There are some things about my hair that make me dream about cutting it all off and getting a weave.
Lint. Apparently, I didn’t get the memo about not wearing light colored scarves and hats when I first started my locs because the bottom inch of almost all of my locs are FULL OF LINT. It’s not build up, so it doesn’t smell, but its annoying because I am already anticipating that I will have to cut it off with time. It’s also a bit unsightly, and it seems to be the most visible after I steam my hair. This Q-Renew hair steamer will change your life by the way whether you have locs or not.
Life between retwists- blurred boundaries. About two week after I get my hair retwisted, I can’t find my parts, and I don’t know where my scalp is. I’m learning to embrace the fuzz and get creative with styles like two strand twists that maintain my retwist or curls which actually look better with volume. I also like to use accessories like headbands that cover up the frizz all together.
Lastly, I want to say that the “ugly” stage doesn’t have to be as rough as I made it out to be. I know that this is a concern of many people who want to start their loc journey. In my case I just didn’t know what the hell I was doing and relied on my previous loctitian to style my hair before it matured. Needless to say, there’s a reason I don’t go to her anymore. You can wear headwraps, put kinky twists in, wear wigs, etc. You have options.
There are so many things I would do differently, if I were to start over, but like this blog, like school, like most things, just start and you’ll figure it out as you go.
How do you all wear your hair for working out? Do you have any particular styles that work best? How do you find the time to maintain your mane?
For the past 10 weeks, I participated in a salsa performance class cycle through the Baila Society (BASO) that culminated in a dance showcase. The design of the program was to allow participants to train like professionals and to get a taste of what it would be like to actually be a part of the dance company. The showcase event took place in a professional black box theater, and there were professional photographers and videographers to capture the entire night. I was kind of disheartened because I messed up at the very beginning (the part that I knew the best and that we’ve been practicing the longest), but I reasoned with myself that I: 1) finished strong 2) should be proud of myself for completing the process. 