In this episode we speak to Denise Stephenson. We had a chat at the end of 2020, just before the third lockdown came in. We discovered Denise by chance as the founder of the Emancipated Run Crew in South London, and fell in love with her passion for inclusivity and her joyous approach to running. Denise is, as we discover, busy. She is a solicitor by day, a profession that she only realised might have a place for her after a black lawyer came to speak at her secondary school. That experience, along with her faith, has had a huge impact on her, not only in terms of her choice of job, but also influencing her decision to then set up a charity, Reach Out 2 Kids, that does just that: placing BAME professionals in schools to talk about their careers to inspire black and working class kids to enter professions they might not think were open to them. She’s had incredible and moving success with the charity, as she discusses here. 

Denise is also co-host of the brilliant Start Line Podcast, along with her sisters, Jules and Petrina, in which they chat effusively about running and eating, and the joy of their many, many half marathons. She talks to us here about her podcast, her charity, the racism she’s faced both at work and at racing events, as well as the lack of diversity in races and the lack of progress made by event directors in terms of their marketing and targeting. Get inspired right here, and make sure you interrogate your race director the next time we’re allowed to race and you realise how few black people are at the start line. And make sure you follow Denise!

@deeliz08
@we_run_we_eat

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