Houston area is home to many black-owned gyms
Felicia Lee-Sexton estimates she will be a month or two behind on rent payments for her gym until at least next year.
The Women’s Health and Fitness Center in Stafford shut its doors in late March, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Lee-Sexton received no Paycheck Protection Program loan or government stimulus to keep the business afloat or her trainers on the payroll.
“It makes me sad as an African American entrepreneur of a small business that all the money went to large corporations, which are the last ones that needed money,” Lee-Sexton said. “I am still reeling from trying to play catch-up; by God’s grace, my landlord is working with me.”
This year has been one tragedy after another, she said. First with the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown, followed by massive unemployment and now with the murder of George Floyd, a native Houstonian, which has sparked days of Black Lives Matter rallies and protests against police brutality across the country.
The women-only gym isn’t just about physical fitness. There are weekly Bible studies, monthly therapy sessions with a licensed professional counselor and daily check-ins in a members-only Facebook group and Whatsapp.
Lee-Sexton was reluctant to start streaming workouts on Zoom because of the loss of human contact. But she now understands there are people who may have always wanted to work out but couldn’t for a number of reasons, so she will continue to livestream twice a week, even when gyms are back to full capacity.
Lee-Sexton will celebrate 27 years of sobriety on June 16. To her, bodies are temples and require physical strength, as well as mental and spiritual care.
“I think we are a praying gym,” she said. “It’s one thing on top of another thing, but we can’t lose focus on who we are, what we stand for and keeping ourselves fit mentally and physically.”
Lee-Sexton is one of several black gym owners in the Houston area. Many are struggling post-lockdown with lost membership fees but are still offering socially distant training sessions by appointment: