Black History Month | Movement as Care
Honoring Black History Month Through Community, Care, and Connection
By Kimmy Kellum, Founder, East River Pilates
Black History Month is a time to honor legacy, creativity, resilience, and contribution. It’s also an opportunity to pause and reflect on how we show up for one another, not just in words, but in practice.
At East River Pilates, community has always been at the center of what we do. We believe wellness is not a luxury, but a resource and a form of care. When offered thoughtfully, it becomes a gift that extends far beyond the studio walls. In this month’s Journal, we’re celebrating local Black-owned businesses in Brooklyn that inspire us, while also reaffirming our commitment to offering wellness as support, access, and connection within our own community.
Supporting Black-owned businesses is not something we believe in doing for only one month of the year. It’s an ongoing practice rooted in intention, awareness, and action. There’s a special gift in this edition, so be sure to scroll down so you don’t miss it.
Celebrating Black-Owned Brooklyn Businesses Our Community Loves
Brooklyn is shaped by small businesses that do more than provide a service. They create spaces of belonging. They build culture. They weave care into everyday life. These are Black-owned Brooklyn businesses we admire deeply, each offering its own version of wellness, intention, and community.
Photo courtesy of Celsious.
Celsious (Williamsburg)
Founded by sisters Theresa and Corinna Williams, Celsious is far more than a laundromat. It’s a beautifully designed, eco-conscious community space that reimagines an everyday necessity through the lens of sustainability, care, and thoughtful living. From wash-and-fold services to curated home goods, everything they offer is rooted in the belief that even the most routine tasks can be made softer, more intentional, and more joyful.
Why we love them: Theresa, Corinna, and the entire Celsious community remind us that wellness often lives in the small, thoughtful moments that make life feel lighter (and smell better, too). Fun fact: We also happen to share a mutual love for moving together and a really good Mat Pilates class! Theresa and Corinna, we hope you know this already, but we’re truly some of your biggest fans.
Photo courtesy of BLK MKT Vintage.
BLK MKT Vintage (Bed-Stuy)
BLK MKT Vintage is an antique and vintage concept shop dedicated to preserving and celebrating the richness of Black history and lived experience. Curated by founders Jannah and Kiyanna Handy, the space is both a shop and a cultural archive, filled with thoughtfully sourced objects that tell stories across generations. Their collection spans vintage literature, vinyl records, clothing, art, housewares, furniture, and one-of-a-kind curiosities, each chosen not only for its beauty, but for the narrative it carries. Fun fact: They also offer really cool, really intentional interior design and styling services!
Why we love them: BLK MKT Vintage reminds us that wellness includes connection to history, identity, and home. Their work honors the past while shaping spaces that feel intentional, meaningful, and alive in the present.
Photo courtesy of Oko Farms.
Oko Farms (Bushwick / East Williamsburg)
Oko Farms is an aquaponics farm and education space using sustainable growing practices to increase food security, combat climate change, and strengthen community resilience for New York City’s most at-risk residents. They cultivate a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, fruits, and medicinal plants, from okra, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes to marigolds and lemon balm, all grown within an aquaponics system supported by fish and freshwater species that naturally fertilize the plants in a closed-loop ecosystem. Rooted in Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Oko Farms emphasizes low-tech, accessible methods and community-centered education.
Why we love them: They remind us that nourishment is foundational to wellness. Their work reminds us that caring for bodies also means caring for food systems and the land.
Photo courtesy of The Brooklyn Wellness Club
The Brooklyn Wellness Club (Bed-Stuy)
The Brooklyn Wellness Club is a Black woman–founded wellness and creative hub where movement, art, and community come together. Designed as a home for wellness and creative professionals, it offers a supportive, accessible space for workshops, events, and shared experiences rooted in care and connection.
Built to remove barriers, the club provides a ready-to-use environment that allows people to focus on what they do best, whether that’s teaching, creating, or gathering. More than a studio, it’s a place to be well, uplift one another, and celebrate culture through creativity.
Why we love them: The Brooklyn Wellness Club expands what wellness can look like by centering creativity, expression, and collective care. It’s a space where community is built intentionally and everyone is invited to thrive together.
Photo courtesy of The Fit In.
The Fit In
The Fit In is dedicated to making high-quality, community-centered movement more accessible. With offerings like Beats & Barres, Pilates Mat, Pilates Reformed, and strength-based small-group classes, The Fit In creates supportive spaces where wellness feels empowering, joyful, and rooted in real life.
Beyond their studio locations, their work extends so beautifully through The Fit In Wellness Collective, a nonprofit committed to bringing free and low-cost wellness programming to underserved communities nationwide. Through community partnerships, outdoor classes, and accessible teacher training pathways, they are helping build sustainable systems of prevention, care, and long-term health.
Why we love them: The Fit In is totally redefining what wellness access looks like. Their mission reminds us that movement is not just personal, but communal, and that wellness is strongest when it’s shared. Thank you and big hugs to Ife and The Fit In team for building long-standing care rooted in real life, not trends. You inspire all of us at East River Pilates.
Wellness as a Gift, Not a Gatekeeper
At ERP, we believe that movement is a practice, not a prescription. Wellness should not feel exclusive or intimidating. It should feel supportive, adaptable, and human. It should meet people exactly where they are, especially in a world that places constant demands on our bodies and nervous systems. For us, offering a gift of wellness means:
Creating spaces where people feel seen, respected, and welcomed
Honoring our collective community members’ bodies, backgrounds, and lived experiences
Understanding that rest, care, and movement are necessities, not indulgences (goodbye guilt!)
Whether through thoughtful programming, accessible offerings, or simply holding space for people to breathe and reconnect, we see wellness as a form of community care.
Black History Month | Gift of Wellness at East River Pilates
This Black History Month, we're offering The Gift of Movement, which includes a complimentary 5 class pack rooted in care and rest, and most importantly, joy! This offering is for our Black-identifying members and neighbors shared with the deep respect for the role Black movement, care, and community play in sharing our space. If you identify as Black and would like to receive this gift, we invite you to enjoy here.
Moving Forward Together
I’d like to wrap up this month’s Journal with a few final thoughts. Black History Month invites not only reflection, but also action.
Action in how we support Black-owned businesses.
Action in how we offer care within our own communities.
Action in how we expand access to wellness as something to be shared, not earned.
My hope is that East River Pilates continues to be a place where care is practiced daily, where movement supports life beyond the studio, and where community is something we actively nurture together.
Movement isn’t about doing more. It’s about learning how to stay connected.
Until next time, we look forward to moving with you in the studio.
Warmly,
Kimmy