<div>At the end of 2026, The Brooklyn Wellness Club closes its physical space. The work is not ending. I'm raising $25,000 by November 21 to establish BWC as a nonprofit, build programs and retreats across NYC and beyond, and close this chapter with care.
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<div>For almost two decades, my mission has been to create spaces where people feel seen, heard and represented. Poets Lounge in 2008. Music showcases at Black-owned businesses in 2016. Co-founding the first Black-women-owned body positive studio in the country in 2019. And on Juneteenth 2023, The Brooklyn Wellness Club.
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<div>BWC has been a space for people to become all of who they want to be. Within these walls, people have gathered to be well, built careers, founded businesses, formed collaborations, raised money and opened spaces of their own.
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<div>And for everything it has been, this space has been one of my greatest loves and one of my greatest burdens. Working full time and finishing school, I came to realize the cost of overhead has been too much for me to carry, and that I have to make room for a new version of The Brooklyn Wellness Club to emerge.
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<div>At the end of 2026, the lease ends and I am letting the building go. I've sat with this for months, thinking through every way to save the space. The truth is it isn't sustainable for me, and it hasn't been for some time. It's time to make room for ease, care and a new vision of BWC.
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<div>Sometimes growing looks like closing. Sometimes it looks like letting go of something that worked. This one has taught me to trust the unknown and to believe wholeheartedly that my vision and impact live beyond these four walls.
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<div>This isn't a goodbye. It's a reset. I need to rest, reimagine and rebuild this work outside of the space.
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<div>Here's what your contribution builds:
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<div>A nonprofit. We're establishing BWC as a 501(c)(3), so this work can be grant-funded and sustained instead of carried by one person.
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<div>Programs and retreats. Classes, gatherings and retreats across New York City and beyond, reaching further than one storefront on DeKalb ever could.
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<div>A good ending. Rent and operating costs through our final season, so the last thing we do in this space is done with the same care as the first.
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<div>We have programming throughout December, and our goal is to reach $25,000 by November 21, when our Closing Gratitude Celebration takes place.
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<div>If The Brooklyn Wellness Club ever held space for you. A class, a connection, a room where you felt like yourself. Or if you've never walked through the doors but you believe Black women should have places built for them on purpose. This is how the next one gets built.
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<div>Give what you can. Then send this to three people who would.
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<div>Thank you for believing in this space, for believing in me, and for believing in what's next.
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<div>With love and gratitude,
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<div>Paris
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<div>Founder, The Brooklyn Wellness Club
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Valerie Knight

Help The Brooklyn Wellness Club Build What's Next

Still $9,710 to go. Help us build momentum.