Before today, the only thing that I knew about Donna Richardson was that she worked as a fitness trainer and was married to Tom Joyner, that’s it. And now today she is one of my most favorite people ever. Let me tell you why…
I wanted to write about an amazing Black person in the fitness industry, so I got my Google on accordingly. The name Donna Richardson kept popping up, so I decided to check her out.
I was blown away, inspired, motivated, and amazed by my findings, so forgive me if this goes astray….
The thing that intrigued me the most about Richardson is that she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro; Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa! It took her and her crew 7 days to climb up the mountain, and 2 days to go back down it.
This is most intriguing to me because I never read or heard about any Black woman climbing a mountain before, let alone the tallest mountain in Africa! *A few weeks ago I watched an amazing mountain climbing documentary on Netflix called 14 Peaks, and it detailed how grueling it is to climb a mountain.
And not to sound crass, but her and her crew got sick on the way up; they experienced vomiting and diarrhea which caused them to run out of toilet paper on the way down. Gulp.
In addition to climbing the tallest mountain in Africa, Donna was elected to the President’s Council of Fitness under both the Bush and Obama administrations. During her time with the Obama administration, she traveled the country with Michelle Obama during Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative.
In addition to traveling and influencing the Bush’s and the Obama’s, Richardson has also traveled with and influenced the likes of Oprah Winfrey, T.D. Jakes, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and ESPN; Essence Magazine named her one of the 25 most inspiring women in America. Richardson was also inducted into the National Fitness Hall of Fame.
With all of her accomplishments, there’s one thing that I noticed that she spoke most passionately about, and that’s starting a crocheting business in the 4th grade that she operated until the 11th grade. This was her first step into the business world.
Richardson told her parents that her allowance wasn’t enough, so she was going to start a crocheting business. Even more amazing than that, this 4th grader delegated marketing tasks to her family members.She told them, “You all are connected with the church, so bring me business and I’ll do the work”. They followed her lead, and her business did very well.
Richardson brought things back full circle in 2020 by working with family once again when she and her mom started: Mama LaVerne’s Chicken, Waffles, Pancake Seasoning and Baking Mixes. Richardson was 57 I believe at the time, and her mom was 80 when they started the venture. How cool is that mayne?
Richardson is one of the original Buns of Steel girls; she quit college with only ½ a semester left in order to pursue the opportunity. She also has some great one liners; I don’t know if she is the originator of these quotes or not, but I heard them from her first.
*I enjoy the essence of who I am.
*I can’t depend on people, I have to depend on myself.
*You have to make a way, not an excuse if you want to accomplish a goal.
*You must eat from the garden of your own thoughts, so don’t grow anything that you don’t want to eat.
*I had to train my mind to be stronger than my feelings.
The End
This has been a #TeamWoods moment in Black History.
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