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A candid conversation with the co-chair of the Running Industry Diversity Coalition Alison Désir is changing running for the better. Her journey as a runner began, like so many do, as a personal challenge. But after completing her first marathon, she wanted to help others achieve the same experience and started a community group, Run Harlem, that continues to thrive today. Désir has been a force in the movement for improved access and racial inclusion in road running, and she currently co-chairs the Running Industry Diversity Coalition (RIDC), an organization that is working to “create a more equitable and inclusive running industry where race, religion, gender identity, sexuality, immigration status, socioeconomic status, and ability do not serve as barriers for full enjoyment.” “We are looking at the ways that historically, Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) have been made invisible in this industry, both in the community and in positions of power,” Désir said of RIDC’s work. The group has recently earned non-profit status and a search for an executive director is ongoing. RIDC provides resources and education for events and race directors who want to produce inclusive, safe and welcoming events for all. The running world has long been an overwhelmingly white space, and Désir’s voice is one of many now working to change that. She’s currently writing a book about the experience of BIPOC participants in the sport and revisits the last running boom through their experience. In 2021, she was named Director of Sports Advocacy for Seattle-based women’s running brand Oiselle. In 2022, she received Running USA’s first Award of Excellence for her work in the running space. I was grateful for the chance to sit down with Alison Désir to discuss how race directors can take the first steps to improve their events, building community at Oiselle, and much more. Read on to join the conversation. (Ed. note: Interview questions and responses have been condensed for clarity.) Running USA: You are the Director of Sports Advocacy at Oiselle.  Tell us about what that means and what you're working on? Alison Désir: My role really has three parts to it. There's the internal piece, which is about really looking at employee culture, and what is the language that we're using? What are our values? And how do we create connection and trust internally? The second piece is about the Oiselle Volée. The Volée is a 3500-member, women-only global organization. It's folks from all walks of life who love the brand and love the sport. And so part of my role is really about how we can grow the Volée, either in terms of depth of what we're offering the membership or width (of participation). I believe that the Volée could have 100,000 members. It’s a space for women to connect and talk about clothes, but also talk about life issues and improving the sport. The last piece is about growing Oiselle to everybody. Oiselle is a small but fierce and growing women's brand. Being there, I realized just how unique that is. Everybody at the organization identifies as a woman. There are not many companies that can say the same. And what are the ways that we can get this message across? Our values are to make great products, improve the sport, and really do good. So how can we share this message with more folks? Roughly speaking, that's what I'm here to do. When you're talking about the Volée, how do you become part of this group? AD: The Volée has changed over the past several years. It's now over 10 years old. Initially, it was a brand ambassador group and people applied to represent the brand. But what we've realized over the years is that people were making really strong connections. And it was more than just this outward facing ambassadorship. It was more like a life changing community. The Volée is open to all. Now we have two seasons of openings. We're hoping to move to a model where you can join whenever. It’s $120 for the year, but there are many sponsorship spots available. If a community of women movers and shakers and activists sounds like something you want to be part of, don't worry about the cost. If that's a problem, just please apply. There are sponsored scholarships, so you can join. You've been very personally out in front leading the charge for running to be a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable space. What do you think the running industry needs to continue to do or needs to do that they haven't done to make that happen? AD: It's been really exciting. It's been really exhausting. It's been really frustrating. It's been all those things. I feel very privileged, though, to be in this position of connector and community builder within the industry. Before this, talking to a CEO was not really something I did. And now, It’s “hey Jim, hey Sally.” I recognize my privilege to be in those spaces. I also really honor and respect the folks that are in those (leadership) positions that recognize that it's important, that they have to be on these calls and involved in this work. At the Running Industry Diversity Coalition (RIDC), we're right now undergoing a strategic planning process, something I've never done, but it's really helping us hone in on what we're here to do, which is really talk about racial equity from an intersectional lens. We are looking at the ways that historically, Black, Indigenous, people of color have been made invisible in this industry, both in the community and in positions of power. We're doing this strategic planning to really think about what our goals are for next year, what are our goals for five years, 10 years? Thankfully, we've gotten some massive financial contributions. We are now a 501c3. And this money from – well, I can't reveal it just yet. But brands are realizing that this is important. It's important to have an organization that is focused on racial equity, that's focused on education and training, that's focused on providing talent, pipeline and job opportunities and creating new race directors who are people of color. Within a few months, we hope to have an executive director, and we've got some money to do the work that we do. I won't be (RIDC) co-chair forever, I'm realizing I will need to step away, because it's a lot of work. But I feel really good that we are setting up this permanent organization to be a respected and meaningful part of the industry. You have a compelling personal story about why you started running, can you share that? AD: Growing up, I had been a 400 and 4x400 meter runner. And it's so funny because I had these pipe dreams of being an Olympian. And now that I have actual friends who are Olympians, I'm like, I had no freaking idea. There is no chance in hell that I could have achieved that, because you have to want it in a way that I just did not want it. Anyway, so I was a 400, 4x400 meter runner. And then I went to school and life happened. I found myself in 2011/2012, very depressed. I could not find a job, I was in a really bad relationship. My father was very sick with Lewy body dementia. I was at home all the time. It felt like I was watching other people lead their lives. But thankfully, one of those people I saw was a Black guy who was training for a marathon. And this to me, really brings the point home about the importance of representation. Because I saw a Black person running and I was like, ‘this guy doesn't look like a runner.’ He was super average looking. I thought marathoners were skinny white guys. So he drew my attention. And I saw him do something that I thought that people like me didn't do. So I decided I'm going to give this a try. And like so many people can attest to, just the transformation in terms of seeing what was possible for me. Breaking up something really hard into little parts was a perspective that I began to apply outside of my life. So I ran my first marathon. Shout out to the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. And I raised over $5,000, and I decided, I want to build this community for people like me. At that time, and it's changing now, but the conversation around mental health was even more taboo. I wanted to put this front and center about the connection between mental and physical health. And then, of course, me being me, I went back to school and got my master's in counseling psychology. I always feel like I need to be the expert in things. And that's where I started off in building a community that was centered in mental health and really in racial justice, making sure that folks like me were out there running. I know we talked about this a while back, but you started the Harlem Run running movement. So how did you go from your first marathon to building out a community? AD: It was very, very slow. And not glamorous at first. I had been blogging about how amazing the (marathon) experience was. And I felt like, why am I just talking about this? Let me actually create this. So I started in November of 2013. For four months, nobody was showing up. It was just me every Monday. I would post photos of random people's feet so that it looked like there were people. There were a lot of sad calls to my mom at seven o'clock, crying, ‘nobody's showing up!’ But I just kept showing up. People really can become fanatical about running when you've had that first positive experience, and I felt like I needed to share it. And so that just kept me going. I was like, I know that people are going to love this when they show up. So I'm just going to keep showing up. And sure enough, within six months, there was one person and then five people and then a year and a half later, there's 150 people. Now, I live on the West Coast, in Seattle. But Harlem Run is still running and we now have a leadership team. That's a beautiful thing. They've embraced it as their own community, their own movement. I take pride in that it's never been about me. It's been about other people having that experience. Tell us about your book, which I understand will be out this fall? AD: Yes, “Running While Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport that Wasn’t Built for Us” is now available. It tells my personal narrative, but it also tells the running boom story from a different lens and centers the experience of Black and Brown folks in running. I hope that this book opens eyes to the reality of the BIPOC running experience, and also offers tools around what we can do to make this space more inclusive. Where can runners and readers find it for preorder? AD: The best place to preorder is at Penguin Random House. I hope that it's something that everybody buys, and it gets on the New York Times bestseller list. Thank you so much for taking the time. I know you’re busy, but it’s always great to catch up with you.