When Vanessa Peralta-Mitchell earned her Coaching Certification almost six years ago, she felt an overwhelming sense of isolation.
While sitting among a group of aspiring coaches, the runner, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador, realized she was the only woman of color in the room. What should’ve been an empowering educational moment made the mother of three from Norristown, Pennsylvania, feel intimidated to the point where she didn’t participate in most of the discussions.
“Getting myself to that room and then feeling like I didn’t belong in that room—my journey could have ended right there,” she said. “But seeing it through really propelled me into what I’m doing.”
The experience inspired Peralta-Mitchell to bring more women of color into the fold. In 2020, she launched Game Changers, a program that provides mentorship, career guidance, and funding to support women of color in becoming certified run coaches. The initiative aims to address a lack of representation among coaches in the running community. For example, only 7.3 percent of NCAA Division 1 head coaches are Black,…
