Meet Gaby, founder of Girls & Women in Motion (GWIM).
Advocate for girls and women in sport and physical activity. First generation Canadian. Scarborough-born, raised by Guatemalan parents. Gaby is a proud Latina and passionate about creating safer and more inclusive and accessible movement-based spaces and opportunities for girls and women from equity-deserving communities.
How GWIM Started
The inspiration for GWIM came from what was meant to be an 8-week girls only pilot program in 2015, in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough. The program ended up running for 3 years and really sparked both the idea but also the need for more sport and physical activity opportunities and options for girls and women. There’s a huge lack of affordable, accessible and quality movement-based programs for girls and women. There’s also a lack of programming that is inclusive to girls and women of equity deserving groups - such as the Black community, Muslim community, Indigenious community, New Canadians, and many more. Once we became aware of the gap, we then had the opportunity to get together with an incredible group of women and girls from the community and together, GWIM came into existence in 2018!
GWIMs Plans for the Future
We want to make our programs, events, marketing and culture of the organization as strong as possible and cater to the different needs and wants of our targeted communities; being able to offer yearly programs, partner with local orgs and build a strong foundation and presence. Then, start to branch out, with coast-to-coast presence.
What our partnership means with Every Heart
We are so excited to partner with Every Heart because it is rare to see a business be so intentional in their philanthropic arm. And to see Every Heart build it right into their plans from the very beginning, is amazing. Our values are aligned and we both recognize the importance of having girls and women involved in sports and physical activity. We are also aware and want to reduce the various barriers to accessing and getting involved in sport and physical activity.
Also… have you seen the jewelry?!