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Arcia M. Stokes, Ed.D

@arciastokes

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📍Jersey
Dr. Stokes | 1908
Assistant Principal
Somewhere making ish pop! ✨
Founder @bgwc__ 🏃🏾‍♀️✨🤎
Owner @bgwc_studio 🌿
Matthew 5:16

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Super proud of Dr. @arciastokes for the grand opening of @bgwc_studio

At @dresbeautysupply, we know that hair, beauty, and wellness are all interconnected. We’re looking forward to collaborating with @bgwc_studio in the future 🫶🏾

If you’re looking for a wellness space created with Black women in a mind, this is place for you.

📍81 Halsey St.
Downtown Newark. NJ

#BrickCity #Newark #wellness #dresbeautysupply #bgwcstudio

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Sisters, we’ve walked a lot of miles together, but this may have been one of the most important walks we’ve ever taken. 🖤

We’ve walked for our health. We’ve walked through grief. We’ve walked in celebration, in solidarity, and in sisterhood. We’ve walked to remind one another that no woman should have to navigate life alone.

But on 10/10 at 10, we walked HOME.

Beautiful Black women dressed in black filled the streets of Newark, walking toward something we have spent years building together: BGWC Studio — A Space to Be Held.

And while the destination was 81 Halsey Street, the meaning of this walk was so much greater.

We were walking toward a future where Black women have more spaces to rest, heal, move, laugh, grow, and simply BE. Spaces where we don’t have to prove our worth or carry the weight of the world. Spaces created by us, with us, and for us.

Because BGWC Studio isn’t just another wellness studio. It’s an invitation to come home to yourself while finding community with women who are committed to doing the same.

Whether it’s Pilates, yoga, dance fitness, massage, meditation, or simply being surrounded by sisterhood, we want you to find something here that reminds you that you deserve to be poured into, too.

To every sister who has walked a mile with us, whether you’ve been here since our very first walk or joined us for the first time on October 10th, thank you. You are part of this story.

We started by creating a space for Black women to walk together. Now, we’ve created a space for Black women to stay awhile.

So, sisters, make BGWC Studio your home. Come as you are. Bring your whole self. There’s room for you here.

We’ve walked so many miles together. Now, we finally have a place to call home. 🖤

Special thank you to @rev_maria @newarkalliance60 @melvinsykes @_victoriatwalker rasjbaraka and our amazing contractor Damon. We would also like to thank @vernesa329_08 ✨🖤 Each of you played a major role in making this happen!

Another S/O to our board of fierce leaders @arciastokes @itsdrmeesh @dr.dejaljones @_loveandlysh @balasiamc @kaybooker @misstanaboo @luvbrittr 🫂✨

📍 81 Halsey Street, Newark, NJ

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Some things in life are bigger than you, actually most things in life are bigger than you! Black women deserve community and they deserve a place that allows them to show up with out code switching! They deserve REAL self-care and they deserve to make time for their bodies! Thank you @arciastokes @bgwc_studio and @bgwc__ for being the space Black women need! And bonus points for opening this space in Newark! A true definition of For US BY US #blackownedbusiness #newarkpilates #newarkyoga #fitness #blackownedgym

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Today was more than a grand opening. 🤎 10/10 — The Walk Home, celebrating the grand opening of Black Girl Walking Club Studio.

I want to give ALL the flowers to the founder, DR. Arcia Stokes. 💐 Because what you’ve created is truly something special.

And I’m not just talking about today. I’m talking about the space you continue to hold for us. A space where Black and Brown women can feel safe, seen, heard, loved, and supported. A space where we can show up as ourselves and know that we belong.

If you’ve been looking for sisterhood, genuine friendships, encouragement, or simply a community that pours into you, make your way to Black Girl Walking Club Studio.

Arcia, thank you for making room for all of us. You deserve every flower. 😘😘 CONGRATULATIONS!!

#imperfectionalbeauty #bgwc #findjoyinthejourney #thewalkhome #bgwcstudio

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Today, my sister, Soror, and friend @arciastokes opened the doors to her wellness studio @bgwc_studio —and I couldn’t be prouder.

A Nork (Newark) native returning home to pour into the community that raised her. A space created by Black women, for Black women, where we can breathe, move, rest, and be cared for.

There is something so meaningful about creating a space where our wellness is the priority. Where we can show up as we are and make room for ourselves, too.

Sis, watching you bring this vision to life is a joy. Thank you for giving your community something rooted in love, intention, and care.

May God bless the work of your hands and establish everything you’ve poured your heart into. May this studio be filled with peace, healing, joy, and community. May He send the people, provision, and support you need—and replenish you as you pour into others. May His favor rest upon you, and may you always feel the love you’ve created this space to give.

Congratulations on your grand opening. Newark, welcome her home.

#sisterhood #wellness #blackexcellence #blessingsonblessings #gogirl

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flu are not here this weekend’s lineup! Have fun and be safe jersey 🫶🏽🫂

#njthingstodo #njevents #njcontentcreator #nj #fallactivities

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My Saturday: Prayer to Spotlight 🙏🏾✨
Afternoon: Honored to lead prayer for my friend Dr. Arcia Stokes private first look at her new BGWC Studio, BLACK GIRL WALKING CLUB STUDIO, a space to be held. So proud of you sis.
I reminded the room to stay around MULTI dimensional people, not one dimensional people. Arcia is that, and so is everyone who showed up for her.
Night: Women at NJPAC Spotlight Gala 2026 at NJPAC. Beautiful celebration of women taking the spotlight they deserve.
Same day, same assignment, celebrate women building space and taking space.
Grand Opening for BGWC is Oct 10 at 10AM. Lets support!
#BGWCStudio #WomenAtNJPAC #SpotlightGala2026 #NJPAC #NewarkNJ

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BIGGUPS and a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Arcia Stokes @arciastokes my Dai Dai for the opening of her yoga studio located on Halsey Street in Newark. I love you immensely and I’m always proud of every accomplishment you make! Black Girls Walk @bgwc__ is your baby, pray 🙏🏾 over her daily and coddle her with your head and your heart. Business is never personal and once it becomes personal it’s no longer business! Clock that tea!! #bgwc #confidence #yoga #allbusiness #proudbigsister My blazer from @aphrodite_couture was a hit.

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Dr. @arciastokes had a vision. A vision for a space where Black women could come to be seen, held, breathe, and find release.

Too often, we find ourselves in spaces where representation is lacking. Where the instructors, the faces, and the environments don’t always reflect us. Where we may enter with caution, unsure if we will truly feel seen, safe, or held.

Dr. Stokes saw that gap and decided to address it. She created a space and built a team of black women instructors, sound healers, massage therapists, and facilitators holding sister circles. A space where Black women can come together and begin to release the expectation of always having to be strong. Always having to be resilient. Where we can soften, exhale, and simply be.

There is something deeply vulnerable about this work. And as an instructor who gets to be part of this vision, I do not take lightly the responsibility of helping cultivate a space where women who look like me can feel safe enough to let their guard down. To be witnessed without judgment. To rest without guilt. To exist without having to explain themselves.

I am beyond excited to help carry this vision forward. This is part of the reason I found my way into wellness in the first place: to help create these spaces, to be that representation, and to stand unapologetically in all that I am as a Black woman.

There is power in seeing yourself reflected in the spaces you enter. There is healing in being held by people who understand that strength and softness can coexist. And there is something sacred about creating room for us to experience both.

Black Girl Walking Club Studio is opening its doors on 10/10! 🖤

The space is ready, and we’re ready to hold you.

Download the app (Black Girl Walking Club Studio), explore the offerings, and book your classes. We cannot wait to welcome you in 🫂

@bgwc_studio

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Coming soon to Newark, NJ. A space to be held. 🖤 #BGWC

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🎉🎈Black Girl Walking Club turned 2 years old this month!!, and what better way to celebrate than by reminding our community of our story & hearing from each of you! 🖤👟

Our founder often shares why BGWC was created.

At the end of her doctoral journey, after years of coursework, research, and writing a rigorous dissertation, she looked up and realized something many Black women know all too well: she had neglected herself while pursuing something important.

And that realization sparked a bigger question.

How many Black women have neglected themselves while caring for everyone else?

How many have poured into their children, partners, families, careers, businesses, churches, and communities, only to find themselves running on empty?

How many have put their healing, health, rest, and joy on the back burner in order to survive?

Black Girl Walking Club was born from the belief that Black women deserve a space to come back to themselves.

A space where movement is medicine.

A space where healing happens in conversation.

A space where sisterhood is not performative but intentional.

A space where you do not have to explain your experiences because the women beside you simply get it.

What started as a walk in Newark has grown into a movement reaching women across multiple cities, creating opportunities for connection, wellness, friendship, and healing.

As we enter our second year, we want to hear from you:

✨ What has BGWC meant to you?
✨ How has this community impacted your life?
✨ What healing has taken place because you said yes to a walk?

Because while we celebrate two years of Black Girl Walking Club, the real celebration is the women who have found community, courage, healing, and themselves along the way.

Thank you for walking with us. The journey is just beginning. 🖤

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Correction: There were no Black people on the jury. I'll follow up with a video to explain why this is functionally the same thing for Black people.

➡️ Swipe for today's reflections from my Black corner of the Internet

We are all we got.
It's past time for us to wake up to that reality.

#whmpartner

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