Empowering Women Through Boxing & Wellness
Find out more about our "Release Therapy" Program
Who We Are at Black Girls Box
Who We Are
Makeba Reed-Johnson, Founder
Makeba Reed-Johnson, Founder
Black Girls Box was founded on the principles of teaching women of color, boxing as a form of therapy, to create a space where women can release trauma. A cross-sectional analysis published in The Lancet Psychiatry examined exercise habits and mental health data from 1.2 million Americans collected across three separate years. Among all t
Black Girls Box was founded on the principles of teaching women of color, boxing as a form of therapy, to create a space where women can release trauma. A cross-sectional analysis published in The Lancet Psychiatry examined exercise habits and mental health data from 1.2 million Americans collected across three separate years. Among all the exercise types studied, boxing stood out. People who trained in boxing reported a mental health burden that was 20.1% lower than people who didn’t exercise at all. That number deserves a second look. Not jogging. Not cycling. Not yoga. Boxing delivered one of the strongest associations with improved mental well-being of any exercise type in the study.
Makeba Reed-Johnson, Founder
Makeba Reed-Johnson, Founder
Makeba Reed-Johnson, Founder
Makeba Reed-Johnson is the founder of Black Girls Box™, a movement dedicated to empowering women through boxing, wellness, and emotional healing. She brings more than 30 years of experience in mental health, public health, wellness, and fitness.
Makeba holds a Master of Public Health, a Master of Public Administration, and a Bachelor of So
Makeba Reed-Johnson is the founder of Black Girls Box™, a movement dedicated to empowering women through boxing, wellness, and emotional healing. She brings more than 30 years of experience in mental health, public health, wellness, and fitness.
Makeba holds a Master of Public Health, a Master of Public Administration, and a Bachelor of Social Work. She is a cretifed Life Coach, a two-time Women's National Golden Gloves Champion, a former college professor, accomplished athlete, and the founder of the boxing fitness program at Spelman College.
In addition to her work in boxing, Makeba is a certified Vibrational Sound Therapist and Qigong practitioner. She enjoys swimming, running, and cycling, embracing movement as a lifelong path to health and healing.
As the creator of Release Therapy™, Makeba has pioneered a transformative approach that combines boxing, mindfulness, breath, and sound to help individuals process and release stored emotional pain. Rather than simply teaching clients to throw punches, she invites them to turn inward, bringing grief, anger, fear, and other unprocessed emotions into intentional movement. Through guided boxing exercises, vocal expression, and present-moment awareness, clients are encouraged to safely release emotional burdens that the body has carried, creating space for healing, resilience, and renewal.
Makeba believes true healing occurs when the mind and body work together. Her work challenges the idea that emotions should simply be managed or suppressed, instead offering a powerful pathway to release them through movement, presence, and embodied practice.
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Coach Maria Merritt, CEO
Makeba Reed-Johnson, Founder
Dr. Cynthia Williams, Director of Grief, Trama, and Family Healing
Maria Merritt is a professional and amateur boxing coach, entrepreneur, adjunct professor, and nationally recognized advocate for inclusive boxing. With more than 13 years of boxing experience and over nine years of coaching, she has dedicated her career to using boxing as a vehicle for health, education, empowerment, and community trans
Maria Merritt is a professional and amateur boxing coach, entrepreneur, adjunct professor, and nationally recognized advocate for inclusive boxing. With more than 13 years of boxing experience and over nine years of coaching, she has dedicated her career to using boxing as a vehicle for health, education, empowerment, and community transformation. Maria holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Business Administration. She is a founding trainer at AFighter4Life Boxing & Fitness in Atlanta, where she has coached individuals of all ages and abilities. As the founder of Healthy Hitters Inclusive Boxing, Maria has developed an innovative, evidence-informed boxing program designed specifically for children on the autism spectrum and individuals with diverse abilities. Her pioneering work combines boxing fundamentals with adaptive coaching strategies to improve physical fitness, motor skills, emotional regulation, social development, and self-confidence. Through this work, she is helping redefine what inclusion looks like in the sport of boxing.
Maria also serves as an adjunct professor at Spelman College, where she teaches boxing fitness and wellness, empowering young women to develop confidence, leadership, and resilience through movement. Recognized as a respected leader within Atlanta's boxing and fitness community, Maria has partnered with schools, universities, nonprofit organizations, and community groups to increase access to evidence-based boxing programs. She has also collaborated with world champion boxer Claressa Shields, further advancing opportunities for women and girls in the sport. Whether coaching competitive athletes, teaching college students, or creating adaptive programs for underserved communities, Maria's mission remains the same: to make boxing accessible, inclusive, and transformative for every individual. Through education, innovation, and service, she continues to inspire others to discover their strength, resilience, and purpose, both inside and outside the ring.
Dr. Cynthia Williams, Director of Grief, Trama, and Family Healing
Dr. Cynthia Williams, Director of Grief, Trama, and Family Healing
Dr. Cynthia Williams, Director of Grief, Trama, and Family Healing
Dr. Cynthia Williams is an internationally respected grief and trauma specialist, author, speaker, and community advocate dedicated to helping individuals and families transform pain into purpose. She is the founder of Love From Afar: The Christopher Allen Williams Foundation, as well as Parents Against Distracted Driving (P.A.D.D.), or
Dr. Cynthia Williams is an internationally respected grief and trauma specialist, author, speaker, and community advocate dedicated to helping individuals and families transform pain into purpose. She is the founder of Love From Afar: The Christopher Allen Williams Foundation, as well as Parents Against Distracted Driving (P.A.D.D.), organizations committed to grief recovery, trauma education, emotional wellness, and community healing. Dr. Williams' work was born from profound personal loss following the tragic death of her eldest son, Christopher Allen Williams, in a distracted driving crash in 2006. Rather than allowing grief to define her life, she transformed her experience into a mission of service, creating programs that provide education, hope, and practical tools for individuals navigating grief, trauma, and life transitions. Through workshops, support groups, speaking engagements, and community initiatives, she has become a trusted voice for those seeking healing after unimaginable loss.
A recognized leader in grief recovery, Dr. Williams is a Certified Teen Life Coach and Mentor, PRIDE (Parents Reducing Injury and Driver Error) Instructor, certified Mediator, Generational Conflict Resolution Specialist, and Grief Recovery Specialist. She is widely known for her trauma-informed, healing-centered approach, helping individuals, families, schools, and organizations build resilience while addressing the lasting effects of grief and generational trauma.
Dr. Williams is also an accomplished author whose books provide compassionate guidance for healing and personal transformation. Her published works include Concrete Soil: A Memoir of Overcoming Grief, a deeply personal account of navigating unimaginable loss; After My Daddy Left, which explores childhood trauma, healing, and resilience; and additional works that encourage readers to confront difficult experiences with honesty, courage, and hope. Her writing reflects her belief that healing begins by acknowledging pain rather than suppressing it. Through Love From Afar, Dr. Williams leads grief recovery workshops, youth mental health initiatives, restorative dialogue programs, conflict resolution training, and community-based healing experiences. She is also the visionary behind national awareness initiatives, including the Distracted Driving Awareness & Prevention Summit and the Broken Crayons Still Color Youth Safety & Mental Health Summit, bringing together educators, clinicians, survivors, families, and community leaders to promote prevention, emotional wellness, and lasting change. Driven by compassion, authenticity, and lived experience, Dr. Cynthia Williams continues to inspire audiences across the country with a powerful message of resilience, forgiveness, and hope. Her life's work reminds us that while grief may forever change us, it does not have to define us. Through education, advocacy, and heartfelt service, she empowers others to move beyond survival and embrace healing, purpose, and the possibility of new beginnings.
Ursula S. H. Langford, Esq., CFO
Dr. Cynthia Williams, Director of Grief, Trama, and Family Healing
Ursula S. H. Langford, Esq., CFO
Ursula S.H. Langford, Esq. is a nationally recognized attorney, trusted advisor, entrepreneur, sought-after speaker, and business strategist with more than two decades of experience at the intersection of law, media, sports, branding, and business.
Known for helping creatives, executives, athletes, and entrepreneurs protect, monetize, and
Ursula S.H. Langford, Esq. is a nationally recognized attorney, trusted advisor, entrepreneur, sought-after speaker, and business strategist with more than two decades of experience at the intersection of law, media, sports, branding, and business.
Known for helping creatives, executives, athletes, and entrepreneurs protect, monetize, and maximize the value of their intellectual property and brands, Ursula has represented Grammy and platinum-selling recording artists, award-winning actors, content creators, and major media and production companies. Throughout her career, she has structured and negotiated high-impact transactions involving entertainment and media powerhouses, including TV One, MTV, TLC, Discovery, and Tyler Perry Studios and its affiliates. Expanding her influence into the sports arena, she has successfully brokered lucrative Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) partnerships for athletes, helping them transform their personal brands into sustainable business ventures and long-term wealth-building opportunities.
A respected authority on intellectual property, entrepreneurship, entertainment law, branding, and business growth, Ursula is frequently invited to speak on national stages, industry panels, universities, legal education programs, podcasts, radio shows, and television platforms. Her engaging, dynamic and results-driven approach equips and empowers audiences to transform their expertise into profitable assets, navigate complex industries with confidence, and build sustainable legacies through strategic ownership, growth, and protection of their brands. In addition to leading her law firm, I Am Legally Urs, LLC, Ursula is the founder of Sincerely Urs Live!, a full-service entertainment and production company that has managed and consulted on local and national concert stages, produced marquee signature events, and executed large scale and high-impact live experiences across the country. Through her work in talent management, event production, media development, and strategic entertainment consulting, she has become a trusted advisor to artists, entrepreneurs, organizations, and industry leaders alike. A graduate of the University of Georgia and Michigan State University College of Law, Ursula launched her legal career under legendary entertainment attorney Gregory J. Reed, contributing to matters involving cultural icons including Rosa Parks, Outkast, Eminem, the Estate of James Brown, and Martha and the Vandellas. Whether addressing executives, entrepreneurs, creatives, athletes, or emerging leaders, Ursula delivers transformative insights that challenge audiences to think bigger, lead boldly, own their value, and build legacies that extend far beyond their professions.
what is release therapy?
“Release therapy” feels powerful because it gives language to something many people experience but can’t explain: the difference between understanding emotion and actually releasing it from the body.So many people live from the neck up analyzing, suppressing, enduring, staying composed, while the body quietly carries fear, grief, rage, shame, heartbreak, and survival.
For many women, especially Black women, there’s deep conditioning to contain everything:
be strong,
be quiet,
be agreeable,
don’t unravel,
don’t take up space.
Boxing disrupted that containment.
Not through destruction — through expression.
The punches.
The breath.
The sound.
The movement.
The exhaustion afterward.
Instead of silently absorbing stress, your body finally had somewhere for it to go.
That’s why the vocalization mattered so deeply. Making sound while exerting force requires permission:
permission to be heard,
permission to take up space,
permission to stop compressing yourself.
Because anxiety is not always just thought.
Sometimes it’s trapped activation in the nervous system with nowhere to go.
Boxing gave it somewhere to go.
And beyond fitness, it became nervous system training:
how to breathe under pressure,
move instead of freeze,
stay grounded while overwhelmed,
recover after impact,
trust your body again.