Run Her Way is a recently founded organisation that aims to make running safer, more enjoyable, and more accessible for women and girls. The idea for the organisation came to life when Kate Tellier, the founder and director of Run Her Way, decided to shift careers from the tech sector to the sports world, beginning with a master’s in sport management. During the master’s degree, the students were asked to think about a problem in sports and a potential solution to it and so, Run Her Way was born. The organisation is responding to global research showing that the vast majority of women feel unsafe while running – and these safety fears influence their decisions on when and where to run and, for some, whether they run at all.
As Kate explained: “We wanted to develop a community-driven solution for women and girls to feel safer when running. Women and girls should not feel compelled to run with personal alarms or carry a weapon to defend themselves, that would just be putting a band-aid over a deeper problem. Instead, we need to address the root of the issue by proactively creating safer environments for the women and girls.”
With this in mind, Run Her Way combines data collection, community engagement, education, and advocacy to develop and implement solutions on behalf of women and girls: “We have developed a framework for different pilot projects. It all starts with giving a voice to women and girls in their communities, collecting data on where they run, where they feel safe and unsafe and why, and developing detailed maps and insights based on this information. This data then informs the community and policymakers about potential solutions. It could, for instance, be used to change the way in which parks are designed or the way law enforcement is present in certain areas. The maps, in combination with a dynamic engagement platform for ongoing feedback on running routes, support continuous efforts to make running environments safer. Beyond data, Run Her Way also works on bystander intervention training and other educational programs for the runner community, and promotes cooperation amongst a range of local stakeholders – businesses, sports clubs, community groups, government, and law enforcement.”
Run Her Way faced several start-up challenges as a new organisation. They needed to figure out how to follow all relevant regulations. Kate planned to start locally, developing a framework that could later be expanded to other countries. This raised critical legal questions such as: “How do we protect our name and intellectual property when our organisation grows? How can we remain consistent in our work?”
“This way, we could get high quality help from a big, well-established law firm.”
When faced with these legal challenges, Kate started looking for resources: “We had questions but no access to legal advice. I had found out earlier about Pro Bono Connect through a link on another website, so I already knew about them and immediately reached out. The matching process was excellent – it did not take long to get connected to a law firm and our legal questions were answered within two months. For us, working with Pro Bono Connect was ideal, since we do not have any lawyers on our board and I did not have any lawyers with the relevant legal expertise in my network. This way, we could get high quality help from a big, well-established law firm.”
The contact with the lawyers was very responsive, according to Kate: “We agreed on the scope of the legal question and had our first session soon after that. They made sufficient time available for us and the advice they gave was very clear and covered all of our questions. Being able to use pro bono support is a key enabler, particularly for small organisations with limited resources. It was a real game changer for us and I am looking forward to continue collaborating with Pro Bono Connect and affiliated law firms.”