The FLYY Movement: Welcome to The FLYY Community

By Joelle Murchison & Andrea Barton Reeves

“Freedom to Love the You in You. Who’s FLYY? I’m FLYY!
Are you powered up?
I’m powered up! 
Are you fired up?
I’m fired up!”

As soon as you walk through the doors into FLYY Zumba®, you are drawn into what I’ve come to know as the FLYY experience. Sistah Anyangō energizes those in attendance by calling out, in traditional African Call and Response form, and the attendees respond.

“Freedom to Love the You in You. Who’s FLYY?
I’m FLYY!
Are you powered up?
I’m powered up!
Are you fired up?
I’m fired up!”

It’s impossible for you to stand on the sidelines as Sistah makes full use of the room, repeating the now familiar refrain. Nowhere to hide, here she comes to make you recognize the freedom to love you.

FLYY Zumba® is more than a dance class, more than a series of routines; it is indeed an experience. It is self-care, movement, and an opportunity for reflection. You are encouraged to find your own two step if you miss the beat which is also an important message in how we navigate life.

For me, FLYY Zumba® was an opportunity to enjoy dancing but also to step outside of my comfort zone as I began to explore the concepts of freedom and love all while moving. The carefully curated songs serve as the perfect soundtrack to your personal transformation. The overwhelming sense of support, power and strength permeate the air. Very quickly you will learn that this Saturday morning dance class is much more. Fast paced moves, pulsating rhythms, smooth grooves, and inspirational words. I’m always ready to face whatever will come. We are encouraged to see this space as me time, recognizing that we cannot pour from an empty cup!

Once the dancing is done, it’s time for a photo to capture the moment and then to gather in a circle to reflect. As you get comfortable in your new “moist” state, you will be encouraged to share why you are FLYY. It could be that you woke up that morning, or even that you made it through the routines unscathed! Whatever your reason, you will know for sure that you will be back. Release, inspiration, and support, it’s everything that you need. 

Beyond Zumba®, the FLYY Movement offers several other engagement opportunities, including Empowerment Freedom Coaching, which I have also participated in. I encourage you to get out on the floor as a first step to learning just how FLYY you are!

It was only four years ago when Sistah Anyangō envisioned a coaching program that would invite women to navigate their own journeys to healing their minds and spirits, and finally embrace the joy they knew they deserved in the seat of their souls. Now supporting over 40 women in individual, group and live sessions, (with a waitlist almost as long), women throughout Greater Hartford are excitedly entering their own sacred space as a “self- healer” in Sistah’s Empowering Freedom Coaching sessions. In this place, women journey with her, exploring their pain, hurt and vulnerability with no judgment, and discover healing and peace. Sistah meets you where you are, in what she often describes as the “muck, the dirt, the broken places we don’t want people to see.” In that very place, she guides you to understanding who you are and supports you on your journey to joy.  Whether in group discussions, individual self-healing sessions, or her Facebook Live gatherings on Thursday mornings, women can find safe spaces to share their dreams, triumphs, challenges, and joys. 

Empowering Freedom Coaching is not just about teaching women to feel better about who they are - it is about empowering women to fully embrace their joy without apology, accepting that happiness is their birthright. Her work teaches women how to shift their mindsets to believe that they are worthy of joy, peace, and serenity in every area of their life. Through the regular practice of powerful affirmations, meditation, breathing, and journaling, women are led on a journey to their own definition of happiness that is unlike any other experience. Self-healers set healthy boundaries by clearly identifying relationship standards, defining what you want and what you will simply not tolerate in relationships, whether romantic, work or family, embracing the power of NO (which Sistah repeatedly emphasizes is a complete sentence in multiple languages), moving our bodies daily, eating in a way that sustains our physical and emotional health, and taking time to rest. 

Women journey through every season of nature and every season of their lives with what Sistah calls “FLYY support”, a unique combination of her guidance and your intuition to lead you to a deeper understanding of what may bring you happiness and sustains your soul. With Sistah and her FLYY support, we learn that no hurt is too deep to be healed, and more importantly, we must deal with our hurt in order to embrace our healing. Once the journey has begun, the transformation women experience is nothing short of amazing. Many tears are shed along with layers of pain and hurt, and what emerges are strong, beautiful souls, reclaiming their lives, setting healthy boundaries, and experiencing the joy of accepting themselves exactly as they are. Empowering Freedom Coaching is life changing. For every woman seeking to love herself unconditionally, your journey can start today.  

The FLYY Movement is located at 141 South St f, West Hartford, CT 06110. Find The FLYY Movement online on Facebook, Instagram or on their website at theflyymovement.com.

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AUTHORS

Joelle A. Murchison combines her passion and expertise in education, equity & inclusion and communications in her work as the Founder & Principal of ExecMommyGroup LLC (EMG), an inclusion and leadership strategic consulting practice.

A career diversity and inclusion champion, Murchison, a graduate of Brown University, Harvard Graduate School of Education and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, also currently serves as the Executive Director of The Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity and as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Connecticut School of Business.
 
A native of Queens, and raised in Long Island, NY, Joelle takes her professional and leadership queues from her mother, a trailblazer in her own right, who was the first African American woman manager in the Social Security Administration in the 1970s. Joelle began her career in higher education followed by a stint in the non-profit sector; then transitioning to corporate America - first with United Technologies and then as the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer at Travelers Insurance. Murchison returned to higher education in 2016 as the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Connecticut where she served before launching EMG.

A recipient of numerous awards, Joelle serves as the chair of the board of RE-Center Race and Equity in Education and is a member of the board of directors and chair of the Human Capital and Diversity committee for College Possible, a national nonprofit focused on college access. In 2020, Joelle was elected to serve as a trustee of the Corporation of Brown University, the university’s decision-making body and currently serves as the chair of the Corporation’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion standing committee.
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Additionally in her most demanding yet fulfilling role, Joelle is the mother of four children between the ages of 7 and 18 who are the wind beneath her wings. At her core, she is passionate about encouraging and inspiring all people to reach their highest potential and about creating space for open dialogue to enhance inclusion and understanding. 

Andrea Barton Reeves is currently serving as the Inaugural CEO of the CT Paid Family & Medical Leave Insurance Authority. Previously she served as president and CEO of Harc, Inc. where she supported people with intellectual and related disabilities and their families. She was also the former Director of Program Operations at Lawyers for Children America, Inc., and she had a ten- year career at Chubb Insurance in Operations, leading large-scale implementations
 
Andrea is active in Community Engagement. She is the immediate, past President of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, is the former Board chair of Village for Families and Children, former Board member of Connecticut Community Nonprofit Alliance, and current Board Chair of the YWCA, Hartford Region
 
Andrea has been recognized for her work in the community. She was named one of the Hartford Business Journal’s ‘Forty Under Forty, and Five New Leaders to Watch’, was recognized as one 100 Women of Color - Class of 2020, 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut – 2021 by the CT NAACP, Power 25 – Most Impactful Professionals in Healthcare – 2021 (Hartford Business Journal) and Hartford Business Journal’s ‘Top 25 Women in Business’ 2022.
 
Andrea holds a Bachelor of Arts, English from Rutgers University and a Juris Doctorate from New York Law School.

PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOGRAPHER

Shariffah Mason is a female, versatile, freelance photographer from Connecticut. She typically admires photographs of friends and family, scenic views, and just moments that are memorable without even realizing it! She wanted people to see that same beauty she does so she decided to get a camera, create her brand (Reef's Views Photography) and went to work! Now she's able to deliver quality content and make memories last a lifetime for her clients. Currently as a photographer, she volunteers for ShopBlackCT and does her own freelance work too. If you'd like to see more of Shariffah's work, check out her IG/Facebook @Queenofallltrades! ​