top of page
Four black girls in pool with goggle on

Press & Media

As Seen On

The_New_York_Times_logo.webp
1942px-COMPLEX_Magazine_Logo.svg-min.png
emmy-graphic_2.png
BE-LOGO2-min.jpg
sports-illustrated-logo-09ABA3E36B-seeklogo.com.png
elle-magazine-vector-logo-small.png
3ydbb0yabl6phtfa0_edited.jpg

Forbes

This Fast-Growing Business Aims To Save Lives One Swim Lesson At A Time

Black People Will Swim is on a mission to save more lives. Forbes senior contributor Elaine Pofeldt writes how BPWS is making it happen.

BPWS_1920x1080-WinnerGrandPrize.png

Relay

Meet the winners of Relay’s Reasons To Be Profitable Contest

Black People Will Swim is the grand prize winner of Relay's Reasons to be Profitable contest. Here's how this win will help save more lives in 2024.

swimming-lead3-65552ce65a82d-min.png

WOMEN'S HEALTH

’Learning To Swim At 24 Taught Me An Important Life Lesson’

Assistant editor Naydeline Mejia shares how she came to peace with the water in taking swim lessons with Black People Will Swim.

ab67656300005f1f78270f13f2b56ea36ca093de.jpeg

NYC NOW
Midday News

the City Council is moving to require second graders to receive swimming instruction. For more, WNYC’s Janae Pierre spoke with Paulana Lamonier, founder of the organization Black People Will Swim.

Noella_1.png

TEEN VOGUE
3 Young People on Why Reclaiming Their Childhood Hobbies Is Healing

Black People Will Swim student Noella Williams, who hadn't taken swim lessons since childhood, rekindled her relationship with the water through the 6-week summer program.

230919_gma3_swim_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg

GMA
Swimming while Black

BPWS founder Paulana Lamonier shares with GMA 3 the racial disparities Black people face in swimming and how it often leads to high fatalities in the community.

Screenshot 2023-08-30 at 9.27.26 AM-min.png

BBC
The Troubled History of Swimming
Pools in the US

This video delves into the legacy of pool segregation and spotlights the efforts of organizations like Black People Will Swim that strive to address the swimming disparities in the US.

tmp_QWIiya_217606fbcc1e98e7_edit_13.webp

Popsugar
Paulana Lamonier Is Reclaiming the Myth That Black People Can't Swim

Despite the stereotype that Black people can't swim, Lamonier became an avid swimmer in elementary school, going on to join her college swim team at York College in Queens, NY. 

Paulana-Teach-Student-1024x702.jpeg

Swim World
Black People Will Swim, an Organization on the Rise, Making a Difference

Paulana Lamonier has made a home around the pool. Now she is doing the same for others. Lamonier started an organization called Black People Will Swim, with an aim at breaking down stereotypes. It started with a lesson for 30 people in New York.

maxresdefault.jpeg

CNBC Make It
Making $1,000 A Month Teaching My Community To Swim | On The Side

Paulana Lamonier, 31, is teaching Black Americans to swim. According to a 2021 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black Americans are 1.5 times as likely to die from drowning as white Americans.

Paulana-Lamonier-Headshot_BW-min.jpeg

ESSENCE
How This Woman Is Turning The Tide On The Long-Held Stereotype That Black People Don’t Swim

The New York native founded Black People Will Swim, a Long Island-based organization that aims to fight against racist tropes that most African-Americans don’t swim.

3ydbb0yabl6phtfa0_edited.jpg

Mind Body Green
Ways To Support Your Community - Get Inspired With These 4 Empowering Stories

As a gamechanger in the Greater New York Area, Paulana works with her organization, Black People Will Swim, to smash the stereotype that Black people don’t swim.

Paulana Lamonier

People
Coach Paulana Lamonier Wants More Black People to Learn to Swim

The Long Island, N.Y., swim instructor began her program Black People Will Swim in 2019, and this summer has enrolled 80 participants for six-week summer classes.

MTkxMTY5MjY0NjU5NDc0MTU2.webp

Sports Illustrated
Paulana Lamonier Is Smashing the Stereotype That Black People Don’t Swim

Fed up with the racial disparities in swimming participation, the Black People Will Swim founder set out to improve the statistics.

Screen Shot 2022-07-13 at 2.42.51 PM-min.png

The New York Times
N.Y.C. Pools Open Amid a Swim Lesson Shortage, Raising Safety Fears

The city has canceled free swim lessons and private swim programs are feeling the squeeze from a lack of lifeguards. One expert said: “Some of those kids are going to drown.”

Black People Will Swim Vice Press

VICE
How Black Swimmers Are Reclaiming the Water This Summer

The desire to swim didn’t change my address or income, and it certainly did nothing for the hours it tacked onto my wash days. But I’m finally returning to the pool.

Pl-min.png

Refinery29
If Paulana Lamonier Has Her Way, Black People Will Swim This Summer

“I can’t swim.” It’s a phrase that so many of us — myself included — have sheepishly used for years, oftentimes with no plans to remedy that reality.

Screen Shot 2022-02-28 at 7.14.20 AM.png

Katie Couric 
These 2 Businesses Are Finding Success by Smashing Stereotypes

Lamonier founded her company, Black People Will Swim, to not only teach members of the community to feel comfortable in the water but also address the racism that’s preventing so many people from learning that skill.

Screen Shot 2022-02-25 at 12.12.39 PM.png

Parents
For Black Communities, Learning To Swim Can Be Anything but Simple

Reversing the traumatic effects of discrimination that kept Black families out of pools for generations isn't easy, but Black People Will Swim is stepping up.

Screen Shot 2022-02-25 at 12.10.23 PM.png

Kindred
This Family Is Teaching 2000+ Black People How to Swim 

Despite the many barriers that still persist, Paulana Lamonier founded Black People Will Swim (BPWS) to teach this life-saving skill in a safe, supportive environment.

Screen Shot 2022-02-25 at 12.20.41 PM.png

PIX11
BPWS’s mission is simple: smashing the stereotype that Black people don’t swim

One Long Island woman is making it her mission to teach African American people how to swim in hopes of smashing the stereotype that Black people cannot swim.

IMG_6898.jpg

Trip Advisor
Get outdoorsy:
Five camps for adventure lover

Black people have traditionally been overlooked. From fishing to skiing to swimming, these programs are all about having a good time while learning a new skill.

GettyImages-673405014.jpg

Travel Noire
5 Black-Owned Organizations Providing Swim Lessons Specifically For Black People

Travel Noire rounded up a list of Black-owned organizations that provide swim lessons for Black communities.

Paulana Lamonier swimming headshot

Cricket Wireless
Black People Will Swim Selected as Cricket Wireless' 2021 Jefes Del Futuro

BPWS was selected as one of the three winners for Cricket Wireless' 2021 Jefes Del Futuro! 

IMG_7353-min.jpeg

For(bes) The Culture 50 
Creating a movement that contextualizes Black stereotypes around swimming.

Paulana Lamonier has one goal: putting an end to the stereotype that Black people can’t swim.

Paulana Lamonier

Glamour 
It Took a Swim Coach to Dismantle One Very Dangerous Racial Stereotype

The grand-prize winner of Ally’s Daring to Disrupt contest invited Black people to overcome historical barriers and join her in the pool—and the response has been overwhelming.

Palauna Lamonier smiling in pool

COMPLEX 
Entrepreneur Is Helping Black People Conquer Their Fears About Swimming

For Paulana Lamonier, swimming is an act of liberation. However, she understands that for many Black people being in the water can be intimidating. 

Paulana teaching black kids to swim.

PIX11
How three locals are making a difference in their neighborhoods

PIX11 spoke with the founders of Black People Will SwimBundles of Joy NY, and Dancing Dreams about the differences they’re making in their neighborhoods. 

African American swim coach teaching black girls how to swim

Retro Report
Black Swimmers Overcome Racism and Fear, Reclaiming a Tradition

Black children today drown in swimming pools at a rate far higher than that of white children, studies have shown. Now new programs are working to overcome barriers...

Two women swimming in pool

Newsday
Long Island business owner hopes to save Black lives via swimming lessons

Young Black adults and children are on average nearly three times more likely than whites to drown, but a Uniondale swim instructor has spent August helping change that statistic.

Boy watching people swimming

NBC News
This company is trying to end a prevalent racial disparity

For the past year, Paulana Lamonier has built up a business to provide low-cost swimming education for Black children and adults.

Daring to disrupt finalist graphic

Ally
10 Inspiring Women Daring to Disrupt the World of Entrepreneurship

Even though the pandemic slowed their progress, it’s still moving forward helping people F.A.C.E. their fears

portrait-of-boy-standing-by-edge-of-swim

All Of It
Confronting Stereotypes Through Swim Lessons

Paulana Lamonier, founder of Black People Will Swim, joins us to discuss confronting stereotypes about Black people and swimming. 

Young Black Boy learning to swim

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Teaching My Black Son To Swim

A mother’s determination to end a legacy of racial trauma started with mother-son swim lessons

Paulana Lamonier teaching black woman how to swim in pool

IN THE KNOW
Black People Will Swim is 'smashing' racist stereotypes with swim lessons

Lamonier had been working as a swimming instructor for nine years in New York before she decided to launch her own company, Black People Will Swim (BPWS).

Essence and pinesol where are they now u

ESSENCE
Where Are They Now?
SPONSORED BY PINE-SOL

Last year, Pine-Sol and ESSENCE awarded $250,000 to 10 Black women entrepreneurs through the Build Your Legacy Contest! Now we’re back for year two, and had to check in with our 2020 grand prize winners.

Complex B.O.S.S. mentorship program and

COMPLEX
Complex’s B.O.S.S. Mentorship Program Lets Minority Entrepreneurs Shine

Being an entrepreneur is hard enough, but when you’re a member of a minority group, the challenges of launching and maintaining a successful business are even greater. 

Paulana Lamonier headshot

SWIMSWAM
Black People Will Swim’s Paulana Lamonier Is Breaking Barriers

Swim teacher and multimedia journalist, Paulana Lamonier, set up Black People Will Swim with one purpose: to eradicate the stereotype that Black people don’t swim. 

Paulana Lamonier Well + Good publication

WELL+GOOD
Black People Will Swim’s Founder Paulana Lamonier Is Making Waves

64 percent of African American children have low or no swimming ability.It’s a statistic that Paulana Lamonier, CEO and founder of Black People Will Swim, is striving to change.

PIX11 news with Paulana Lamonier interview on air

PIX11
Long Island woman's mission to teach 2,020 people to swim in 2020

Marysol Castro spoke with swim coach and founder of Black People Will Swim, Paulana Lamonier, about her mission and why it means so much to her.

Tea with Abbie and Paulana Lamonier

Tea With Abbie
Diving into Entrepreneurship with Paulana Lamonier, Founder of BPWS

Paulana is a multimedia journalist and founder of Black People Will Swim ~ a company on a mission to smash the stereotype that Black people don’t swim.

Paulana Lamonier headshot

AFROTECH
This Founder is On a Mission to Teach 2,020 Black People How to Swim

We’ve all heard the saying “Black people don’t swim” before, but it’s worth noting that statement is far from the truth. For years, the well-known stereotype has perpetuated the racial...

Paulana Lamonier headshot

By Her Own Rules
Founder Committed to Helping 2,020 People Learn to Swim by 2020

Paulana Lamonier was certainly on to something when she launched her company Black People Will Swim in 2019.

Paulana Lamonier at community pool smiling

The Lifestyle NYC
Paulana Lamonier Discusses Swimming, Using Your Gifts

When it comes to Black women changing the game and making a difference, its Paulana Lamonier for me. For decades, the idea of Black people swimming has been quite taboo.

Paulana Lamonier headshot

ELLE
'Black People Will Swim' Is Fighting A Racist Stereotype With Swim Lessons

Black People Will Swim aims to dismantle the long-standing myth that Black people can't swim using everything from private swim lessons to haircare classes for protecting Black hair in the water.

Screen-Shot-2020-06-17-at-4.07.39-PM-min

Black Enterprise 
This Program Is Encouraging Black People To Swim More This Summer

Black People Will Swim was started by journalist Paulana Lamonier with the mission to dismantle stereotypes around Black people swimming. 

Paulana Lamonier smiling in red blazer

Yahoo Life! 
Paulana Lamonier - Black People Will Swim

Check out the video of ESSENCE and Pine-Sol's Build Your Legacy Contest Semi-Finalist, Paulana Lamonier of Black People Will Swim. Vote today!

More Press
Essence and Pinesol build your legacy BP

Pine-Sol & ESSENCE Team Up To Support Black Woman Entrepreneurs

Pine-Sol and ESSENCE partnered to celebrate and uplift black women in business with the “Build Your Legacy” contest

Adidas and ifundwomen grant recipient BP

Adidas and IFundWomen

*GRANT RECIPIENT*

Adidas and IFundwomen Partner To Support Women Entrepreneurs In Sports

VIEW PRESS RELEASE
bottom of page