Waleksa Brown, aquatics director for the Southeast Raleigh YMCA, was honored as one of the YMCA of the USA's National Emerging Leaders Network 30 Under 30.
The 30 Under 30 award recognizes staff who embody the YMCA mission, and formally acknowledges 30 full-time YMCA leaders around the United States who are under the age of 30 for their accomplishments and potential to lead our many YMCA Associations in the coming years.
Waleksa is dedicated to serving communities that have not historically had access to aquatics and water safety programs. Her commitment to the community, especially to those facing economic and historical disparities is truly exceptional. Her intentionality in her leadership allowed the Southeast Raleigh Y to directly address the critical needs of a predominantly low-income and historically marginalized community. The Southeast Raleigh YMCA serves an area where 47% of residents have household incomes less than $35,000, and the unemployment rate is double that of the rest of Wake County.
Under her leadership, the YMCA secured multiple grants to provide swim lessons to community members at no cost, and formed a partnership with Delta Swim for Life, offering additional no-cost community swim lessons for 100 community members from preschool age up to adults. Participants learned valuable skills and water safety techniques.
In addition to no-cost swim lessons for the community, Waleska led the integration of swim lessons into physical education curriculums through a county school partnership. Since taking over the program, Waleska expanded the reach to include students from second through fifth grade and benefited over 300 students.
Waleska is responsible for a groundbreaking partnership with SWIM 1922, which is a collaboration with USA Swimming and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority’s national program. This partnership aims to address the alarming drowning rates among BIPOC children, and it resulted in 30 scholarships for youth of color ensuring access to vital swim lessons.
Just as Waleksa seeks to combat generational poverty, she also confronts generational aquaphobia. Her commitment to helping Black neighbors overcome their fear of water and acquire water safety and swim skills aligns perfectly with the Southeast Raleigh YMCA's vision and the broader goal of ensuring that swimming is a sport accessible to all.
Waleska has been immersed in aquatics since she learned to swim at the age of five through her elementary school swim program. She swam competitively from elementary school through high school and began lifeguarding at fifteen. Waleska worked her way up supervising the state pools and beaches of her hometown, Boston.
She studied special education in college and went on to become a third grade inclusion teacher for Boston Public Schools. During summers off from teaching, Waleska continued to work for the state regionally supervising the public pools and beaches, and implementing swim programs. During her free time, she was also a lifeguard and swim instructor for the Y.
Swimming has been a huge part of Waleska’s life which has fueled her passion for teaching marginalized communities how to swim, as it is a luxury that historically has not been afforded to all. In 2021 her mother tragically passed away and she decided to leave the Boston area and take a chance moving to a new city to lead the aquatics department at Southeast Raleigh YMCA. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, kayaking, hiking, painting, reading and writing.
