By Colette Panchot
Hailee Bland-Walsh, a self-described “transformation junkie,” is on a mission to make the fitness industry more inclusive. She is the owner and CEO of KC City Gym7416 Wornall Rd.
“My approach is to create safe spaces, emotionally and physically, for people to be the best version of themselves, which then spreads out into the community,” he says.
After growing up in the suburbs of Overland Park and Leawood, Bland-Walsh played soccer at the college and professional levels. She settled in California, where she felt she could live more freely as a lesbian.
Working at the YMCA of the Central Bay Area, she learned the importance of non-traditional locker rooms, which include bathrooms for all genders and private showers. These features ensure the privacy of people with disabilities, parents of children of the opposite sex, and transgender people.
When her sister suggested she return home and open a gym in 2010, Bland-Walsh was skeptical. But she soon discovered how much more supportive the area had become for the LGBTQ+ community. According to the 2021 Municipal Equality for Human Rights Campaign, Kansas City, Missouri, she received a perfect score based on her legal protections of the LGBTQ+ community.
Drew Smith, founder of The Union: A Midwest Transguy Coterie, had been to all the “big gyms” and was looking for a more supportive place to work out with his friends who were at various stages of their transition from living as female to male. . He found a staunch supporter in Bland-Walsh.
Smith collaborated with her in creating Momentum, a nationally recognized health and fitness program for transgender men, helping this underserved group achieve their fitness goals. City Gym KC will offer the eight-week program this fall.
“Members of the trans community are often treated as outliers. Hailee is not a typical ally. She treats us like family,” says Smith.
“We’ve created a place for people with bodies outside of traditional norms, serving not only the queer community but anyone who feels insecure about going to a gym,” says Bland-Walsh.
She has sunk her roots deep into the Waldo community. In January 2020, she purchased the building where City Gym KC is located from the Milens family, who she says she has owned for nearly 100 years.
Stacy Porto was one of the first members of City Gym KC. She is an attorney, a former White House employee, and currently a real estate agent with Selling KC.
“Hailee is positive and motivating. She brings all kinds of people together,” says Porto. “I think she should run for office.”
Bland-Walsh also co-owns Fit Truk with Josh Guffey, a mobile gym that offers outdoor group strength training exercises. Commercial partners are commercializing the prototype nationally.
Bland-Walsh makes fitness a family affair. His wife, Tiffany Spriggs, is the marketing specialist for City Gym KC. She runs regularly with her sister and learned business from her mother, Teresa Walsh, co-founder of Silpada Designs, Inc., a woman-owned sterling silver jewelry company formerly based in Lenexa.
City Gym KC will celebrate its 11th anniversary in August. They can be contacted at www.citygymkc.com.
