As the sun sets or rises, groups of women take to Austin’s downtown and walk with people they just met. These women create their own little community, making new friends and enjoying time with old ones.
Maddie Scales created No Girl Walks Alone in August 2022, a women’s walking club that hosts free walking groups every Wednesday at 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. The club will host a celebratory walk on Aug. 13 to commemorate its third birthday, including pre-walk flash tattoos, permanent jewelry and food trucks.
“There’s a lot of community groups, and it was really important to me all along to be a consistent place for people,” Scales said. “When we say we’re there every Wednesday at the same time (and) same place, we mean that. We walked on Christmas, (and) we walked in the rain.”
Attendee Mikaylee Supak said it can be difficult to branch out post-grad because of a lack of avenues to meet others. However, the club offers a diverse range of people and personalities, and making friends doesn’t feel awkward. Supak said a walk club versus a run club feels more intentional when it comes to meeting people.
“When you’re running, you’re out of breath … versus walking, you can actually have genuine, not out-of-breath conversations,” Supak said. “So it’s great for meeting people. My whole friend group that I’ve made here in Austin is because all of us girls met through the walk club.”
As videos of Austin and its residents’ lifestyles are posted on social media, many people, including attendee Alyssa Inch, discovered this club through a TikTok post. After moving to Austin, Inch searched ‘Things to do when you first move to Austin’ and found this all-girl walking club.
“Everyone was pretty much in the same boat. They had just moved and wanted to get a good group, or at least get to know some people,” Inch said. “ At the end of the (first) walk, we had a group of five girls walking together. It was a pretty quick way to make friends, and I still hang out with those girls to this day.”
Aside from meeting new people, No Girl Walks Alone aspires to create a safe environment for girls to walk downtown. Scales said walking in groups creates this community of women who feel safe where they live, despite Austin being a big city. Walking alone can be scary, but “there is power in numbers,” Scales said.
“(This club) is an approachable way to meet new people, and it makes people more confident in knowing that they are worthy of friendship and love and belonging just as they are,” Scales said. “They don’t have to change anything about themselves to earn this level of belonging. There’s also so much love to give. People show up eager to connect with others, and it builds this camaraderie and betters mental health and the community.”
