I'd like to consider myself as a pioneer in the sport and in business.

What makes Elephant in the Room unique is that it's woman owned.

I'm probably one of one of female owned boxing gyms.

When we think about Elephant in the Room, we think about things like gun violence, teen pregnancy, drug use, alcoholism, children being molested within the home.

These are things that we all know is taking place, but no one's doing anything about it.

So we're here to do something about it.

It is vitally important that a place like this exists in the community, especially in the greater New Haven area, because of the volume of crime and the things that the kids could get into.

But as long as they're here between the hours of four and 8:00, they're safe.

When they're here, they're boxing, they're having a good time, they're building social relationships, improving their self esteem, improving their health.

What I like most about boxing is what keeps me well disciplined.

I get to come here every day, work out from Monday through Friday.

It inspires me, keeps me focused.

Having him be able to come here.

I would say it's more like a safe space.

This keeps his mind more structured, keeps him fit.

He's not in the streets and since he's been here for so long, I see the growth from him being here.

I've made multiple friends around here and I would really like to help out others if they're being bullied.

Also keep myself safe.

The reason why we decided to get him signed on was because we were getting him prepared for middle school because I knew bullying was going on, but it would get worse.

Most of our trainers have years experience with professional boxing on their belt and they put a lot of work into the kids here.

I really get so much joy seeing the kids improve, whether it's boxing, weight loss, or even if it's just mentally, hey, I feel better because I've been training more and I know for a fact it's going to like impact their life moving forward.

Here at Elephant in the Room, we consider ourselves a community partner.

70% of children in New Haven read below level, so we partner with organizations like New Haven Reads.

The children get to read twice a week for one hour and then they box for one hour.

One of the programs that I'm most proud of is our Parkinson's class.

The idea of the program is high intensity at different levels.

They only get to hit mitts.

They hit the back.

They can hit me, but they can't hit each other.

When I was first diagnosed, my neurologist didn't give me much information about exercise.

Every year I read more and I learn more about how beneficial it is to people with Parkinson's.

I had heard about boxing and it sounded kind of strange, like why would boxing be good for Parkinson's?

But it's amazing.

You use your whole body, hand, eye, coordination, you have to think about what you're doing and it feels great being a woman of colour.

It has its own challenges, right?

Because it's been proven that women in general don't get the same funding as other businesses or people who are culturally different.

I'm very optimistic.

I always want to feel that people will treat me fair no matter what, but the truth of the matter is that they don't.

But I still have to continue.

Denise and I, this is our baby.

We started this.

Sometimes the well runs dry and we have to go into our personal accounts to keep And whenever we start to have those conversations about maybe it's too much the doors open.

financially, what should we do?

We just go back to the mission.

We are helping the area youth and adults.

We are helping people who are at risk to have a safe space where they can come and just be free and safe for four hours every day.

One day it will pay off and I think it would be the day that one of our kids goes to the Olympics.