Running Toward Equity: Allyson Felix and the Fight for Maternal Health

Join us for a powerful conversation with Allyson Felix—icon, entrepreneur, and maternal health advocate—whose personal journey from Olympic champion to changemaker has sparked a national reckoning around how mothers are treated in sports, business, and healthcare.

This moderated discussion, presented in partnership with Bentonville Film Festival and Ingeborg Initiatives, will explore urgent issues in maternal healthcare, from rising maternal mortality rates to the critical role of midwives and the need for equitable, woman-centered care models. The conversation will center on the intersection of healthcare, policy, and storytelling as drivers for change.

Tickets are $15 ($10 for members, free for students), reserve your spot online or with Guest Experience at (479) 657-2335 today.

Allyson Felix

Allyson Felix is the most decorated American Track & Field Olympian of all time, with 31 global medals and a reputation as one of sport’s most transformative figures. Since retiring from competition in 2022, she has emerged as a leading advocate for gender equity and maternal rights in athletics.

Felix is the co-founder of Saysh, a lifestyle and footwear brand built for and by women, and Always Alpha, the first sports management agency focused exclusively on women’s sports. In 2024, she launched the Olympic Village nursery at the Paris Games in partnership with Pampers, setting a new precedent for supporting athlete-parents. In 2025, she was inducted into the US Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame and elected to the IOC Athletes’ Commission.

Felix’s upcoming documentary, She Runs the World, will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Her memoir, Fast and Slow, is currently in development with Dial Press.

Felix made history at the Tokyo Olympics by racing in spikes created by her own company—making her the first Track & Field athlete to do so. Saysh raised $8M in a women-led Series A and continues to champion inclusivity and innovation in women’s footwear.

Felix lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

BFFoundation is a non-profit organization focused on promoting underrepresented voices of diverse storytellers. The core mission is to champion female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, API, and persons with disabilities’ voices in entertainment and media, through research, education, and supporting the production and distribution of inclusive content.

The foundation believes that by taking real action with content creators, talent, influencers, advertisers, and content distributors, we can accurately reflect the gender balance and diversity of our country. Our goal is to create a seismic change in how media inspires young minds to do great things.

Along with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the foundation also partners with schools and community institutions to educate the challenging effects of stereotyping, unconscious bias, and representation imbalance of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and persons with disabilities. We also utilize media-based tools and content to build positive association and equality-based learning models.

BFFoundation is focused on working with its partners to foster inclusivity in media and entertainment to produce a positive influence in the community at large.

For more information, visit bentonvillefilm.org.