Consumers’ Research in a new “Woke Alert” is criticizing a nationwide fitness company it says is heavily involved in diversity, equity, and inclusion practices such as mandatory DEI trainings and BIPOC-only scholarships.
BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Executive Director of Consumers’ Research Will Hild told The Center Square that “denying opportunities to applicants and services to customers based on their skin color, like CorePower Yoga did, is not only grossly immoral but also illegal.”
Consumers’ Research is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing “knowledge and understanding of issues, policies, products, and services of concern to consumers and to promote the freedom to act on that knowledge and understanding,” according to its website.
CorePower Yoga is a nationwide yoga studio chain, according to its website. CorePower has not responded to The Center Square’s two requests for comment.
Hild told The Center Square: “President [Donald] Trump has made it clear that discriminatory practices such as DEI are illegal and go against American values.”
“By allowing activists to dictate personnel and product decisions, businesses and brands are hurting consumers,” Hild said.
“Consumers overwhelmingly oppose race-based discrimination and don’t want to see signs of DEI when they walk into a store or business,” Hild said. “Companies need to focus on providing quality goods and services rather than peddling a woke, discriminatory DEI agenda.”
From offering a teacher scholarship exclusively for BIPOC individuals to requiring diversity and inclusion trainings for all employees, DEI has a large presence at CorePower Yoga, Consumers’ Research alert says.
Of its BIPOC-only scholarship, CorePower said: “As part of our dedication to building a more diverse yoga teacher community, we offer Teacher Training scholarships to our BIPOC students.”
Teacher Training is a program consisting of yoga-related lessons.
Consumers’ Research’s alert said that “CorePower Yoga sent an email pushing the scholarship and its DEI prioritization on its consumers,” and is a part of the company’s “Power Forward” agenda.
The alert details how this agenda of CorePower’s also involved implementing hiring quotas and a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) council.
The DEIB council works “to create and support a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for all employees and students who practice with CorePower Yoga,” according to its online description.
CorePower Yoga’s CEO Niki Leondakis has spoken of the company’s commitment to DEI, as well.
A year ago on LinkedIn, Leondakis said that “the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are integrated into everything we do at CorePower Yoga.”
Hild told The Center Square that in response, “consumers should contact CorePower and insist the company fully abandon all its racist and outdated DEI practices and permanently stop discriminating policies such as race-based scholarships and mandatory DEI training.”
