A few months after the Olympic Games in Paris, and a few days into the start of the new track and field training season, a graceful and grateful Sha’Carri Richardson tries on outfits for her first-ever ESSENCE cover shoot.
Although on a photo set and far removed from any track and field arena, her frame appears braced to race. The glam team mills around her—checking the sizing of her dresses, working through options for accessories and reassuring her of how great she looks. They aren’t gassing her up, either. She looks amazing!
With each person who enters the room eager to greet her, Richardson returns their sentiments with a gentle smile. Then, tuning out the busyness around her, she immerses herself in the moment— with a level of concentration only an athlete of her caliber can possess. She exudes an air of deep focus. She’s clearly enjoying the experience, but she’s also clearly locked in.
At the Starting Blocks
One could assume that a cover opportunity for the track and field star would be nothing beyond a formality. But for Richardson, this moment represents more than just a chance for added visibility, and it’s certainly more than a work obligation.
“Gracing the cover is almost historic for me,” she says. “It’s going to show my journey of transformation. I actually remember my grandmother having magazines, and ESSENCE being one of those magazines. When I shared with her that I would be on the cover, that was something that I was able to relate to the little girl inside of me. So I’m super excited and honored, and I feel like the foundation of ESSENCE aligns with the foundation of who I am.”
These days, Richardson’s foundation is cemented in her unapologetic intention to learn all she can, to live a life fueled by loving herself and others, and to lean into her spiritual elevation. She describes the sum of these efforts, and where she currently sits in life, with one word: thriving.
“I feel like in my spirituality, I’m aligning myself with keeping my faith,” she explains. “When it comes to my family, I’ve grown closer to them. I love the fact that in areas of my feminine side, I’m thriving. Connecting with my family, with my relationship, just different things that—I know if I wasn’t an athlete, these things would still make me me. I felt like I had to protect my emotions, because I had to protect everything else around me first. And so I definitely feel like now, emotional stability is not a defense. Emotional stability is understanding myself—and expressing myself in a way that it can be received.”
Leaning Forward
Holding tight to her “divine feminine” aura—and surrendering to her “soft girl” era—Richardson is most relaxed in the comforts of her home. Whether she spends her time there cooking, dancing, getting a signature nail set, reading a history book or just surrounding herself with bright colors, the self-proclaimed history buff–slash-chef is adamant about absorbing as much positive energy as possible.
“I just feel like everything in my life is brighter now,” she says. “I don’t have any darkness weighing me down, even within myself. I’m just at a different point in my life, where I’m not in survival mode—I’m in a loving energy. I love taking care of my family. I love taking care of my training partners. I just love the fact that I’ve been blessed to be in a position to show that divine energy.”
Finding the Right Team
Richardson admits that liberation from her darker days took soul searching and accountability. And the level of accountability necessary forced her to be the change she desperately wanted to see in her life. Such a change could only come from owning her realities, embracing self-love, listening intently, learning from others, and accepting correction and encouragement from those in her tribe.
The sprinter found support, during her trek across her dark valleys, through a consistent commitment to therapy. She’s no stranger to the practice, having participated in it since her college days. But consistent sessions with her current therapist—a Black woman with whom she believes God connected her—has provided Richardson with a secure space to feel what she feels and express herself.
“I feel like therapy came from knowing that I needed it, and also being able to have a safe place to decompress—when I don’t have to worry about the world, or being an athlete, or being a friend, or being a daughter or anything. I could go into therapy and just be me.”
If you read that quote more than once, or if you can relate in any way, you’re in good company.
Sha’Carri Richardson is known for safeguarding her personal life. But these days it’s apparent that the safety and happiness she feels in her support systems anchors her willingness to open up about who she describes as her “people”: a tribe of family and friends she deeply appreciates and respects.
“I feel like being with people who pour into me has shown me I’m everything that I know that I want to give out to the world—and I know I’m everything that I feel in myself,” she says. “There was a time I felt stuck, and now I feel like I love the softness and femininity that I’m able to walk in. I have people that—I know that if I fall backward, they’re right there. I know I have a community right here that understands, that cherishes me, as well as will correct me and let me know when I’m wrong. My relationships have definitely helped me be gentle with myself.”
Getting in Gear
As one of the fastest women ever to put on a pair of spikes, Richardson has learned to walk the fine line between her emotional triumphs and triggers—while staying true to her winning formula. She admits there’s no separation between her passion and her output on the track. Winning and feeling go hand in hand.
“I always wear my heart on my shoulders; I always walk with my heart,” she says. “My heart is my brain. My emotions are my superpower, and at the same time, they’re my kryptonite. I cannot walk into a race without fully feeling the emotions from training, or the emotions from the motivation, or the inspiration I get from my fans, my family. So when I walk out onto the track, that is what my heart is filled with, and that is the adrenaline that gets me going. As soon as my foot, my spike, hits the track, my heart confirms that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be and who I am.”
Over the course of her career, Richardson has been fueled by the hopes of loved ones who have breathed life into her dreams. Her emotional attachments extend to the sacred tribe of Black women in her life, and they continue to anchor her greatness: her grandmother, Betty Harp, whom she affectionately calls “Big Momma,” her godmother, her late mother, her aunts and her sisters.
Because of their unwavering love and support, and that of other strong Black women who have held her hand through life, Richardson is confident and assured in her zeal—and in her capacity to show kindness to others. She has carved a sacred space in her heart for Black women, crediting them for always showing up despite the conditions; for speaking truth to power; and for aligning with her, both in and outside the sports world.
Even in this, she has come a long way. Despite receiving big hugs from Black women, and witnessing the excitement we’ve all seen on display when she crosses the finish line first in the 100 meters, Richardson admits that in years past she has struggled to stay true to herself when it came to the critics. Those critics have spent several years berating and doubting her—especially following her most notable setback, in 2021, when she was suspended from the Tokyo Olympics. There is no need to rehash the specifics; that headline is “played out,” and beating that dead horse does nothing to acknowledge Richardson’s growth and her unrelenting efforts to move beyond her mistakes.
Surviving the Heats
Fortunately, she has blown past that challenge and other pitfalls, similarly to how she has dusted competitors on the track in the years since.
“Coming into this level of fame—I definitely had moments where I felt as if I would have to sacrifice who I am, in order to have a career, in order to be what the world had basically deemed me to be,” Richardson admits. “And those moments were scary, because I’m like, If I can’t be me, I can’t even give you all what you respect and love me for. I wasn’t happy when I wasn’t being myself. I wasn’t happy when I was trying to listen or, I guess, take in the criticism, or defend myself from the criticism. Nothing was making me happy, because I wasn’t me. But the unhappiness is what got me back to myself.”
According to the track star, that was only one piece of the puzzle—and not even the most important one. “Ultimately, my spirituality was the biggest thing that got me back to believing that no matter what’s going on, I’m meant to be me for a reason. And everything that’s meant for me is me,” she says.
Richardson is using her painful and powerful transition into being her better self to commit to her life’s mission. And it’s a mission she believes to be divine.
“I do feel like what God has put onto my spirit, my mind and my heart is to fully embrace the role He’s put me in,” she states. “So, to fully embrace it. Understanding I am an athlete, understanding I am a woman, understanding I am a daughter, a sister—but understanding that none of those things are separate in themselves, and that I’m here to show people that to be their fullest self is not an issue at all. And to continue to be their full selves in the bad moments, when you got a lot of naysayers, and in the good moments, when you got a lot of support—always remembering self-accountability, self-worth and self-reflection. God has put me here to continue to be me, and truly and wholly be me. That way I can be a vessel for anybody that sees me, for them to do the same as well.”
Running Her Race
Healed, whole and happy, Richardson took every tool she had collected on her quest for wellness and packed them in her suitcase for Paris last summer. What transpired in track and field, for the women on Team USA, was nothing short of a “Black Girl Magic” exhibition. Richardson played a huge role in the movement that will undoubtedly go down as one of the most dominant Team USA track and field outings for Black women in the history of the Olympic Games.
After securing the silver medal in the women’s 100 meters, Richardson ran the anchor leg on the women’s 4×100 meters for Team USA. She grabbed the gold on a rainy day, with a searing stare down of her competitors from Germany and Great Britain just shy of the finish line. Richardson describes her experience in running the women’s sprint relays in Paris as electrifying. “It was a phenomenal moment, and I honestly was honored just to do that, with ladies who trusted me to be their anchor and to help us all bring that gold back to the States,” she says.
When asked about the now infamous stare down, she giggles a bit—then responds, “That energy just came from everything coming up until that final moment, that being the final race of my first Olympic Games. I felt like I was going to leave it all on the track— meaning my personality, how I was feeling, how I embraced the moment, as well as how I knew I’d fought to be in that moment too. I’m a very humble person. I really am. But I just know and trust the work that I have put in, the faith that I had.”
Grounded, and still reveling in her impressive performances at the 2024 summer games in Paris and at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Richardson’s outlook on success remains consistent. “I’ll honestly say my definition of success was the same before and after Paris—as well as before and after the World Championships in Budapest, when I won,” she says. “I would definitely say that success is just you knowing you have put the work in, to receive what it is that you have invested in.”
At Full Speed
In view of her success, and regarding the advancement of women’s track and field at large, one investment Richardson hopes will be made in the sport she loves is a commitment to diversity. In her view, a greater openness to differences of appearance and approach could result in more fan engagement and commercial support.
“I feel like track and field sometimes does a disservice, especially on the women’s side, by creating a certain narrative of how the track woman should look,” she reflects. “I feel like that does a disservice to some of our women athletes—who may not be the biggest names or have the biggest contracts, but they still are people. They still dedicate their lives. They still get out there and show up.”
With every race, with every training session, with every crossing of the finish line, with every transparent encounter, Richardson too is choosing to show up and show out: as a triumphant Black woman who’s leaning into love on all levels, and as a humble servant graced with the gifts needed to show Black women the world over that they are more than enough.
It’s a calling most 24-year-olds would be terrified to answer, a form of pressure most would crack under—but for this evolved Sha’Carri Richardson, it’s just another sprint down the track.
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