PHOTO COURTESY MARGO KIMBLE

It all started with TikTok.

Margo Kimble saw a video on TikTok of the Philly Girls Who Walk group, and she thought: “I would love to see something like this in Pittsburgh.”

“It dawned on me it was going to be on me to start it, and I happily did so,” she says.

Pittsburgh Girls Who Walk was founded in 2022 and has become more than just a walking group. The women in the group, mostly in the 20 to 40 age range with multiple outliers, are attorneys, moms who work from home, pharmacists and beyond. At first, the group did one walk a week, with their first walk in Schenley Park, and then it expanded into other events — from supper clubs and murder mystery nights to self-defense workshops and speed-friending events.

“It’s definitely a community at this point,” Kimble says. “People really started leaning into just how hard it is to make friends on top of staying well and doing little things to keep our mental health up because it’s so gray here all year long.”

In January, Conde Nast Traveler named Pittsburgh the 9th most walkable city in the country. Multiple walking groups explore the city and offer fellowship, among them the Pittsburgh Hiking Meetup Group, Pittsburgh Slowpokes Walking Group and many others.

Making connections was one reason Kimble, who has a background in supply chain management logistics, wanted to start the group. She’s a Pittsburgh native but says it’s sometimes hard for those in their late 20s and 30s to maintain friendships as they move into different stages of life. 

Walks typically happen at 11 a.m. Sundays in different Pittsburgh neighborhoods to make the events accessible to all members. 

The group has also done some charitable work: tickets from one of their speed-friending events raised money for Girls Who Code, and they’re running a 30-day step challenge in March with proceeds going to charity.

“It’s become so much more than I ever thought it would,” Kimble says.