The ZaRah Wellness Center: A place for Black people to feel safe and well
The 1200 W. Broadway Site
For other Black women who want to break into community or property development, McKnight-Ahad suggests several local programs:
Small Developers Technical Assistance Program (D-TAP): Offered by the City of Minneapolis, this program offers technical assistance to small developers.
Open to Business: Offered by Hennepin County through a partnership with the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD), this program helps small businesses access technical assistance, financing and loans, and more.
Community Asset Transition Fund: This program is managed by LISC-Twin Cities to support the recovery of small businesses that were damaged in the uprising following the murder of George Floyd. The program is funded through a variety of public and private sources.
Lake Street Council Resources: The Lake Street Council offers a variety of financial resources, technical assistance, and other programs to small businesses near the Lake Street corridor.
The ZaRah Center is Minnesota’s first Black-owned holistic wellness complex, located at 1200 West Broadway. Owned and operated by Kenya McKnight-Ahad, the ZaRah blends healing and holistic wellness with economic empowerment for Black women.
The vision for the ZaRah Center was sparked in 2018 at a BWWA workshop series. One of the most popular sessions was on holistic wellness. McKnight-Ahad saw a keen demand for healing services, and she saw a network of Black healers who didn’t have a platform for their work.
After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, McKnight-Ahad relied deeply on her own healing practices. She supported protestors, connecting them to massage therapists or healers, and practicing energy work and protection for those on the front lines. Around that time, the name ZaRah, which means “beauty” in Arabic came to her. McKnight-Ahad describes it as “feminine energy, loving energy, healing energy, [which] needs to radiate and flourish.”
“There’s no better time than now to center on ancient healing,” she says. “We’re hurting in a way that I’ve never felt.”
McKnight-Ahad bought the building at 1200 West Broadway in 2021. Constructed in 1903, McKnight-Ahad is its first Black owner.
A large part of the complex will be devoted to retail and commercial space, primarily for wellness services led and owned by Black women. So far, the roster includes a salt room, flower room, two meditation spaces, an apothecary, and a massage therapy business. McKnight-Ahad wants to add in a health clinic and birth center in the future.
In addition to the retail space, the ZaRah will have 25 to 30 suites for administrative businesses, like consultants or nonprofit offices. There will be two event spaces, including one on the roof, and a yoga center that can be rented out. Breaking Bread Cafe is on the main level for now, until they move into a space of their own. In the long term, McKnight-Ahad pictures a food hall that can host 3 to 4 entrepreneurs or caterers. Next year, she plans to break ground on a 10,000 foot expansion that will add office suites, a new event space, and remodel the dining area.
“The most radical thing I can do is to help free our minds.”
WHO
Kenya McKnight-Ahad and the ZaRah Wellness Center
WHERE
1200 W. Broadway in North Minneapolis
WHEN
Conceived in 2018.
Purchased in 2021
Open and Growing currently.
WHY
Community wellness and building economic opportunity for Black women.
Read More about WEST BROADWAY & ZARAH
