We recently connected with Rachel Piazza and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I always knew I wanted to do something meaningful, and after taking my first Women’s Studies class in college, I felt like I had found my passion. I followed this passion and decided to get a master’s degree in women’s studies, without really knowing where it would lead me. Around the same time that I started my graduate program, I started training Brazilian jiu-Jitsu. These two paths converged. I took interest in the embodied experience of gender oppression – how we make ourselves smaller, whether it’s out of fear of violence, to fit a beauty standard, or because we inherently understand that being powerful makes us a target in a misogynistic world.

Having a unique perspective on this issue, I was critical of traditional self-defense classes that tended to victim-blame, and ask targets of violence to limit their lives in order to stay safe. These classes were typically taught by big scary men who, while they meant well, were often fear mongering re-traumatizing survivors of violence.

I knew that with my experience and expertise, I could to it better.

I moved to New York City after finishing grad school in Baltimore, and started teaching free community self-defense classes. At first, these classes focused mostly on physical self-defense skills to use against the most common perpetrator, someone the target knows. I felt strongly that folks who are vulnerable to violence don’t need to be lectured or made to feel more afraid than they already are. These classes were really about showing participants that with some know-how, they could use their body in a powerful and effective way, and that they were capable of defending themselves in any situation.

The more I taught these classes, the more I realized how much they were needed. Time and time again, I watched a lightbulb go off for participants. They were elated to see what they were capable of in a short amount of time. It seemed to be a cathartic outlet after years of restraint.

As I taught more and more classes, I started researching approaches to teaching self-defense and came across the empowerment model. Empowerment self-defense is a well-studied approach that shows a significant decrease in victimization for participants of its classes. To align myself more closely with this model, I started incorporating verbal boundary-setting skills into the mix. Combining verbal and physical skills empowers participants to interrupt escalating boundary violations before an assault attempt occurs.

Seeing the impact that my classes were having and knowing that the benefits were backed by research, I was emboldened to take it further. I started offering classes to non-profits and government agencies in NYC. Some of my first clients included the NYC Department of Transportation, Tools & Tiaras, a non-profit teaching girls that jobs don’t have genders, and Barrier Free Living, an organization supporting survivors of domestic violence with disabilities.

Now, I offer my workshops to corporations and in colleges and universities around the country. This summer, I am launching a Train-the-Trainer program where I will teach university staff and student educators to teach Feminist Self-Defense on campus.

I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to help people folks who experience gender oppression have more confidence in their ability to navigate difficult, even dangerous interactions. My hope is that my work not only reaches the individuals I’m able to teach, but that it ripples far and wide, ultimately helping to chip away at the white supremacist patriarchal culture that harms us all.

Rachel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Feminist Self-Defense helps you embrace your unique power. That power might have been dimmed through trauma and oppression, but you can embark on a journey to reclaim it. My program will teach you tools and strategies to know, communicate and enforce your boundaries, and you will have fun while you’re doing it.

Feminist Self-Defense is all about joyful resistance. You can practice feeling powerful in an uplifting and safe environment with a compassionate instructor.

You do not need this program to be powerful. You are already powerful. The skills you’ll learn will simply help you unleash your power in new ways.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

In the beginning, I was teaching workshops in the community. I would post on instagram and eventbrite for a pop-up workshop in Prospect Park. I think at this time I was accepting donations to cover my expenses. I had started to see this as something that had traction, but hadn’t committed to making it a career yet. While my donation-based printing structure had me questioning my business acumen, I now understand that this literal grassroots approach was an important time for building relationships. A lot of my early business and press opportunities were recommendations from those who took my classes in the park. The most obvious example was when a writer from The New York Times reached out to me to be part of a piece she was writing. She had heard of me from a friend of a friend who had taken one of my classes.

I am not and have never been someone who likes to “network”. I find the transactional nature to be exhausting. In hindsight I realize that these workshops were the best kind of networking. I was offering an important service and building relationships with people who genuinely wanted to share what I was doing because they found it valuable.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

When I decided to focus on making Feminist Self-Defense my career, I realized my donation-based workshop model wasn’t going to pay the bills. I had to think of a more lucrative path. That’s when I decided to try to target colleges and universities.

I knew that sexual violence on college campuses was a rampant issue, and that there was pressure put on campuses to provide safer and more equitable learning environments for students. I figured that my work would make an impact and that schools would have funding for programming like mine.

I was right! I found those first university clients by sending out cold emails. I still get clients the same way. Google search and email!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.feministselfdefense.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feministselfdefense/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelpiazza/

Image Credits
Micah Bochart