Lauren R. Taylor

Lauren R. Taylor has been working to end gender-based violence since 1978, when she co-founded Washington, D.C.’s first shelter for abused women and their children. As an empowerment self-defense teacher and founder-director of Defend Yourself, she and her team have offered more than 1,500 trainings to some 40,000 people in the D.C. area and nationally. She specializes in teaching women, survivors, disabled people, and LGBTQIA+ people. Lauren also co-founded Safe Bars, which teaches bystander intervention skills to those who work in bars, clubs, breweries, and restaurants to create safer and more inclusive hospitality culture. In 2016 she co-founded the National Street Harassment Hotline, in cooperation with RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) and Stop Street Harassment. Lauren’s work has been featured in The Washington Post, Self, the Huffington Post, and on National Public Radio, Unworthy, Quartz, and Mic. She’s spoken at the National Sexual Assault Conference, National Center for Victims of Crime training institute, and AAUW’s National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, which together reach more than 7,000 leaders in the field of gender-based violence prevention and recovery. Her writing has been published widely, including in The Washington Post, Everyday Feminism, and the Ms. Blog. Lauren has been recognized with the following awards: • 2022 DC Commission on Human Rights Neil Alexander Humanitarian Award • 2020 TAGG Magazine Enterprising Women • 2016 Inspiration Award from Canyon Ranch and Health Magazine • 2013 Community Change Leader from Stop Street Harassment.