Nadia Telsey

Nadia Telsey pioneered the field of verbal and emotional (as opposed to solely physical) self-defense, beginning with the founding of a feminist self-defense organization in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1970. She taught empowerment self-defense to women at the University of Oregon from 1989 to 2007. Nadia served on the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force, and many of her students have gone on to teach empowerment self-defense around the United States and beyond. Nadia has received numerous awards, including: Founder’s Honors: National Women’s Martial Arts Federation; Lifetime Achievement Award: Pacific Association of Women Martial Artists; Human Rights Award: City of Eugene, Ore.; and Change Award: Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force. Nadia wrote a version of Get Empowered, Self-Defense from the Inside Out, in 1988, that served as textbook for more than 2,000 women in her years at the university. It is the foundation of this book.