It’s so easy! Contact us here and we’ll get back to you ASAP. (During the work week, our turnaround time is about 24 hours.) Let us know your potential dates and the program you're considering and we can discuss pricing and work on making it happen. Although most of our presentations are booked by organizations/companies/schools/military groups, we can work with individuals, families, groups of friends, etc. There is no audience too small or too large for me to empower! I'd love to speak and/or train at your event!

We get this question a lot. 99% of our keynotes & trainings are booked by private groups and are for that specific college, campus, corporate workshop, military installation, organization, company, private group, etc. so they aren’t open to public registration. If you would like to organize your own private GFB program for you group, you can reach out to us about that here. Nicole also offers One-On-One virtual sessions for those who want a private, individual session. Learn more here. Or, if that isn’t feasible, we highly recommend that you download our Sassy Self-Defense Guide. This Guide contains some of our favorite safety and self-defense strategies and a list of full contact self-defense classes that are open to the public, endorsed by GFB, and you can sign up for in your area. We also recommend checking out some of the books on our Recommended Reading List. Start by picking up a copy of The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence by Gavin de Becker (most of what we teach is based on the spot-on safety information in this book). We also work with groups that arrange virtual sessions that ARE open to the public. Stay tuned to the GFB Instagram and Facebook pages and my newsletter where we announce those classes and how you can sign up to take one! Nicole is now offering a few public classes in LA throughout the year. Sign up for our email newsletter to be the first to know when a class is open for registration. You can also check Nicole's Link Tree for the most current offerings.

I can and do teach people of all gender identities! Everyone is welcome! When clients are interested in having individuals of all gender identities join, we typically present the program as Students Fight Back (for colleges or student groups) or SAVE (for non-student organizations). Any of our programs can be customized to be gender inclusive or to address specific concerns related to how someone identifies including race, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, etc. No matter how you or your group identifies, I would be delighted to teach you how to be your own best protector and include relevant stats for your community. Most of what I teach is applicable to people of any gender and I address specific contexts when needed. I believe that we all can benefit from learning the basics of how to defend ourselves along with how we can be better allies to each other.

This is often the first question I am asked when I say that I teach self-defense! I get it, though. Most people hear the term self-defense and they immediately think of punching, kicking, martial arts...the physical strategies. There is a common misconception that "self-defense" only means physical skills to stop an attack in progress. Although I do have martial arts experience, what I teach is not a martial art or sport combat. I teach for the real world using trauma-informed, evidence-based, and victim-centered training methods to address gender-based violence and personal safety. This is known as empowerment based self-defense. I teach simple, practical and empowerment based strategies for risk recognition, awareness, boundary setting, verbal de-escalation and physical defense. Self-defense is more than physical! My teachings are based on the methods of IMPACT Personal Safety, FAST Defense, and have been informed by violence prevention experts like Gavin de Becker and peer reviewed studies on the topic (including psychology and neurobiology) spanning decades. I'm a subject matter expert and I have years of training in full force self-defense using realistic scenarios that are adrenaline based with equal focus on verbal and physical components. It's important to note that there are no guarantees. We can each only do the best we can to manage our safety and live our lives as confidently and freely as possible. Self-defense isn't about what you should do, it's about what you can do! I teach verbal and physical skills in an upbeat, positive and fun environment that can be executed by anyone of any gender, body size, height, athletic ability, etc. I will show you how to use your own body to help you get to safety as quickly as possible. There are no fancy moves or complicated steps to memorize in any of my programs. And it doesn't take years of training to be effective at protecting yourself. This means that after one of my 60-75min sessions you'll have a variety of practical skills you can start using immediately in your own life to set boundaries, recognize danger, and verbally or physically protect yourself.

GFB, and all of our gender inclusive program offerings are empowerment-based violence prevention programs designed to help all of us work together to increase our own personal safety and be a part of creating a safer campus, culture, and world. "Self-defense" is about more than physical skills, which is why this type of education is a form of primary violence prevention as it addresses the root causes of violence and helps to prevent it before it happens. We include the facts about violence and how it affects us and then teach our audience a range of skills for addressing situations that can range from uncomfortable to potentially dangerous including how to trust their intuition, applying situational awareness every day, verbal de-escalation tools that can you get out of a bad situation before it gets physical, how to use “NO” confidently in setting and enforcing boundaries that work for you, how to be a better ally and an active bystander to create safer communities, how to support a survivor, the definition of consent and enthusiastic consent, and an intro to physical self-defense, or what we like to call the #BadassBasics. If you have specific topics you'd like addressed, let us know and we can customize a program for you!

GFB is based on the West Coast, and we travel to any location in the world where a client needs Nicole to be for an in person event! We also offer virtual trainings in case an in-person event isn't possible for your group.

Really, we’ve done it all. Corporate events, high schools, middle schools, colleges & universities, the US Military, construction groups, modeling agencies, BIPOC community groups, elderly community homes, US Government organizations, Jewish youth camps, athletes, karate schools, Fortune 500 companies, outdoor groups/retreats, conventions, sales teams, running groups, tech industry personnel, healthcare industry workers, neighborhood groups, professional sports, au pair associations, private groups/families – pretty much any gender inclusive group aged 12+ will enjoy these programs. Also, for younger audiences, we will adjust our content to match your group. See “Can you tone it down?” further down the FAQ list. ☺

We totally respect that, and yes, we can reel in the sassy. Our presentations can be as edgy or as tame as you are comfortable with. Just mention this during the booking process, and Nicole will also discuss this with you prior to the event.

Our average crowd is several hundred. Our largest crowd was 3,000 and our smallest group was 3. No crowd is too big or too small – we make it work and our motto is that whoever is there is supposed to be there! That said, most GFB programs are designed for larger groups – it’s not a hands-on class or a small workshop, but a high-energy, interactive, live show. However, we do have a 2hr hands-on workshop available for small audiences (max 15) if you’re interested. It’s called, The Badass Basics Workshop!

Nope. Our program is “no contact” – meaning, you try the moves out in the air against an “imaginary creeper.” No hitting your neighbor! This is NOT a full contact self-defense class, but an introductory presentation on personal safety skills including trusting intuition, preventing violence and the basics of self-protection. We will make our Sassy-Self Defense Guide available to the organizer of each show. This awesome tool has a list of full contact self-defense classes all over the country that we recommend all participants take after our show. If your group is interested in a combo class, we also partner with IMPACT Personal Safety to provide both a Students Fight Back presentation for a large group and then follow it up with a 3hr full contact IMPACT Intro Workshop for up to 20 students. Contact us for more info!

Nicole brings most of the needed props for the show, but event organizers will need to provide a few things (see Tech & Other Needs to Setup a Show below). Oh yeah, we’ll also need 1-2 volunteers to be our creeper. Their body will be used as a demo for the areas we strike and how contact is made, but they will not be hit or injured in any way. Our volunteer will also get to demo some fun verbal de-escalation strategies. We will also be asking for you to provide a certified victim advocate from your organization (if available) or a partnering local organization. Nicole is an NACP Credentialed Victim Advocate as well, so we will have a perfect team in place to support any survivors or friends of survivors in our audience. Our program will also include a full list of free resources for anyone in the audience who needs them.

We sure do! We have given presentations at middle schools, high schools, colleges, corporations, Girl Scouts, Fortune 500 companies, community groups, non-profits, senior citizen’s centers, the US Military, sales teams, BIPOC organizations, professional sports, realtors, women’s outdoor retreats, running groups, outdoor groups, healthcare industry, travel industry, city governments…you get the idea! We can and do work with diverse groups around the world and can customize the content for your audience. We are thrilled to speak to any group interested in being empowered to create safer communities, campuses, organizations, and lives. We believe in helping you live your lives without limits!

It depends – so just contact us if you want pricing info. We strategically produce national tours based on geographic location to keep costs as low as possible for everyone. One great way to get the cost down is to join forces with other folks in your geographic area and form a “block” of dates in a row. Or, you can book a program during our off-season. If Nicole will be nearby (whether she lives there or is passing through), we offer discounts.

We will come to you whenever it works best for your venue and audience, but if you are looking for a great time, check out our calendar of awareness months for a few suggestions. January – Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month & National Stalking Awareness Month February – Relationship Wellness Month March – National Women’s History Month & Spring Break April – Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month/Alcohol Awareness Month May – Women’s Health Care Month, Mental Health Awareness Month June – Student Safety Month August 26 – Women’s Equality Day August/September – Orientation/ Welcome Week September – National Campus Safety Awareness Month, Realtor Safety Awareness Month October – Domestic Violence Awareness Month & National Crime Prevention Month November 25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Congrats on wanting to learn more about protecting yourself. Sign up to receive our Sassy Self-Defense Guide! The guide includes practical safety strategies, motivation, and how to find an awesome full-force self-defense class near you. You’ll also receive occasional updates from GFB with news, virtual classes, media appearances, discounts, freebies and more.

Absolutely NOT. Let me be clear. Victim blaming is WRONG. Rape, interpersonal violence, and sexual assault are NEVER the fault of the victim/survivor. And, if you’ve ever lived through violence I hope you know that it was not your fault and you didn't do anything wrong. Whatever you did to survive your situation was the right thing to do. The belief that self-defense is victim blaming is often based on a "misunderstanding about what self-defense actually is or ideological conflict with its concepts."* There is also a misconception that self-defense only refers to physical skills in the moment of a confrontation. However, self-defense is about more than physical skills At Girls Fight Back we believe in knowledge and empowerment. We believe in giving our audience members the tools to fight back if they choose to do so if they are ever faced with a serious violent confrontation or even an uncomfortable encounter. Knowing how to recognize manipulative behavior, trust your intuition, set boundaries, and address someone who is being coercive can help us have healthier relationships and avoid situations that are uncomfortable or dangerous. What we do not want to do is avoid preparing for the possibility of violence by pretending it doesn’t exist. In an ideal world, no one would need these skills; and until we live in that world, it is a gift to be as knowledgeable as possible on being your own best protector while simultaneously working to create a world free from violence. Here at Girls Fight Back, we do BOTH. Self-defense is about giving you options in how to respond to a situation. It's about developing confidence in our own ability to use the weapons on our body to protect ourselves in a myriad of encounters. Research shows that women using physical and verbal resistance are more likely to avoid completed rape and are no more or less likely to be physically injured. In fact, learning self-defense has been shown to reduce the risk of experiencing violence by up to 50%. (Studies for men, trans and non-binary individuals has been minimal.) I view (and teach) empowerment-based self-defense as a way to give us all choices and options so that we can live our lives fully and freely and not have to limit our lives to feel safe. It is about gaining confidence and my perspective is that learning self-defense can open up access to the world in a way you may not have had before due to fear and societal myths. As a survivor myself, I know what self-defense has meant to me and my healing process and I have had many survivors share similar experiences with me about how it helped them as well. To fight back or not is a very personal choice and if you are reading this now, you are a survivor. There are 3 main responses that our body has to danger/trauma/adrenaline: fight, flight and freeze. All three of these are normal reactions and none of them should be used to blame a survivor for how they responded to their unique situation. I believe everyone can benefit from knowing how to fight, but self-defense isn’t about what you SHOULD do it’s about what you CAN do. It’s up to the individual whether or not to use your moves but knowing HOW to fight at least gives you the choice – which is empowering. It's important to remember that “fighting back” isn’t just about using physical force. Fighting back is also a mindset in which we choose to actively protect ourselves by honoring our intuition, setting personal boundaries that work for us, and knowing how to use a verbal attack to try to ward off a physical confrontation. I believe that the best fight is the one never fought and physical self-defense is often a last resort option to protecting ourselves. No one can ever tell someone what the right choice is for them in any given situation; and that is why I want each of my audience members to be empowered to be their own best protector in all aspects of their lives. The skills I teach can also be used daily in situations such as catcalling, bullying, negotiating with salespeople, setting boundaries in relationships, dealing with social situations when out on the town or on the trail, and much more. You are worth fighting for! I invite you to read this excerpt from a journal article that addresses this question specifically: “Scholarly studies, reports, and best-practices on the prevention of sexual violence often omit a key component of the scholarly literature: that verbal and/or physical resistance (i.e., self-defense strategies) enable most women to stop most assailants in most sexual assault situations, and that training in self-defense prevents assault in a way that is empowering rather than restrictive or victim-blaming. Despite the numerous empirical studies that support the efficacy of women’s verbal and physical resistance against sexual assault, much of the literature on sexual assault prevention fails to include the scholarship on self-defense. In this article, we posit that the empirical work on self-defense is sometimes ignored naively, because of a misunderstanding of what self-defense is, and sometimes ignored willfully, due to an ideological conflict with it. Excluding work on self-defense in the sexual assault prevention literature omits relevant scholarship in a way that prioritizes ideology over evidence, ironically fueling benevolent sexism, and limits the effectiveness of policies and practices around sexual assault prevention that are translated from the literature. We underscore the importance of integrating the evidence for self-defense more prominently in the sexual assault prevention literature so that organizations, policy makers, activists, clinicians, students, and the public consider and implement self-defense is a viable strategy for women in preventing or thwarting sexual violence.” *Self-Defense as an Effective and Neglected Form of Sexual Assault Prevention: A Commentary and Overdue Correction to the Literature Cermele, J., McCaughey, M. Self-Defense as an Effective and Neglected Form of Sexual Assault Prevention: A Commentary and Overdue Correction to the Literature. Sex Roles (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-022-01284-3