076 - INTERVIEW: The Four Elements and Self Defense with Alice Alexandrescu
Born to Be a Badass
Alice Alexandrescu is an options facilitator who helps people identify and protect their mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical boundaries. Currently, she is mentoring under Tony Blauer in his SPEAR System Elite Masterclass. She is an Army veteran, holds a Master of Fine Arts in Behavioral Aesthetics and is a qualified mental health associate skills trainer. In 2020, Alice was awarded third place in the National Veterans’ Art Festival for her piece entitled, “888 Paper Cranes”, which she gradually completed while hospitalized for PTSD. Saying, “during my treatment, crushing...
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075 - FIERCE AND FEMALE - BEHAVIORAL CUES
Born to Be a Badass
Melissa Soalt is a women’s self-defense pioneer, a black belt hall of fame recipient, former trauma psychotherapist, and the creator of Fierce & Female Self Defense. She is a forerunner in full-force padded assailant scenario training, her approach is both practical and transformational. She has taught thousands of women how to safeguard their boundaries, protect themselves from danger and resist attack while reconnecting women with deep-seated, primal and emotional powers to live safer, bolder, and fuller lives and to reverse female fear. Melissa is an outspoken advocate for...
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074 - INTERVIEW: Recognizing Safety Nets with Raven Scott
Born to Be a Badass
Raven Scott is a survivor of an abusing relationship with a narcissist, she’s gone from being a people pleaser to a kick-ass author, podcaster, and mentor and she’s a certified meditation teacher and a Destiny Coach. She teaches women how to shed negative patterns one step at a time, to find their power and potential through healing so that they can kick ass in their own life. Raven has a terrific podcast called “Unlock Your Destiny” and she recently published a book that’s a memoir combined with an empath’s healing guide, that book is called “Empath and The Narcissist: A Healing...
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073 - INTERVIEW: Practicing Situational Awareness with M.E. Heald
Born to Be a Badass
M.E. Heald graduated 2006 with a double major in Criminal Justice and Psychology, and in 2010 with a masters in Criminal Justice specific to gangs and youth offenders. She has worked all over the place, including food service, sales, a few years as a promotional and advertising model, a year as a Miller Light Gal, she has also been an advocate at a sexual assault center and has spent the last 7 years as a corrections officer, the last 9 as a case manager. She trains new staff in self-defense, control tactics, crisis intervention, motivational interviewing, scenario-based trainings, conflict...
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072 - INTERVIEW: The Process of Healing Trauma with Wendy Keir
Born to Be a Badass
Wendy Keir has spent her whole life recovering from the traumatic aftereffects of being institutionalized in the United Kingdom’s care system. She believes that healing from emotional and traumatic scars is an inside out job. The path to successful ongoing recovery and to breaking the cycle starts with your relationship with yourself and others, how you perceive the world around you and changing your inner world. In this episode, Wendy and I discuss: What is trauma and denial? Recognizing how trauma affects your life Processing your trauma and rebuilding back...
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071 - INTERVIEW: Real-world self-defense with Meredith Gold
Born to Be a Badass
About Meredith Gold: She is a scenario-based, full force, self defense instructor. She’s been teaching Adrenal Stress Scenario Training, also known as ASST to adults and teens since 1992 and started her empowerment-based assertive communication and self-defense program RAW Power: Real World Self-Defense in 2000. Meredith’s primary focus has always been teaching self-defense and verbal empowerment skills to previously untrained women and teens but her focus has expanded to other high risk targeted communities including LGBTQ and AAPI. She has also been instrumental in bringing awareness to...
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070 - FIERCE AND FEMALE - RAPE DEFENSE
Born to Be a Badass
Melissa Soalt is a women’s self-defense pioneer, a black belt hall of fame recipient, former trauma psychotherapist, and the creator of Fierce & Female Self Defense. She is a forerunner in full-force padded assailant scenario training, her approach is both practical and transformational. She has taught thousands of women how to safeguard their boundaries, protect themselves from danger and resist attack while reconnecting women with deep-seated, primal and emotional powers to live safer, bolder, and fuller lives and to reverse female fear. Melissa is an outspoken advocate for...
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069 - INTERVIEW: Advocating for Yourself with Alice Alexandrescu
Born to Be a Badass
Alice Alexandrescu is an options facilitator who helps people identify and protect their mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical boundaries. Currently, she is mentoring under Tony Blauer in his SPEAR System Elite Masterclass. She is an army veteran, holds a master of fine arts in behavioral aesthetics and is a qualified mental health associate skills trainer. In 2020, Alice was awarded third place in the National Veterans’ Art Festival for her piece entitled, “888 Paper Cranes”, which she gradually completed while hospitalized for PTSD. Saying, “during my treatment, crushing...
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068 - INTERVIEW: Setting Strong Boundaries With Randy King
Born to Be a Badass
Randy is an education-based self-defense coach with over 15 years of experience who has taught thousands of people all over the world to better understand conflict management and violence prevention. In his quest to help people better understand conflict and violence, he has had the privilege to work with a truly diverse group of people including communities such as the first nations in Canada, Women’s Shelters as well as professional organizations like law enforcement and private corporations. He also has an absolutely amazing podcast channel called Randy King Live. In this...
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067 - INTERVIEW: Becoming A Diamond with Aisya Carroll
Born to Be a Badass
Aisya Carroll is a certified life-coach, author, mentor, advocate for childhood trauma, a consultant and the CEO of Survivor Not By Chance LLC., whose mission is to help people cope with traumatic experiences by teaching them healthy coping mechanisms. Aisya has clients from across the globe with various backgrounds and experiences. She has mentored teenagers and young adults for over 15 years and is an advocate for children and adults affected by childhood trauma and domestic violence. Aisya volunteers to educate the community about racial injustice and systemic oppression in minority...
info_outlineCindy Villanueva is a memoirist and an inspirational writer with a passion for helping women achieve lives of strength and joy. She’s the author of a terrific book called “Don’t Fight Mad: A Black Belt’s Quest To Recapture Joy” and she is the co-author of “Finding Our Wings: Seven Entrepreneurs on Reclaiming Hope and Power”. Cindy is a seventh degree black-belt master instructor and the owner of Ernie Reyes’ World Martial Arts. Her love of teaching led her to be an adjunct professor at Concordia University of Texas where she teaches undergraduate marketing and graduate marketing management and leadership. She speaks regularly on leadership and women in business. Cindy has four children and two grand-children and she splits her time between Austin, Texas and New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
In this episode, Cindy and I discuss:
- Difference between progression in girls and boys when learning self-defense
- How to set healthy boundaries and how to communicate effectively
- Navigating through fear and dealing with it healthily
- Warning signs of an unhealthy or a potentially dangerous relationship
Key Takeaways:
- Don’t be afraid to change. Be the person who you’re designed to be, that person can change and that’s okay.
- To learn self-defense quicker, be comfortable with getting hurt and be ready to hurt. Sometimes violence is appropriate. Not all kinds of violence are evil.
- Think about the upside of embracing that fear vs capitulating to that fear. If you choose the latter, you would be less than who you are designed to be and who you’re capable of being.
- Don’t instantly dismiss yourself when you feel something is wrong. Trust your intuition and make an informed decision.
"As soon as you hear or start saying the word ‘should’, run the other direction… there shouldn’t be a should, everyone is different. Figure out who you are… and what brings you joy." — Cindy Villanueva
Connect with Cindy Villanueva:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KnockoutMrktg
Website: http://www.cindyvillanueva.com/ | http://www.komarketingstrategies.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyvillanueva/detail/contact-info/
CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA:
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If you work in the self-defense world, are a survivor, a healer or otherwise BADASS woman and you would like to be interviewed by Cynthia, reach out at [email protected]
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