Nadia Telsey Co-Founder, Executive Director + Instructor
Nadia has been involved in the anti-violence movement and teaching self defense since 1971 and gives classes and workshops throughout the world. She began training in martial arts in 1970 with Sensei Gerald Orange in NYC. Before moving to Oregon in 1981 she co founded Brooklyn Women's Martial Arts (aka the Center for Anti-Violence Education) and the National Women's Martial Arts Association.
She has developed and instructed self defense programs for women, children, teens, seniors and people with disabilities, teaching thousands of people in a variety of settings. For the past decade she has been teaching at University of Oregon, throughout the state of Oregon, and in Mongolia. She believes that traditional notions of physical self defense are limited in addressing the issues women face.
Phyllis Barkhurst Co-Founder
Phyllis has been an activist in the field of violence against women since 1980. She has been working on the issues of sexual assault in Oregon since 1984 spending 7 years as the executive director of the Klamath Crisis Center in Klamath Falls and 8 years as the executive director of Sexual Assault Support Services in Eugene. Phyllis founded and served for seven years as the Executive Director of the Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force an organization dedicated to improving the response to and reduction of sexual assault in Oregon. She has worked as a consultant on the statewide, national and international levels for the past 20 years on issues of violence against women in the public policy, funding, and training arenas. She has assisted in the development of 16 of Oregon's sexual assault programs and travels the state providing training to advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors and health professionals. Her most unusual training experience was being the first trainer on the issues of sexual assault to law enforcement and medical workers in urban and rural Mongolia and in Siberia. Phyllis has had the pleasure to work with and participate in workshops and classes as conducted by Nadia Telsey. She is a firm believer in the incredible value of this work and has volunteered her time to assist in the administration and development of Breaking Free.