Home | Join | Subscribe | Contact Us |
| Networking Skill-Sharing and Support |
Table of Contents: Welcome our Interim Executive Director, Helen Yee! Teaching the Teacher 2027 is in Cleveland!
In Memoriam: Carol Middleton Upcoming EventsManaging Your Business: Financial Tips From our Membership
|
Please welcome our new AWMAI Interim Executive Director, Helen Yee!
Greetings members!
I am honored and truly humbled to accept the Interim Executive Director role for AWMAI, an organization I am proud to serve in advancing the values that empower women in teaching and leadership roles through martial arts. As a former instructor and participant at AWMAI, I am dedicated to providing stability and continuity as we navigate our path forward.
My focus will be on fostering a strong sense of community where women can connect, support one another, learn and grow together in their martial arts journey and personal lives. I believe that through collaboration and shared experiences, we can create a nurturing environment that empowers every woman to realize her strength and potential. Together, as teachers, we will build a resilient community that celebrates and uplifts each member. You are welcome to reach out to me at Executive@AWMAI.org.
We are excited to announce
Teaching the Teacher 2027 is in Cleveland, Ohio!
April 8-11, 2027
Photo: Playground Square, Downtown Cleveland
AWMAI is Heading to Cleveland!
Mark your calendars for the 2027 AWMAI Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, April 8-11, 2027. We’re excited to bring our incredible group together for another weekend of learning, connection, inspiration, and fun. Our home base will be the Crowne Plaza Cleveland at Playhouse Square, putting us right in the heart of downtown and within easy reach of some of Cleveland’s best attractions. We’ve got a great rate for comfy rooms with breakfast included, spacious and well-located meeting rooms for all of our activities and lots of great amenities – pool time anyone?
What to Expect at the event:
- A great lineup of training and educational sessions designed specifically for instructors, aspiring instructors and school owners.
- Networking and connections with like-minded instructors from around the US and world.
- AWMAI traditions and special events, including the Hall of Fame Banquet to celebrate our members and recognize outstanding achievements.
- A weekend of learning, laughter, friendship, and empowerment - AWMAI style!
What to Expect in Cleveland:
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – Explore the history, legends, and music that helped shape American culture.
- Playhouse Square – Our hotel is right in Cleveland’s spectacular theater district, home to an incredible lineup of Broadway shows, concerts, comedy, and performances.
- World-class arts and culture – The Cleveland Museum of Art and the museums of University Circle offer plenty to explore.
- Great food and neighborhoods – From the historic West Side Market to trendy restaurants and lively entertainment districts, Cleveland has a growing food scene.
- Lake Erie and downtown attractions – Enjoy the lakefront, explore downtown, catch a sporting event, or simply discover a new city with friends.
So get ready to train, learn, connect, and have a great time.
April 8–11, 2027
Crowne Plaza Cleveland at Playhouse Square
1260 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH
More conference details, registration information, and the schedule will be coming soon.
We can’t wait to see you in Cleveland!
Reserve your hotel room during the conference
Crowne Plaza
1260 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH
Conference room rates will be valid three days before and after the conference too!
The last day to reserve your room is Friday, March 12, 2027.
Photo: Cleveland Crowne Plaza hotel room
Applications due by January 31, 2027
Rank Recognition Application 2027
Seeking Hall of Fame Nominations
Amelia Jones, Certification Director
The AWMAI Hall of Fame is the premier showcase for lifelong women martial artists. Each year we recognize a number of amazing women who have been nominated and selected to join this group. We are currently looking for nominees for our 2027 event.
Anyone with a minimum of 30 years of active practice in the martial arts is eligible. You may apply on behalf of yourself, or nominate others.
If you are a student whose instructor meets the qualifications and deserves this honor, please consider nominating her.
Successful applicants must register and attend the 2027 AWMAI conference to be honored at the Hall of Fame banquet. Once inducted, Hall of Fame members are eligible for discounts at all future AWMAI and NWMAF conferences and regional events.
Join this prestigious group as we make history as women in the world of martial arts! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Certification@awmai.org.
Photo: Cleveland Crowne Plaza meeting room
|
|
Photo: Cleveland Crowne Plaza bar
Photo: Cleveland Crowne Plaza restaurantIn Memoriam
Remember Her Legacy: Carol Middleton
1948 - 2026
Photo: Carol Middleton, photographer unknown, date unknown
Grandmaster Carol Middleton, a martial artist who led her own dojo since 1976, passed away on Aug. 11. She was 78 and a 7th dan in her primary art, Tae Kwon Do. She started martial arts in 1968 with Jack Hwang in Oklahoma; continued in 1973 with Sang Kee Paik in Madison, Wisc., when she moved there for her academic studies; and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1975 to train with Ki Whang Kim, who was Dr. Paik’s teacher.
Sensei, as she was known to her students, attended the early AWMAI conferences at least as early as 2007 and many conferences since then. She received the AWMAI Hall of Fame Award in 2012 for 40 years of training. Sensei took up martial arts when very few women in the U.S. were able to study it -- they weren’t welcome in most dojos. She trained for 58 years, and set rigorous standards for herself, including that she went to the gym almost every day at 5 a.m. When she moved to D.C., she founded the D.C. Women’s Self-Defense Karate Club, which became the D.C. Self-Defense Karate Association (DCSDKA).
Sensei was deeply committed to developing the skills of DCSDKA’s student instructors. In addition to mentoring and overseeing the work of her instructor team, she held a weekly “instructors class” (on Friday nights!) that developed skills in both curriculum content and in pedagogy.
Nancy Lanoue, a 7th dan in Seido Karate who’s known Sensei Carol since 1987, was deeply affected by her focus on learning:
“Of her many admirable traits, Sensei Carol’s dedication to being a lifelong learner is the one that most positively impacted my own development as a teacher. At NWMAF’s annual camps, year after year, she not only offered masterful classes herself, but trained right alongside the rest of us, unlike many of her peers,” says Nancy, who leads her own dojo, Thousand Waves Martial Arts and Self-Defense Center NFP in Chicago. “Her uninhibited delight at learning new things led to the expansive knowledge base and repertoire of skills that so many of us who follow in her footsteps will always remember.”
In addition to her exacting requirements for herself and her students, Sensei Carol stood out in several ways:
- She was a pioneer in what we now know as Empowerment Self-Defense. She was committed to women’s empowerment and safety going back to her first days in martial arts, and she had a practical self-defense curriculum that accompanied DCSDKA’s martial arts curriculum at every belt level.
- She was unusual among heads of schools, most of whom guard their styles closely. Sensei Carol studied many other martial arts and approaches to self-defense, and often brought in other leaders in their styles to teach her students. Among the styles she sought out were Aikido, boxing, yoga, IMPACT, Krav Maga, jiu jitsu, Kidpower, Crisis De-Escalation Training, and Last Resort firearms defense training. She was the first president of IMPACT International, and she founded and directed Krav Maga DC starting in 2001.
- Well before it was considered a standard approach, Sensei Middleton fostered a culture of inclusion, both in how students worked with one another and in accommodating students with various challenges. She also maintained a fund to ensure that the school’s children could continue to train even if their families faced financial hardship.
In her personal life, Sensei Carol enjoyed keeping rabbits and birds. She visited the azaleas at the National Arboretum every year. She was notorious for her love of the color pink: When not in a martial arts uniform, she dressed head to toe in pink, including her sunglasses and fanny pack.
Sensei Carol’s husband died in 2024. She is survived by hundreds of Tae Kwon Do students and thousands of self-defense students, all of whom credit her with changing their lives. She's also survived by the many, many feminist martial artists and self-defense teachers whom she helped find their own paths.
Her students are organizing a memorial service for her in Spring 2027. We’ll be sharing that information when it’s available here in the AWMAI newsletter. To keep up with this info and more, go to Sensei Carol’s page at CaringBridge.org.
Photo: left to right (back row): Jaye Spiro, Sunny Graff, Janet Aalfs, Koré Grate, Terri Giamartino
(front row): Carol Middleton, Wendy Dragonfire, Nadia Telsey
Photo by Tih Penfil
AWMAI Teachers’ Lounge Sunday, September 27 1 PM Pacific 2 PM Mountain 3 PM Central 4 PM Eastern Please note the starting time in your time zone here. This month's topics: Safety practices and student engagement This online gathering is for AWMAI members only. Members will get the Zoom link two days before we meet. | Weaving Strength NE will be held Saturday, October 3rd (1:00-5:00pm) and Sunday, October 4th (8:30 am to 4:30pm) in Providence, Rhode Island at Providence BJJ. These regional conferences are additional networking, and training opportunities for our organization, and for our collective community of Members, Allies, and Friends. As a community we need to be working to bring NWMAF into the next decade, securing its future for all generations to come. |
Managing Your Business
Tips on Managing Your School's Finances
Michele Montag, Financial Director
- Remember that Knowledge is Power. We may not always feel comfortable with what we see in our financials, but knowing what's happening gives us the power to make good decisions and put the work in where it's most needed and most effective.
- Turn negative statements into a positive mindset. Instead of saying "we can't" do something, think "what can we do to make this happen?"
- Use the right tools. Accounting software and systems can be scary at first, but the best ones provide tons of helpful learning guides. Once you get your system set up, the work required to maintain it lessens and the information you can glean from it becomes invaluable to future planning.
- Don't be afraid to get professional help. If you're stuck, hire an expert to get you back on track. Not many of us are trained accountants, so asking an expert for help means we can spend less time on the finances and more time teaching and practicing what we love.
Finally, and especially for those of us in the non-profit space, don't be afraid to ask for what you need! Here's a Sample Ask from Your Friendly AWMAI Financial Director: 1. Join or Renew your membership; 2. refer a colleague to join AWMAI; 3. Donate; 4. Become a sponsor or refer one to us.
From the AWMAI Newsletter Editor
Parnee Poet
To be in the presence of so many of you, I hear about people like Carol Middleton, and as I collected pieces of herstory, I looked through our current database, and found that it did not have the full story of AWMAI. I was first told about Carol by Melanie Fine, and Tih Penfil sent me the group photo with Carol in this newsletter. I reached out to several people; Lauren Taylor, Didi Goodman, Amelia Jones, Koré Grate, with some back and forth communication, I put together only a few pieces of the AWMAI, NWMAF, and PAWMA collective. Carol is one of our many ancestors to learn from. There are more stories to share, and when we can be present, to listen, we can do so many effective actions together.
We have several ways you can participate and make the most of your AWMAI membership. Your wisdom and experience is valuable. We want to hear from you at the Teachers’ Lounge, at our upcoming conference in Cleveland, Ohio, and in our newsletter. I hope you can join us at our next Teachers’ Lounge via Zoom on September 27, 3 PM CENTRAL, and in Cleveland from April 8-11, 2027.
Keep sending your contributions for the newsletter!
Together, we are the reason AWMAI was created. Keep showing your brilliance.
From our Membership
Martial Arts: What's in the Name?
Janet Aalfs
I enjoy exploring the layered meanings of words and names. At some point it occurred to me that the term “martial arts” has “art” in it twice. In the joyful challenging work of learning and teaching Shuri-ryu Okinawan Karate, Filipino Modern Arnis, and Jian Mei Tai Chi and Qigong, I keep following the labyrinth of gestures in the story web that each form offers. The more layers I discover, the more I am able to effectively direct the healing, protective, artistic energy that exists within each basic movement.
Mars, the Roman war god from whom we get the word “martial,” was once the deity of earth, sea (lamar), fertility, agriculture, and everything associated with roots in both life and death. This misogynist twist of meaning is an unsustainable effort to suppress women’s power. Each human being contains a unique and ever-shifting balance of female and male energies, and so-called opposites of all kinds. In trusting my experience of these arts as beautiful, graceful, creative, and compassionate – the antithesis of war and the ongoing violence it perpetuates – I reclaim what feels true to me, and in the process I am more able to understand the truth of others.
I composed the following Poemotion piece 30+ years ago. In performance it includes gestures from the three movement languages in which I am fluent. Through weaving motion and stillness, silence and words, I keep sinking deeper into the roots of these healing, protective, liberating, life-giving arts that offer infinite gifts.
Martial Artist
I am a woman whose body shows
the way a woman shapes the air
and takes up space enough to share
an artist who stirs up
forms ideas mime poet plumber
unclogging pipes in overloaded minds
not the rabble-rousing punch
and kick stuff meant to prove
power-over splattered on TV
a woman who balances action and word
weaving webs of protection
and root spells that heal
not bigger than life like a movie screen
but a real-life woman
clearing some space to breathe
World Taekwon-Do Celebrates 29 Years
"Master G" Michelle Golino
Master G's school, World Taekwon-Do, located in Lake Mary, Florida, just celebrated 29 years delivering Taekwon-Do excellence! Congratulations, Master G!
Watch Celebrating 29 years video
Michelle "Master G" Golino
You see my back—
Not the sweat, the setbacks,
the silent uphill paddles.
Taekwon-Do stitched in bold,
a rooted path, forged—not told.
Master badges on each side,
decades deep in strength and pride.
I carry stories, still and wise—
and stand tall at 5'2"
so others rise.
Thank youto our Sponsors!Sponsorships help support AWMAI and our Conference. To see more sponsors, or become one, click here!
| Join theMartial Arts Movement!AWMAI, our community, and our website are here to support you as an instructor, and allow you to offer support to others.
AWMAIBoard of DirectorsInterim Executive Director Helen Yee executive@awmai.org Events Director Administrative Director Newsletter Editor Parnee Poet Certification Director Amelia Jones Financial Director |
Our Mission:
We provide high-quality education, training, and support, as well as opportunities for networking, advancement, and professional recognition, to women instructors and business owners in the fields of martial arts and self-defense.
Our Vision
We strive to be leaders in the communities we serve; to be partners in helping each other achieve recognition and excellence in our respective pursuits; and to take pride in elevating the performance and reputation of all our members’ schools and classes.
Our Values
These values are at the heart of our organization.
Integrity - We maintain the highest standards of personal and business ethics in all our interactions, continually strengthening relationships through honesty, trustworthiness and reliability.
Respect - We respect the unique contributions of every teacher and student, valuing the diversity of their experiences, ideas and initiatives. We ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn and contribute in a way that enriches their personal development.
Inclusivity - We welcome all women, including individuals who are transgender, non-binary or self-identify as women and who believe a space reserved for women martial artists is a home.
The Association of Women Martial Arts Instructors welcomes female martial arts instructors, assistant instructors, and aspiring instructors of all martial arts styles hard and soft to become Members. As a Member you will have the opportunity to meet and collaborate with other women who have trail-blazed the path you are now pursuing. Tangible membership benefits include an Association patch for new members, an E-Link for your school to our website plus posting of your upcoming events, E-Newsletter, and unlimited networking possibilities.
