“Guardian Girls International and Guardian Girls Vovinam will empower women across the globe by giving them the tools and the confidence that they need through martial arts and sports to know that they can actually defend themselves and protect themselves. 

We women tend to freeze, so this program is organized and designed for women that don’t have any martial arts background like myself. So at a global level, you know, it’s a culture of silence.

Women all around the world are victims and survivors of gender-based violence. And our goal is to eradicate gender-based violence for the future generations. I don’t think we can only think about what we leave for ourselves behind, but we have to think about the next generations, the granddaughters, the children, you know, that will come after that.

No woman should be subject, you know, to any type of gender-based violence. So this program will empower them to, number one, know that they can defend themselves. Number two, give them a mental strategy and mental strength through Vovinam and through different martial arts, you know, to be able not to freeze, because we women tend to freeze, and to be able to defend themselves.

And it has changed my life forever, because I want to contribute to women, and it fills my heart with joy. Every country that we go, that I see that women leave the seminars and leave the classes, knowing that they can actually prevent gender-based violence, and they can actually have the confidence to defend themselves or escape a dangerous situation in case that they’re faced with”.