Teaching young women awareness, safety and self-defense — and building the community that stands behind them. Every girl deserves to walk through the world unafraid.
Our Mission
We are dedicated to empowering young women through education in awareness, safety and self-defense. We strive to equip girls with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to protect themselves and others, while fostering a strong, supportive community where every girl can lead with strength, courage and resilience.
Awareness means being mindful of your environment, understanding potential risks and recognizing when something feels off — the behavior of people around you, the layout of a room, the way out. It also means trusting your instincts. If something feels wrong, it probably is. That mindset is the first line of defense, and it is learnable.
Awareness is the start; having the skills to protect yourself is what completes it. Self-defense training is not about being aggressive — it is about being prepared. It teaches you to escape, to defuse a confrontation, and where necessary to physically defend yourself. The skills matter, and so does what learning them does to you.
Training together builds a network of support that reaches well past the mat. We want a space where girls can share what worries them, talk about what frightens them and celebrate what they achieve. Knowing there is a group of girls who have your back changes how you move through everything else.
Girls Who Lead — Now
Co-founder, and the person running the program today
Girls Who Lead — Now started with a conversation between two friends.
Surelle and I have known each other since we were born. When she came to me about what had happened to her and about the self-defense classes she had started taking, it landed differently than it might have with someone else — I had a black belt in Taekwondo and had been training for years. She had the reason. I had the training. We realized we made a good team, and we started planning classes so other girls could learn what we were learning.
That is still what this is. A movement dedicated to teaching girls self-awareness, safety and self-defense, so that a girl who finds herself in a situation like Surelle's has already practiced what to do.
I run the program now. Surelle cheers us on from a distance, and the reason we exist has not changed. I want every girl who trains with us to leave able to protect herself, and to believe she is strong, capable and worthy of safety and respect.
— Mia Buonasera, co-founder and program lead
“I would have never guessed I would ever be a victim of assault; however at the age of 14, I was assaulted. For a while, I lived in a state of worry. Everywhere I went, I felt like I was constantly looking over my shoulder, wondering if this would happen again.
Eventually I got to a point where I was ready to do something about the anxiety I had been facing. That is when I began taking self-defense classes based in Jiu-Jitsu, and learned how important it is to feel secure even when I am on my own. I did not want to gatekeep what I was learning.”
— Surelle Kloos, co-founder
Meet our Instructor
Bridget was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and has been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since 2012. Her favorite Jiu-Jitsu moves are strangles and arm locks. She received her black belt from Master Renzo Gracie in 2020.
Bridget teaches Women's BJJ and BJJ Beginner Gi classes.
Fun fact: she sang opera in high school.
Join us for a session
We were proud to share our knowledge with the Epiphany School, and we look forward to our next session together.
Join us as we celebrate the second anniversary of Girls Who Lead — Now. Details for our upcoming fundraiser will be announced soon — please check back here for updates.
Contact us
Questions about a session, booking us for your school or group, or joining the community — send us a note and we'll come back to you.