Cole Parker, COO, teaching

If you haven’t heard, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was reinstated and signed into law on March 7^th, just in time for International Women’s Day.  To find out more about the significance of this law, please click here.

So in celebration, we’d like to introduce you to a wonderful organization called Divas In Defense Inc., The company teaches a self-defense system to women and girls across the nation in order to empower them. Divas in Defense is unique in its own right however, because two of its main officers who started the program are actually men! A pair of brothers named Christopher Britto, the President and CEO of the company and Cole Parker, the Vice President and COO, decided to create this inspiring organization three years ago after a female pastor asked Britto to set up some self-defense classes for women enlisted in her church. After discussing the idea with his brother, Britto decided to take the idea a little further.

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Gretchen Cawthon

Throughout history and even today, women are told by men what they can and can’t do. Fortunately, the human spirit allows us the free will to decide for ourselves what we can do. We just have to tap into our inner confidence.

In 2005, when Gretchen Cawthon was told by a man that “women just don’t do web design,” something snapped inside her and she set out to prove him wrong.

“I was actually co-owner of a drum company … it was kind of a start up and we began working on a marketing plan and I was pretty much the fulltime marketing director. When it came down to the website, our business partner told my husband,  ‘I’ll handle the website, women just don’t do web design,’” said Gretchen.

She left the drum business shortly after that. Because she already had a great deal of experience teaching computers on a professional level, she decided to begin researching web design and learning how to build one herself.

“I was brought up with a computer in the house my entire life. So I just picked it up on my own. I knew a lot about computer programs and applications and so I taught people,” said Gretchen. “I went to the library and checked out every possible book I could on web design. In about 2 weeks, I put together the website the way I wanted it,” she said.

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Both non-athletes and athletes have told me how they learned to swagger in the outdoors and sports. You can read about a world champion tri-athlete along with the stories of regular women who raft, bike, row, and soar. We will explore the challenges for women with swagger in sports, along with the successes and victories

Women who participate in sports face significant challenges. In a 2006 survey, “The New Normal? What Girls Say about Healthy Living,” conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute, 40% of girls 11-17 reported that they don’t participate in sports because they don’t feel they’re skilled enough. Girls and women of all ages need the stories of encouragement and descriptions of athletic role models found in A Girl’s Guide to Swagger.

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