Qualifications

Bio

Tasha Ina Church, Iyèmote (Strives for Empowerment from the Stó:lō Nation) is an indigenous female entrepreneur, course creator, author, podcaster, blogger, and is the founder/owner of ElleLiveAction. Her Empowerment Coaching business aids clients in removing barriers in life, offering empowering strategies, so they can be their own hero. With 23 years of experience in the field, Tasha is a force, creating positive change within her communities and on a global scale. She has served over 12,000 students since Spring 2022, in 124 countries who speak 35 languages worldwide

Tasha’s first experience with self-defense training was Warrior Spirit with Jeff Alexander, (who was the trainer for Rocky). She also trained in multiple styles of Martial Arts and currently studies Aikido through Berkshire Hills Aikido trained by Ron Ragusa & Mary C. Eastland. The trainings provides individuals with tools needed to prevent violence before it starts and to interrupt violence when it is happening and to act if needed. 

Tasha was born and raised in Washington state with two teachers for parents. Her mother was adopted by an elder Medicine Woman and Traditional First Nations Healing of the Stó:lō Nation. They traveled all over the US and Canada doing Indigenous Healing Work. Tasha believes in self-healing and teaching the tools needed to survive and thrive in this life. She teaches in Washington State and Hawaii, as well as doing online trainings globally. She is one of a kind! 

Tasha was trained by Arlene Limas, the 1st Olympic Gold Medalist in Tae Kwon Do & trainers who taught both the military and the police force in the United States, along with protester safety. Her previous ESD Mentors were Antonella Spatola, an Intuitive Wing Chun Kung Fu Instructor, an ESD Empowerment Instructor, and Behavioral Health Therapist & Sheila Watson, 4th Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and owner of Iron Fan Martial Arts.

Tasha co-founded an in-school and after school empowerment program, built her own curriculum for middle school and high school girls, focused on self-esteem, body image, and self-defense training. Reaching over 2,000 girls in schools, she has since expanded her programming to work with both youth and adults ranging from 3-92 years old. She has published eight online course and piloted her most recent course at the Kamehameha Private School in Makawao, Hawaii, working with middle schoolers. The course received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Tasha serves the deaf, blind, differently abled and all genders. She values and appreciates diversity and loves supporting people from all walks of life and believes in the importance of supporting people in finding or rediscovering their voice, tapping into their power, and elevating themselves to their next level.

Most Recent Certifications

Tasha Ina Church is one of the only people globally with a Level-4 Certification in Empowerment Self-Defense, along with Nationally Certified in ESD through the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation, & holding her credential (ESDP) through the Association of ESD Professionals. What is a credential? Think of the Bar Exam for attorneys. For Empowerment Self-Defense professionals, there is an exam through an associated body to show that you understand the basic and intermediate fundamentals of our industry. Additionally, she has over 50 hours of training in IMPACT through IMPACT Global and IMPACT Personal Safety.

Growing Up:

Tasha came from a multi-cultural background. Her parent’s instilled in her the belief in life-long learning. Each studied martial arts and taught. The style they studied was Gōjū-ryū. This is Japanese for "hard-soft style". It is one of the main traditional Okinawan styles of karate, featuring a combination of hard and soft techniques. Gōjū-ryū incorporates both circular and linear movements into its curriculum, combining hard striking attacks such as kicks and close hand punches with softer open hand circular techniques for attacking, blocking, and controlling the opponent, including joint locks, grappling, takedowns, and throws. While Tasha was not a practitioner in this discipline, it was that spark which stuck with her to ignite a flame. She was given basics. While many people start martial arts for the love of the style and art, Tasha's journey into the actual martial arts arena was initiated by a tragedy. She dealt with a stalker in her early years and was able to verbally deflect any escalation of interaction but it was that event which brought her to the steps of her first actually dojo to train.

Training History:

Outside of her most recent training, Ms. Church studied multiple styles of Japanese and Chinese martial arts. Her most loved style was Aikido (Studying under Sensai Venus Coburn). She currently studies Aikido through Berkshire Hill Aikido under Sensais Ron and Mary Eastland. Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury. Aikido is often translated as "the way of harmonious spirit." Additionally, she has gone through Warrior Spirit Training with Jeff Alexander who was the trainer for Rocky Balboa for the movies. Outside of this, she has studied in Tai Chi and taken boxing lessons. All of these added together compliment her newest certifications. Tasha also has taken Psychological First Aid through John Hopkins University and applies her learning to Empowerment Self-Defense.

Other Qualifications:

Tasha Church has an MBA in Leadership with a focus on Global Change and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2016. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Clinical Psychology focused on Multiculturalism and Feminine Studies, Reframing Conflict Training through Youth Program Quality Initiative (YPQI) through SchoolsOutWA (Helping with De-Escalation Tactics), Crisis Prevention Intervention at Hawaii Behavioral Health while working with special needs children throughout the island of Maui. She has over 20 years of experience serving communities and gaining as much knowledge from different sources to combine into a curriculum focused on best practices for self-defense (Self-Preservation Training. Not to be confused with Self-Perfection Training (Martial Arts)). To learn the differences she has seen in martial arts and self-defense check out her latest article on the subject HERE.

Three years into teaching at a dojo, Tasha came to the realization that several of the moves she was teaching were ineffective when dealing with an attacker while wearing three inch heels and a dress. So, with the help of her long-time self-defense partner Lee Vilaysane, she was able to identify which moves were effective while wearing that type of attire, going through over 800 different moves and counters they knew. Now she teaches synthesized classes with past knowledge and training, combined with up-to-date Empowerment Self-Defense curriculum and formatting, sharing best practices, safety tips, and awareness based tools to make those learning and those around them feel safe and secure! She also believes in the importance of wellness, self-care, and self-healing and these are encompassed into her Empowerment Coaching practice.

It is important for her to stress utilizing moves and wearing clothes that are realistic when walking through your everyday life and just living. We cannot ask an attacker to wait while we change. So often, Tasha shows up to female self-defense demonstrations wearing dresses, high heels, shorts, pants, suits, you name it -- any other basic everyday clothing for women. Her in-school and after-school initiative is I.M.Power = I Am Powerful & I Empower Others. Everyone deserves to feel safe, no matter their age, gender, weight, fitness level, or attire, they just need the tools, so if you are reading this, Empower YOU! Join her self-care or self-healing courses by clicking on the names. For self-defense classes for women, and those affected by gender-based violence tap the underlined section.