INTERVIEW: ADELE ROSALES OF PERSONAL PROTECTION PARTIES

SelfDefenseResource.com (SDR) sat down with Adele Rosales (AR) of Personal Protection Parties (PPP) to discuss their unique approach to bringing self-defense and safety training to women. The following is the transcript of that interview.

SDR: What does Personal Protection Parties do?

AR: We teach women self-defense in the comfort of their own home, or familiar surroundings. Our goal is to empower them with practical strategies and options for their safety. We do that in a familiar surrounding for them, to make them more comfortable.

SDR: So rather than people going to a class at a different location, the teaching actually comes to them.

AR: Absolutely. We are trying to make it easy and more convenient for women to go get the training as well as to make it more comfortable. Where a lot of women would feel intimidated walking into a martial arts facility where a lot of self-defense workshops are held, or seeking out the training themselves. A lot of women don't necessarily equate that they can defend and protect themselves. What we really try to do is put a comfort level to it, make it more accessible to them so that they can empower themselves and actually put into place practical strategies for themselves.

SDR: What has the reception been like to these sorts of classes or parties.

AR: In general they been really well, really well. A lot of women they love the idea, again this is brand new, women have never been marketed to necessarily for self-defense in this way. Safety is certainly not mainstream in our society for women. Since we are the first ones out there doing it, there are some pros and there are some cons with it. It's great to be first and there is a lot of great reception with that. Then again it's also breaking the ice, so sometimes it's a little bit difficult as well.

SDR: With anything that's new, you have to do a little bit of educating about what this is all about before getting people to sign up.

AR: It really is about breaking down the barrier, it's about planting a seed. It's starting at the very beginning. Our goal is to plant a seed of safety so that women can, once they see it for themselves, can watch and go seek out additional training. To empower themselves and really see that they can protect themselves, but again it's got to start somewhere. It's bringing in that, you know you can defend yourself against maybe someone bigger stronger faster than you are, and safety is for you. We do carry a line of safety and fitness products, and several self-defense products. Again that is not something that is marketed to women. They are not anything to be absolutely relied on, but they are a tool, and a tool that at very least can be used as a reminder to keep yourself safe. Just for women to know what options are out there, whether they use them or not, or choose them, they should know that they are available for them. One of the things that we discovered in searching for products for women, in bringing all of this to reality, is that many of the products are not made very attractively for women either. We decided to change and make it more appealing, and again breaking down that barrier. You design something that a woman wants to carry she'll carry it.

SDR: That brings up a couple different things from the marketing and advertising world. It takes something like seven exposures to a message, before someone will remember it. Breaking down and planting that seed and breaking the ice I think is really important. Hopefully something as important as safety doesn't take seven times, maybe it takes once or twice and they think hmmm. Then if they are connected any way with a host of a party, it makes it that much easier. Talking about the tool, not being designed attractively or even ergonomically correct for women, I know that there is a line of handyman tools that are specifically marketed to women. So it would be great if something like that were available for women as well.

AR: Absolutely.

SDR: You mentioned that Personal Protection Parties is new. When was it started, how and why was it started?

AR: The concept actually came from our instructor Jody Sasaki. He held a women's self-defense workshop. All these women came to it excited to learn self-defense from a woman, and much to their surprise Jody turned out to be a man. His first name they assumed that it was a woman. In his years of experience in teaching self-defense he feels like women want to learn from other women. So this concept really developed through him, he felt that it should be available for women in the comfort of their own home and carry a line of self-defense and safety equipment. That was over 10 years ago, and he brought the concept to me, I loved it and Josen and Nena came on board and the three of us really took it and got going with it and made it evolve into what it is today.

SDR: How long have you been doing these parties?

AR: It's been about a few years. The concept has really evolved over time. When we started doing the workshop they don't resemble what they look like today. We started teaching self-defense in a very traditional way. Since there has been no template for a structure and organization like ours, it really had to be out there and learning how to do that and learning from the women what worked and what didn't work, and really changing it into a woman's workshop. Thrown by women the way women would throw it. That's something that has really evolved over the last few years.

SDR: I guess you are really expanding and marketing it pretty heavily this year?

AR: Yes we are.

SDR: So where are some of the parties being held now?

AR: They are localized here in California. That's where we were really hoping in getting national; we are getting calls from all over. It's hard. If somebody wants a party in North Carolina right now, I can't do that. That's why we are getting calls from people who want to be consultants in that area, that's ideal, because we can set them up for those workshops to be held. Right now they are localized in California.

SDR: About how many consultants do you have so far?

AR: There is, including myself, which I do still do some workshops, there is 5 of us.

SDR: So, there is usually a host that wants to throw a party, or does a consultant kind of market it and tries to find a host? How does a party get started?

AR: Well the consultant, this is really her own business as far as her to take out there and expand for herself. We do also help as the larger corporation, we help market their workshops. By putting out flyers, by advertising that she has this service, someone would then contact her. If they wanted to do a workshop, she would take it from there. Basically we try to make it as convenient as possible for the hostess. Because women are busy, which is another reason why we feel these workshops coming to women is so important. Especially implanting the initial seed. I'm a mom and I understand that it's not just the time period of the class, it's driving to the class, finding someone to watch my children, drive to the class, the time of the class, and that drive back. All of that has to be considered. So by coming to her we are really trying to make it convenient, including be willing to send out the invitations for her. The hostess is just responsible for providing the facility and the guest list. We try to take care of everything from there for her.

SDR: Can you describe how a typical party is taught, what sort of subjects, and how many people attend, what are the demographics of the women that attend?

AR: It's really across the board. We say our workshops are good for anyone 12 years and up. We have had teen groups all the way to senior do the workshop. It's everybody in between.

SDR: The workshops are typically two hours?

AR: Yes, the workshops are typically two hours long.

SDR: It sounds like you have several different subjects that can be taught.

AR: We try to really tailor the workshop to the hostess' individual wants and needs. So, if she has never done self-defense before and she's not sure what she's looking for, we recommend our "Encounter With Danger" workshop. Which highlights a lot of general safety tips, general mindset as well as cover safety myths, and we cover the most common attacks.

SDR: After that initial one, do people typically want to have additional parties to go deeper into different subjects under self-defense?

AR: Yes, it depends. Some women at the workshop may want to have a core group that they would want to show this initial party to. Then we have others who want to contact and say OK well I am interested in ground attack, but then again we have had women come to us and say you know what I really want to concentrate on in my workshop is verbal confrontation tactics, and so we have a "Vocal Victory" workshop that we would then put on for her. Just across the board. What's great for daycare providers or just any parent is our "Play It Safe" workshop, which is geared toward teaching children how to know their safest option. They can choose from whatever and they can approach us and say this is what I would like to learn.

SDR: What's the number one comment that has been made by participants, what is the common theme?

AR: What they walk away with is that they feel that they can, which is our ultimate goal. Planting that seed of empowerment that you absolutely can. We say that every woman has the right, the responsibility, and the capability to defend herself, protect herself and those she loves. When they walk away from the workshop, many of them are just really, really empowered and on a high. It's incredible to be able to participate in something like that with somebody.

SDR: Any sort of success stories, where they were actually in some sort of encounter or confrontation and were able to use one of the techniques used in the workshop?

AR: Actually, what we have heard from a lot of women is more the feedback of the safety tips. There are women who before, when they were going out for their morning jog, they would feel really nervous, or they didn't know what to do. One in particular, that we get a lot from women, they say what if a man is approaching us, do we look at him, do we not look at him, a lot of women are afraid to look at men fearful they'll send the wrong impression. They are not sure what to do. So, this woman shortly after the workshop, she called me up and told me she was out for her morning jog and there was nobody around and there was just another man approaching her. She thought back about what I had told her. She kept her head and when he approached, instead of looking away, she looked at him, acknowledged him, and moved on. She showed that she had the confidence to look at somebody. Instead of just shying her eyes away. A lot of women ask, "what do we do when some guy is approaching us?" I don't recommend that you have to stare them down and be confrontational, but there is nothing wrong with acknowledging somebody and looking up at them. They can identify their face, you send the message that you are a confident person, and that confidence is less likely to make you a target.

SDR: Absolutely, that's the situation where she is making herself kind of a hard target, someone who is aware and confident. When you look at them you could identify them later if necessary.

AR: Well that just shows that she has the confidence to look at somebody, and she is less likey to be that person who's going to be unwilling to not want to confront, not that she is looking for confrontation. But she is willing to have the confidence to look up and acknowledge and say, "you know yes I am looking at you." The other thing that women have told us is that we tell women to use visual clues, because frankly we are very busy. Like I could be walking in Target and have my two children along my side. This is typical for practically every mom out there, every woman out there. You have got a million things going in your head, you still got to get dinner on, you have got the homework project that you still got to help finish. Somebody needs to go buy poster board and you know you got all these million things running in your head. If you give yourself a visual clue, say the visual clue of yellow. If you are walking along that road or something, "bam," I see a yellow shirt. Then it's time for me to do a little mental checklist. Who's around me, what do I have on me, who's around my children, does it make sense that they are there? Am I aware of my exits? The visual clues can keep that fresh in your mind, because the reality is you cannot be 100% environmentally aware 100% of the time. Life just doesn't work that way. That doesn't work that way I'm sure for men, as a woman I know it doesn't work that way because frankly you are very busy, life is busy, the world is busy. So give yourself aid to help yourself. We have had women tell us that, you know, I see yellow and I always think of you. I always think of what I learned. Another woman, she actually just sent us a letter a few months back and she was having trouble breaking her board. Stuck with her, and we just encouraged her and we told her that we knew that she could do it, and she did. That was a very powerful moment for her, and she said that ever since the workshop she had felt empowered, she felt better about herself, she felt that she could and it was really such a boost in her self-esteem. One of the things that I don't think that women realize is that self-defense can do that for them.

SDR: Excellent, so if someone was interested in becoming a consultant how would they approach getting certified by your organization?

AR: They would attend a three-day certification workshop from us. That entails not only just the hands-on training of what they would be licensed to teach in the workshop. But we go over our complete product line, marketing tips as well, and our philosophies as to why we carry products and they get all of that in their certification as well as a starter kit, which includes materials that they need to get going on the workshops, written materials, as well as a small line of product for them to display. We give them a complete line for them to start for free to get them going on their first workshop.

SDR: Are there ongoing certification requirements, ongoing training?

AR: Certification requirements we require that they be certified annually. They re-certify which is obviously discounted and what they would do with re-certification is be not only able to add to their own training but they would be able to add to what they could offer for workshops. They also get with their certification package again a small line of product to display, they get a certificate of completion, and a shirt and official PPP shirt for them to go to the workshops in.

SDR: If someone was interested in attending or hosting a party how would they do that?

AR: They would contact a consultant; she would then send them a hostess packet. In that include all the information she needs. It's got a guest list for her to fill out. She could either then send that mail that back to the consultant, or e-mail or phone that in. We can provide her with invitations that we would mail out for her, or hand her a flyer if she just wants to hand something out, a lot of women just want to do that at work or at the neighborhood instead of mailing something out. We give her a checklist that basically says when we need the guest list by, typically two to three weeks before the workshop. We contact her three days before the workshop to get a final headcount of the list, she just has to clear a space for the day of the party, and we recommend that she provide water and that's it.

SDR: Cool.

AR: Pretty much we try to take care of everything for her.

SDR: Excellent. They could also I assume call your office to if they don't know of any consultant in their area.

AR: We have a website www.personalprotectionparties.com, they can go there, and it's a place to contact us. There is a 1-800 toll-free number, through phone, or through e-mail. If they see a flyer all that information is listed on there as well for them to contact us.

SDR: Great, now is there anything else that you would like to add, as we are wrapping up this interview? Anything else that you want to mention, that we haven't covered so far?

AR: Yes, basically that we are going nationwide. Our goal is really to empower women, plant a seed that they can then grow from and seek additional training and really know that they can. I liken self-defense to the fitness industry. The fitness industry has really gone mainstream in America. What I mean by that is that I can walk into any Border's or any bookstore or any body shop and find some sort of reference to exercise, pilates, or what have you. Whether I pick that item up or not, again I'm walking around with that seed implanted that fitness is for me. Fitness applies to me, and there are several resources I know where to go to. That's how safety should be made available for women and for everybody in our society. We should be able to walk in, and know that safety is for me, regardless of size and regardless of my physical ability that there's something I can do. That's really what we are about for women.

SDR: Well I think that you guys have a great program and when I met you guys at the Martial Arts SuperShow I was kind of happy that some company is doing this so that it gets the word out there to women. I think that it's so important and there's not enough attention paid to it in this society. Thank you very much for the opportunity to interview you.

AR: Thank you very much for this, I really appreciate it.

For more information about becoming a consultant, hosting, or attending a workshop, visit Personal Protection Parties or call 1-800-707-7999.

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