Holli LaMarque, founder and instructor of Fortitude Defense LLC began actively developing the women’s self-defense workshop in April of 2021 while she trained in American Karate. Her desire to protect, encourage and teach others, paired with her tender heart for those who have experienced abuse allows Holli to connect with the teens and ladies she has the opportunity to teach in her self-defense workshops .
After earning her black belt in American Karate, Holli went on to teach her very first Fortitude self-defense workshop for ladies in October of 2022. These workshops are formulated with techniques taken from karate, jiu-jitsu, krav maga, wrestling and more, to practically and effectively teach women to defend themselves. But more than that, Holli teaches her students not just to fight, but to think and develop solid street smarts that help prevent an attack. She’s also added on Family Fortitude, specifically designed for boys and girls ages 7-13. These are taught sporadically throughout the year. More recently, Holli has stepped back a bit from regular self-defense teaching to focus in on her home and be with her family. However, if you have a group function you’d like Fortitude Defense at, Holli is more than happy to come speak and teach your group how to prevent an attack from happening, and give you practical skills to help everyone, young and old alike!
Holli has continued her own training and development by actively pursuing training in alternative or more advanced methods of defense. She is ranked blue belt in jiu-jitsu under Caleb Holland of Iron Wolf Academy, where she also achieved the rank of ChoDan (first degree black belt) in Tang Soo Do. She has taken multiple other courses as well to further her own education. Some of these include Fieldcraft Survival’s Personal Security Course with former lead instructors, Kevin Owens and Kirsten Morgen (now lead instructors for Overmatch Consulting), Knife Control Concepts with instructor Mike Cheney and multiple other seminars and courses from Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, including the Georgia Conference on Child Abuse Prevention. She’s currently bettering her weapons fighting skills with Jonah from Primitive Defense and is now certified in blade training.
Hey guys!
I hope you’ve had a chance to look around and really see my heart in all of this. I have a passion for equipping others to defend themselves and I’d love to share it with you! Word continues to spread and God has blessed me with the opportunity to instruct over two-hundred ladies and children so far, with hopefully many more in the future. Whether you are brand-new to all of this and may be nervous about going out on your own, or you have a trip coming up that you want to be prepared for or you just know how important taking your safety into your own hands is and want to learn more, I’m here for you.
I don’t take it lightly that I’ve had the honor of interviewing multiple abuse victims who have graciously shared their stories with me, police officers from different expertise and experiences and have received training from many martial arts experts to ensure that what I teach is relevant, realistic and practical!
I love to learn from others and see the immense value in continued pursuit of learning all I can in skills, techniques and strategies. The more I can add to what I’ve learned, the more I can teach others like you! I’ve also learned a lot in my personal, Christian life recently and would love to use what I’ve learned to help others and for God’s glory.
I hope you’ll allow me to Embolden, Equip and Empower YOU so you too can kick some tail and have the courage and ability to protect yourself and your loved ones!
Love, Holli
