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, wrestling and more, to practically and effectively teach women to defend themselves.

Holli continues her own training and development by actively pursuing alternative or more advanced methods of defense. She is currently practicing jiu-jitsu and has taken courses to further her own education, including Fieldcraft Survival’s Personal Security Course with former lead instructors, Kevin Owens and Kirsten Morgen (lead instructors for Overmatch Consulting) as well as Knife Control Concepts with instructor Mike Cheney and other seminars and courses.

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 close to 100 ladies 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. I have now absolutely fallen in love with training in jiu-jitsu, which I began in August of ’23. I’m hungry to continue gleaning knowledge and advice from other martial artists and experts as I seek to continue my own education as well! The more I can add to what I’ve learned, the more I can teach others like you!

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!

Love, Holli