Debbie Leung was first exposed to self-defense in a women’s karate class in 1978. Women in that class soon established FIST (Feminists in Self-Defense Training) in Olympia, WA, to develop self-defense classes that addressed the needs and experiences of women. The classes were aligned with the empowerment self-defense model which was created later, rather than traditional martial arts. Debbie taught classes through FIST for many years and wrote Self-Defense: the Womanly Art of Self-Care, Intuition and Choice in 1991. She stepped away from self-defense to focus on helping people with their health issues as they age through qigong and Taiji (Chinese Healing & Movement Arts), but is returning to it to work with targeted communities, primarily queer and people of color.