Martha Thompson is currently the NWMAF Empowerment Self-Defense Certification Coordinator. She was an IMPACT Chicago Lead Instructor 1988-2020, has been a member of NWMAF since 1991, and has been an NWMAF certified self-defense instructor since 2002. She served as the IMPACT Chicago Director and an Admin Team Leader from 1988-2020, serves on the IMPACT Violence Prevention Board of Directors, is a co-founder of the Empowerment Self-Defense Alliance, and coordinates the ESD Research Group.

Martha trained for 30 years with Nancy Lanoue and Sarah Ludden at Thousand Waves and Martial Arts Center and holds a fifth-degree black belt in Seido karate. She retired from Northeastern Illinois in Chicago as Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies. She has written articles on self-defense, such as, “The Power of NO,” “Empowering Self-Defense Training,” and “Empowerment through Feminist Self-Defense: The IMPACT lasts.”