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Founders’ Honors – Nadia Telsey
 It was our great pleasure and privilege to announce that NWMAF honored Nadia Telsey at the 2010 SDIC and Special Training with Founders’ Honors in recognition of her long, distinguished career as martial artist, teacher, and pioneer for the empowerment of women in the field of self-defense and martial training.
Nadia presented workshops on teaching the developmentally disabled, and on responding to hate based organizations while at ST.
Nadia started studying goju-ryu karate in 1970, and in 1974 she and Annie Ellman founded Brooklyn Women’s Martial Arts, a school which eventually became the Center for Anti-Violence Education. In addition to martial arts classes, Nadia also taught workshops on self-defense, laying the foundation for her decades of work in the area of empowerment and freedom from violence for women.
Many women took advantage of the opportunity to reconnect with Nadia, or meet her for the first time.
The NWMAF Award of Excellence
The Coleen Gragen Award of Inspiration
- Shihan Linda “Ramzy” Ranson
 The 2010 NWMAF Awards Committee was pleased to announce Linda “Ramzy” Ranson as the recipient of both the Coleen Gragen Award of Inspiration and the NWMAF Award of Excellence. It is the first time in NWMAF history that a single woman received two such prestigious honors in the same year.
The number of women whose lives have been touched and changed by Linda’s teaching, and example is a testament to her dedication to encouraging women and girls to participate in the martial arts. Many women cite her as instrumental and inspirational in their martial arts careers.
Shihan Ramzy owns and operates Fuji Ryu Jujitsu dojo in the Bronx and the Women’s Empowerment Self Defense Academy, in which she focuses specifically on teaching self-defense skills to children, teenage girls, and women of all ages and physical abilities. She has been a leader for women in the martial arts through her active training and teaching and an inspiration for all women, especially women of color. An active member of NWMAF, Linda hosted ST’93, served on the NWMAF Board, and taught at numerous STs.
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