Katie Hurd
Katie first fell in love with martial arts beginning with Tae Kwon Do at age 11. After taking a break from martial arts to play rugby in college, Katie was searching for a simple, practical self defense system designed for real world violence when she fell in love with Krav Maga and soon after began training in Muaythai. She held the MTAA U.S. national Title in Muaythai for her weight class and was a member of the U.S. National Muaythai team competing at IFMA, the Muaythai World Championships in 2009. She is a black belt in Krav Maga, holds “train the trainer” status as a member of the Krav Maga Alliance Training Team, and is a certified KMA Force instructor. Katie is also a certified SPEAR instructor and a member of Tony Blauer’s Mobile Training Team, training both end users and instructors. She specializes in Comprehensive Aggression Response Education for EMT’s, paramedics, firefighters, hospital staff, and mental healthcare providers. She is a VerbalCraft Partner, and is educated in the system's fundamentals of verbal deescalation and crisis intervention. She teaches safety courses to businesses and a host of organizations including the Philadelphia Fire Department, the Behavioral Health division of Catholic Community Services, the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Girl Scouts of the USA, and the California School Employees Association. Katie has been featured in Guns and Ammo Mag's Book of Personal Defense, and podcasts like Know Fear and Born to Be Badass. She is also a mom who loves reading, baking, history documentaries, and drinking from the skulls of her enemies.