Photo courtesy of IMPACT Personal Safety’s Instagram, where her legacy continues to inspire.
COLUMBUS, OH – It is with heavy hearts and deep respect that we join the empowerment self-defense community in mourning the passing of Lisa Gaeta, founder of IMPACT Personal Safety in Los Angeles, one of our sister chapters in the IMPACT family.
Lisa Gaeta didn’t just teach self-defense. She redefined it. She understood that safety isn’t just about punches and blocks — it’s about boundaries, voice, power, and healing. Over the course of four decades, Lisa helped shape a global movement that has empowered thousands of women, children, queer folks, and others to walk through the world with more confidence and less fear.
Her life was a masterclass in what it means to resist violence and teach liberation.
A Pioneer of Empowerment Self-Defense
Lisa’s story began in 1984, when she took her first Model Mugging class — a life-changing experience that awakened her sense of agency. “You hit like a man,” the instructor told her. That moment shattered decades of conditioning. Lisa walked out of that class knowing she had the right and ability to defend herself — and the responsibility to share that knowledge with others.
Just one year later, she founded IMPACT Personal Safety in Los Angeles. It would become the longest-running padded-instructor self-defense program in Southern California — and the blueprint for countless programs across the country and around the world.
But Lisa’s vision went far beyond physical techniques. She pioneered a curriculum that taught people how to speak up before violence begins — how to say “no,” how to set boundaries, and how to hold their ground in everyday life. She recognized early on that most violence starts with words, manipulation, or silence, and she wanted people to be ready — not just with fists, but with voice and resolve.
Her verbal boundary-setting curriculum has become a cornerstone of trauma-informed, empowerment-based self-defense programs across the globe.
A Global Force for Safety and Social Change
Lisa’s work spanned continents. She trained instructors in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Her team worked with thousands of women, men, teens, and children each year, and she helped bring realistic, scenario-based training into schools, shelters, workplaces, and communities far beyond LA.
But what truly set Lisa apart was her vision for change at scale.
In her words:
“I would like there to be so many people trained in IMPACT Personal Safety that we see an actual, real-life reduction or elimination of gender-based and interpersonal violence.”
She didn’t want her program to last forever. She wanted it to be so effective — and so widely adopted — that it would become unnecessary.
That kind of radical hope takes courage. And Lisa had it.
Making Safety Accessible for Everyone
Lisa’s commitment to justice showed up not just in what she taught, but who she taught. In 2010, she transitioned IMPACT Personal Safety into a nonprofit so that more people — especially those living in poverty, or surviving homelessness or abuse — could access this “life-saving training.”
Through partnerships with shelters, community organizations, and schools, Lisa’s team offered free or low-cost classes for those most at risk of violence. She refused to let income, age, or ability be a barrier to safety.
Lisa also expanded the curriculum to meet real needs — developing youth programs for tweens and teens, advanced classes for people facing armed threats or intimate partner violence, and inclusive courses for LGBTQ+ and disabled communities.
She believed that everyone deserves safety, and she backed that belief with action.
A Life of IMPACT — In Her Own Words
Even in her final months, Lisa was still teaching. In January 2025, she released her memoir, A Life of IMPACT, a collection of stories, lessons, and wisdom gathered from decades of teaching. In it, she lays out not just the history of her work, but a powerful argument for why personal safety is a public good — and why we must keep teaching it, refining it, and making it more accessible.
Her words — and her mission — will outlive us all.
Carrying Her Legacy Forward
Lisa Gaeta showed us what it means to live in alignment with your values. She taught self-defense as an act of community care, boundary-setting as a form of love, and voice as a tool for survival and transformation.
Her influence is everywhere. If you’ve taken a class with IMPACT Safety in Columbus — if you’ve learned how to say “no,” how to take up space, how to hold your body with confidence — then you’ve been shaped by Lisa’s legacy. We all have.
We are grieving. But we are also grateful. And we are committed to carrying her work forward.
If Lisa taught us anything, it’s this:
Empowerment is contagious. Courage is teachable. Safety is a right.
Let’s keep building that world — one class, one conversation, one voice at a time.
Rest in power, Lisa. And thank you.
Help Continue the Work
At IMPACT Safety, we’re doing our best to continue the mission Lisa helped build:
- Teaching trauma-informed self-defense to youth, women, people with disabilities, and those most at risk
- Expanding access in underfunded communities
- Training the next generation of instructors to carry the torch
We are a tiny nonprofit with a big vision — and we need your help.
👉 Bring a workshop to your school, company, or group
👉 Share this post with someone who needs to know they have the right to be safe