From Berlin to San Francisco: You’re Why We Came
Officially introducing ourselves to our new flagship home!
Hello San Francisco!
We’re officially here, and we can’t wait to meet you!
Pretty Deadly officially launched in Berlin in 2016. Over the following 8 years, we redefined what self defense could look and feel like. Berlin is an international city, and we trained women from everywhere in the world: Argentina, Brazil, Syria, India, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, Canada and the US, and just about every country in between (even Transylvania! when you take a Pretty Deadly course, you’ll learn why that’s significant :).
From Berlin, we expanded across Europe, the UK, and all the way to Southeast Asia and Uganda… because women saw themselves in our approach: real, smart, body-aware, and unapologetically confident.
We’ve trained women from all walks of life: artists, writers, dancers, musicians, coders, scientists, engineers, gamers, ravers, spiritual seekers, moms, world travelers, politicians, psychologists… the list goes on an on.
(And when I say women, I mean everyone who self-identifies as a woman. We don’t tell you who you are: we just help you live who you are.)
Now, we’ve chosen San Francisco to build our first flagship, because this city moves like we do:
1. We both make space for people who don’t fit the mold.
Pretty Deadly was created for women and nonbinary people who never saw themselves in traditional self defense, martial arts or gym culture.
San Francisco has long been a city where people come to live outside the usual societal and/or gender roles and still find belonging.
2. We’re both innately defiant.
Pretty Deadly doesn’t yell, posture, or make fear a selling point.
San Francisco doesn’t scream about its strength either; it just keeps moving forward, even when people try to write it off. It always has.
3. We both know how to shift energy without making a scene.
Whether it's creating a new family, new career, or even a new definition of home, or organizing an entire life outside of the expected, both Pretty Deadly and San Francisco understand power that’s subtle, strategic, and smart.
4. We’re both built on intuition, not instruction.
Pretty Deadly teaches women to trust what our bodies already know.
And San Francisco? It’s never followed the rules, not really. It runs on gut, edge, and Tripmaster Monkey magic that doesn’t translate in a Zoho spreadsheet, and never will.
5. We can both hold the past and future at the same time.
Pretty Deadly carries a lineage of transformation, for participants, trainers, and even communities… just in the way we show up.
San Francisco, for all its change, still remembers its roots: protest, reinvention, refusal. There’s history under the sidewalk.
We’re building a flagship home in San Francisco
True self defense is a part of holistic fitness; it’s about functionality and connection, and about growing our connection with and awareness of our bodies. Rather than trying to fit our bodies into an ideal image (our own, or someone else’s), it’s time we connect with our body and listen to it so that we can understand its healthy limits and play within those for growth and longevity.
We’re building a space to partner with our bodies, care for our bodies, and learn from our bodies and each other, so we can grow our mind-body connections and learn how to support it better. Challenging ourselves in a way that is more intelligent and sustainable, where we are training with our bodies and not against it.
And we’re building a space to learn skills beyond self defense: a community hub where we can exchange knowledge, share experience, come together to build each other up, and train for the life no one can take from you.
When we started Pretty Deadly in Berlin, we knew we were onto something different. Something that makes women feel like themselves again: strong, free, and safe. Now we’re here, San Francisco. Because you? You’re ready.
And so are we. Hello, San Francisco!
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