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Our IMPACT staff are experts in what we do! However, our passion for keeping people safe and empowered expands beyond self defense! Bring our talented speakers in to speak to your organization about varying topics regarding health, safety, and relationships. Check out our list of speakers below to find one that best fits your need!
email our Program Coordinator at kayla.berry@impact-colorado.org for more information about pricing and to secure a speaker!

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IMPACT SPEAKERS

KRISTA HANLEY

Born and raised in Littleton, Colorado, Krista Hanley is a survivor of the 1999 Columbine High School Shooting. She has been an instructor with Impact Personal Safety of Colorado since 2012, and a lead instructor since  2017. Krista especially loves teaching our adult, young adult, and teen basics courses as well as defense against the armed assailant. Her other career is in art administration, and she has a Masters of Arts in Gallery Management from Western Colorado University. In her spare time, Hanley is a writer, photographer, painter, and book artist.

Hanley’s writing has been published in April 2019 by The Coil, “How to Survive the 20th Anniversary of a Mass Shooting;” in Memoir Magazine for their 2018 Guns & People issue, “Pistol Shooting Basics,” and Columbine-related essay was published in the award-winning Stories Gathered at the Kitchen Table: A Collection of Women’s Memoirs, 2013. She has been recognized by the Denver Women’s Press Club, Memoir Magazine, ACC Writer’s Studio Literary Contest in Colorado, and Lighthouse Writers in Denver.

Hanley would love to speak to your group or organization about surviving the Columbine High School Shooting, how Impact helped her feel safer in the world, about workplace and school safety, and any other topic around safety and self defense, especially with a focus on mass shootings and trauma recovery.

Topics:

Columbine High School shooting
Mass shootings
Corporate safety
School safety
Surviving trauma
Art and trauma
Trauma recovery and the role of self defense
Self defense
Boundary setting

 

KELSEY MINNICK

https://kelseywminnick.wixsite.com/2020 

My name is Kelsey Minnick and I am a Ph.D. and educator specializing in communication and wellness, particularly as it applies to interpersonal and professional settings. Relationships are my passion and my goal in this life is to help individuals/communities become the best versions of themselves through healthy and effective dialogue. I currently live and work in Denver, CO with my husband, Anderson, and two dogs (a 115lb Alaskan Malamute named Kalluk and a Basenji-mix named Sheila). I have a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology, a Master’s degree in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and a Ph.D. in Communication. My professional talents fall along the lines of public speaking, relational communication, feminist theory, and verbal boundary setting. I teach part-time as an Affiliate Faculty member at three different Denver colleges (University for Denver, Regis University, and Red Rocks Community College) within their Communication Studies and Women’s Studies departments. Outside of teaching and writing, I have begun devoting my energy toward private educational work, including one-on-one consultations and monthly training for a range of clients. I am currently working toward becoming a Certified Trauma Support Specialist and obtaining my NLP certification, as well.
TOPICS:

Public Speaking and Stage Presence
Mediated Communication (online and virtual conversations)
Interpersonal Basics
Conflict/Resolution Formats
Spiritual Wellness
Sexuality and Intimacy

 

WENDY KINAL

Wendy Kinal (She/Her/Hers) has worked in a  variety of transformative and somatically-oriented fields. Her journey with Impact began at the Boston chapter. Before working as a healthcare clown, she created her own Master’s Degree, focusing her studies on the act of play and ritual, and she currently works as a movement instructor, personal trainer, and performing artist. Wendy currently holds a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and has also trained some MMA, boxing, capoeira, and xin yi liu he. Her journey as someone living with Crohn’s Disease has informed much of her work. She hopes to meet others where they are at, and to help facilitate spaces where people feel free to be themselves and where they feel safe and excited to connect with the world around them.

Topics:

Empowerment-based/trauma-informed self-defense training VS. martial arts
The Power of Humor and Play

 

DEZ SHALLENBERG

Suited Instructor Dez

Dez graduated from IMPACT Bay Area Women’s Basics in 2004. Because the ability to move through the world with less fear was a life-changing experience for her, she wanted to become more involved with this important work. Once the stars aligned, she became an assistant at the Colorado chapter of IMPACT. “One day I was asked if I knew any men who might be interested in becoming suited instructors,” she said. “Initially, I thought about my husband, but then I thought, ‘Why not me?’  So here I am.”

Serving as a Suited Instructor “Is a huge physical and mental challenge,” said Dez. “It’s also a great privilege to be trusted with this work. I love watching people find their voice and their personal power.”

Topics:

Massage therapist’s self defense
Women of color
Teen girls

SANDRA CARTER

Sandra Carter has been with IMPACT Colorado since 2012. Since that first class in basics she has been an assistant for May classes, volunteered to raise money, and has been an advocate for youth voice. She has had many jobs such as working with youth and Juvenile delinquents as an instructor for Outward bound. Sandra has worked at Urban Peak, a homeless youth program, across many of their programs for more than 7 years. She volunteers for a human trafficking hotline through the Laboratory for Combatting Human Trafficking (LCHT), as well as for many other at-risk youth programs. Currently, she is training to climb mountains in Nepal to help train Nepalese women on how to guide as a means to improve their futures. Additionally, she is working on a Master of Social Work (MSW) at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

When Sandra talks about why she works for IMPACT she says, “In my line of work I see a lot of abuse, fear, and loss. IMPACT is how we fight this. Show everyone that have the right and the ability to say NO, and fight for their lives.”

Topics:

Personal Safety in Youth
Outdoor Defense
Homelessness