At the beginning of 2024, Nancy Lipkin Starr and her daughter, along with Cheryl Squadrito and her daughter, took a self defense class with other South Jersey women at the Cherry Hill Racquet Club. But Starr and Squadrito weren’t just participants.
They played a much bigger role. This class was the culmination of a passion project the two started last year. And to their surprise, it was just the beginning.
“We were thinking, who’s gonna come out here on the weekend to get punched,” says Starr. “And then the event was sold out.”
The self defense class was the first event hosted by Starr and Squadrito’s new nonprofit, Strike it Strong. The organization hosts self defense classes for women to help them feel empowered and teach them valuable skills in case the worst happens. Proceeds from the events are donated to at-risk women’s shelters.
Starr had the idea when saw a friend become “a new woman” after picking up karate. As someone who has organized food drives with her family each year, Starr saw an opportunity to have a bigger impact. She asked Squadrito – who served on the same NAWBO SJ board – to join her team.
“Our purpose is to help people take the first step to learn self defense,” says Squadrito. “That’s usually the hardest step. We want to create a supportive environment where people feel safe to do that. We want women to know, ‘we’ve got you.’”
That includes making the classes accessible for women who aren’t able pay the class fee, and for women who could especially benefit from the lessons, like sororities and realtors, Squadrito and Starr add.
For Squadrito and Starr, who each own their own businesses in addition to running the nonprofit, that first class was electric. And watching a roomful of women come together to feel empowered – especially with their own daughters – was motivating.
“There’s something magical that happens when you put a group of women in one room,” Squadrito says. “Women like to come with their people, their tribe. We’d love to see mothers come with their daughters, their aunts, their girlfriends.”
Strike it Strong is hosting its next class, with Cherry Hill Township, on October 9. They are also looking for volunteers to teach classes and are actively collecting donations.
