Dr.Ruthless: About Dr. Ruthless®

Fresh, Fierce & Shamelessly Funny

Every once in a while, someone comes along and not only leaves an indelible impression on you, but changes the way you perceive yourself and your place in the world. Melissa Soalt is one such person... Dr. Ruthless has a lot to offer the world." — Black Belt Magazine's Woman of the Year Award.

"Dr. Ruthless KICKS ASS!" — BUST Magazine

"Melissa Soalt is probably the most powerful female self defence instructor in the world today." --- Geoff Thompson, legendary UK Self Defense Pioneer, Screenwriter & Author

Melissa Soalt AKA Dr. Ruthless is an award winning self defense expert, former psychotherapist and a Black Belt Hall of Fame recipient.

In 2008 Melissa also received the coveted Industry Award for Best Women's Self Defense. A frontrunner in full-force (padded-attacker) training methods, since 1986 Melissa has shown thousands of women how to protect themselves from danger and summon their primal instincts to fight back and survive. She is widely respected for her no-nonsense methods, emotional depth, and unabashed call for all women to become physically literate in aggressive self-protection. Her Fierce and Female DVD has been hailed by law enforcement, street fighters and feminists alike - a tall order! Her methods draw from full-force self defense, close-quarters combat, martial arts, street tactics, and her keen insights into the psycho-biology of fear.

Melissa also has first-hand experience with attack. While living in Israel, then traveling across Asia on her maiden voyage into the world (mid-1970's), Melissa successfully fought off physical and sexual (would-be rape) attacks, but also endured violent groping and indignities-- and was rudley awakened to the mistreatment and suffering of women worldwide. Here amidst the old world's humbling antiquities, she learned she was a scrappy bitch and birthed her undying reverence for female disobedience. This drove her to the need for women's self defense. A decade later in Boulder, Colorado, after years of martial arts training, a terrifying home-alone encounter with a knife-wielding rapist led her to more down-and-dirty methods that "would become me." (She foiled that attempt.)

The founder and former owner of Model Mugging of Boston, in 1986, Melissa brought Model Mugging's scenario-based, training method to the East Coast. Under her dynamic leadership, aided by her background in psychotherapy and trauma recovery, it quickly  emerged as one of the most successful full-force self defense schools nationwide-with specialized training for women, teens and men. Melissa's on-site seminars have been conducted at such notable institutions as Harvard, Polaroid, Hewlett Packard, Reebok, UPS, Procter and Gamble and the Miami Herald. She has also taught in India, Germany and Switzerland.

Melissa's media credits have included: THE VIEW, NBC Nightly News, Access Hollywood, NPR, Asia News International, Bangalore Headline News, Seattle's Northwest Afternoon and numerous television newscasts, radio and online programs. She has been cited or featured in national and international pulbications, including SELF, MARIE CLAIRE (South Africa) Woman's Day, The Wall Street Journal, CosmoGirl, BLACK BELT, BUST, Germany's Stern Magazine, The HINDU, Newsweek Japan and The Prague Post.

On a topic dear to her heart-- female journalists and the need for sexual assault preparedness training-- Melissa has contributed her expertise with The Committee to Protect Journalists, has been cited in The American Journalism Review and The Ryerson Review of Journalism and was interviewed for a Q & A on POLITICS DAILY. 

An original voice in women's self defense, Melissa has published feature articles, penned a personal safety newspaper column, blogged for The Huffington Post and was a columnist for Self Defense For Women Magazine. Her essay, Fierce Love: The Heart of a Female Warrior, was prominently featured in a Warrior's anthology. Deeply committed to passing her torch, Melissa is back at work on her first book—a paradigm-shifting work, infused with artful narrative, PRACTICAL lessons, and calling for women to embrace their fearsome fighting potential.

You can find the good doc posting like A MAD WOMAN at her no-holds-barred Face Book Page, dishing it out on how to give really good blows and sharing lifesaving wisdom. She WILL return to her blog in mid-Feb 2012. 

An impassioned, articulate presenter, loaded with practical tips and colorful quips, she welcomes MEDIA, Magazine, Radio & PUBLISHING inquires. If you're looking for a FRESH voice, please contact me. 

Gather The Women: A Personal & Urgent Note from Melissa!

These are perilous times for women and girls all over the world. Violence and sexual attack against women is pandemic. That this rages unchecked in the 21st century is an outrage and tragedy. I'm now aiming to bring my Teaching to regions of the world where the skills of self defense and the willlful warrior spirit are urgently needed. To effect lasting changes in safety and status, women and girls MUST re-engage this power, re-seed this consciousness, and harvest its competencies.

Not only is this vital to women’s self-protection—and to preserving dignity and reducing the ills of FEAR--but to restoring balance and justice to the world, to creating far more equitable societies. (To learn more about my views, go to FAQ).

To bring me to your locale, or to explore joining forces with efforts in your area, please contact me via email.

Michael Haynack is Dr. Ruthless' fabulous co-trainer for hands-on and full-force seminars.

A lifelong student of martial and combative arts, he holds black belts in Aikido and Karate and is an avid practitioner of Philippine blade, stick and empty-hand systems. He is also a certified Police Combat Shooting instructor and a certified instructor in Paul Vunak's "Progressive Fighting Systems." A personal protection specialist (e.g., bodyguard), former bouncer and police trainer, Michael has intervened in innumerable "battles," and has defended himself and others against single, multiple and armed attackers—individuals much larger than himself. At a whopping five feet, five inches tall, Michael brings a wealth of real world experience to his teaching.

Michael has been donning the 'Bulletman" armor since 1991 and is co-founder and former chief instructor of the Rocky Mountain Combat Applications Training. He has trained Special Forces in the applications of adrenaline-state training methods and has appeared in sundry self defense and knife fighting videos. An accomplished scout, tracker and aficionado of wilderness survival, he is well-versed in the scholarly study and practice of warrior arts, and is a passionate champion of women's self defense.