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 taught 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 the great Asian continent on her maiden voyage into the world (mid-1970's), Melissa successfully fought off physical and sexual attacks, but also endured indignities and was rudely 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 dawning drove her to the need for women's self defense, the necessity to turn female fear into fire.  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, To Tell The Truth, National Public Radio, Asia News International, Bangalore Headline News, and numerous other newscasts and radio shows. She has been cited or featured in over two-dozen publications, national and international, including SELF, Woman's Day, The Wall Street Journal, CosmoGirl, Black Belt, BUST, Germany's Stern Magazine, The HINDU, The TImes of India and Newsweek Japan.

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 (a glossy, now defunct). Her essay, Fierce Love: The Heart of a Female Warrior, was prominently featured in a Warrior's anthology. Deeply committed to passing her torch, and "flower the power," Melissa is back at work on book—a prescriptive and paradigm-shifting work, infused with artful narrative, practical lessons, and calling for women to embrace, not shun, their "deadly dame" potential. You can find the good doc at her spanking new blog, dishing it out on self defense, the female killer instinct, and how to give a really good blow!

An impassioned and articulate presenter, she welcomes all media and publishing inquires.

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

"Half of the world's population should not live in fear of the other half."

These are perilous times for women and girls all over the world. Violence and sexual attack against women is pandemic. That this festers unchecked in the 21st century is an outrage and tragedy. So at 54, with a fire still in my loins, I'm aiming to bring my Teaching to regions of the world where the skills of self defense, and the warrior spirit cooked into my methods, are urgently needed. I firmly believe that to effect lasting changes in safety and status, women and girls MUST re-engage this power, re-seed their warrior consciousness—indigenous to all cultures and faiths—and harvest its competencies.

Not only is this vital to women’s self-protection—and to preserving dignity and mending the ills imposed by fear—but ultimately 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.