Final Quarter feature: Stacey Councilman, United States Martial Arts Hall of Famer

COLFAX, Calif. (KTXL) – Stacey Councilman is not your typical 47-year-old woman.

“After I watched a couple of self-defense seminars that other people put on, I said, ‘this is what I want to do.’ This is how I want to empower women,” said Councilman.

That was 14 years ago, when she was living in Redding. And her story really begins with her daughter.

“My daughter was nine years old and she was going through social issues, and so I wanted to put her in martial arts,” said Councilman. “I had always had an interest in doing it myself, so I just joined her on the mats and from there it’s history haha.”

Stacey Councilman was a fast learner. She is now a second degree black belt in the art of Kung Fu San Soo, a four-stripe brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and she is an advanced Krav Maga Instructor.

“I kind of am a jack of all trades, even though I have my favorites,” she smiles. “My whole life, I told myself if I am very passionate about something, I told myself I’m gonna be the best at this.”

On Saturday (July 20th), she will be inducted into the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I was nominated by a couple of people, a black belt in Georgia and a black belt in Florida,” said Councilman. “When I first started, there wasn’t a lot of women. And now, there are a lot of women coming into martial arts knowing that it can empower them and can also bring them out of trauma, or different past experiences that were traumatic to them in their life.

“And, so, what we did was we created a safe space for women to have a community.”

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