About Author
Meet Sensei Beverly Bradley!
A personal trainer, martial artist, and humanitarian with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and advanced training in Sanuces Ryu. In 2000, she founded Kamili Afya (“complete health”), a women’s fitness organization serving her Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn community with a focus on nutrition, fitness, and total well-being.
In 2004, the abduction of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia deeply impacted her. The widely broadcast surveillance footage—still a relatively new phenomenon at the time—showed the young girl being led away with a simple yet controlling grip. The tragedy, which ended in Carlie’s sexual assault and murder, profoundly disturbed Sensei Bradley. She felt if the girl knew some self-defense like raising her voice or a quick way to get out of the grip, it may have saved her life. This tragedy became a turning point.
She volunteered teaching self-defense in schools across New York City’s five boroughs, to educate young girls and boys, and was nominated for a Liberty Medal Award in leadership by the New York Post. They also dubbed her “The Crusader for Self-Defense”! Her work has also extended through her teaching self-defense internationally through Imani House Inc. in Liberia, West Africa.
Sensei has been featured in Black Elegance and Essence magazines, sharing expert fitness and self-defense tips, and has written self-defense articles for Heart & Soul magazine. As her vision grew, she expanded her organization—renaming it Underground Physique—with a focused mission to empower women and children through fitness, health education, and comprehensive self-defense training.
Sensei Beverly Bradley earned a B.A. in Health and Nutrition Sciences with a minor in African American Studies from Brooklyn College. She also holds an M.S. in Health Communication for Social Change from CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy which strengthened her expertise in community-based health education.
Now fully equipped with experience, education, and purpose, her mission is to spread the knowledge of fitness, good health, self-defense, and African American history globally. She will achieve this through her groundbreaking comic book, KILINDA SuperShero!
In 2004, the abduction of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia deeply impacted her. The widely broadcast surveillance footage—still a relatively new phenomenon at the time—showed the young girl being led away with a simple yet controlling grip. The tragedy, which ended in Carlie’s sexual assault and murder, profoundly disturbed Sensei Bradley. She felt if the girl knew some self-defense like raising her voice or a quick way to get out of the grip, it may have saved her life. This tragedy became a turning point.
She volunteered teaching self-defense in schools across New York City’s five boroughs, to educate young girls and boys, and was nominated for a Liberty Medal Award in leadership by the New York Post. They also dubbed her “The Crusader for Self-Defense”! Her work has also extended through her teaching self-defense internationally through Imani House Inc. in Liberia, West Africa.
Sensei has been featured in Black Elegance and Essence magazines, sharing expert fitness and self-defense tips, and has written self-defense articles for Heart & Soul magazine. As her vision grew, she expanded her organization—renaming it Underground Physique—with a focused mission to empower women and children through fitness, health education, and comprehensive self-defense training.
Sensei Beverly Bradley earned a B.A. in Health and Nutrition Sciences with a minor in African American Studies from Brooklyn College. She also holds an M.S. in Health Communication for Social Change from CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy which strengthened her expertise in community-based health education.
Now fully equipped with experience, education, and purpose, her mission is to spread the knowledge of fitness, good health, self-defense, and African American history globally. She will achieve this through her groundbreaking comic book, KILINDA SuperShero!