B.R.A.V.E. People was founded by the owners of Defending Ourselves Self Defense School, Helen Grieco and Patrick Phair. Grieco and Phair have trained over 10,000 women, girls, men and boys in self defense and their A Brave Course curriculum. Grieco is a self defense instructor, nonprofit director, mental health counselor, media consultant and social activist with years of successful grassroots organizing among women and girls; Phair is an emergency medical technician, F.M. Alexander teacher, bodyworker, self-defense and martial arts expert, and counselor.

B.R.A.V.E. People is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing violence and its impact on society and its citizens. Its founders, Helen Grieco and Patrick Phair, have worked extensively with community groups in the Bay Area to train both staff and clients in A Brave Course and self defense/martial arts. Some of their community clients include Street Survival Project, an organization serving young female streetworkers; The Women’s Needs Center, a healthcare organization serving homeless and low-income women; Peace Action Network, Hospitality House, and S.F. Needle Exchange. Additionally, Grieco has published books on health relationship building for teenagers, and on self-defense and violence prevention for women; as well as produced several videos for the National Organization for Women and for the Centers for Disease Control. Together they bring the history necessary to understand the needs of the population they serve: Grieco was raised in a family plagued with domestic violence, poverty and alcoholism, and Phair is a survivor of assault.