A Call to Action

Mar 3, 2022

Many Xavier students can recall the exact moment when their career aspirations and passions align and their life’s work comes into focus.

For Xavier alumna Lauren Bailey ‘00, the moment happened twice.

As early as her first year at Xavier, Bailey knew she was called to work in publishing. She spent four years writing for the Xavier Newswire, eventually rising to the position of Editor in Chief. Upon graduating from Xavier in 2000 with her bachelor’s degree in English, Bailey took her first job as a copyeditor for a tech company in Louisville. What followed was a successful career in the book publishing industry that spanned over the next 20 years.

Then, one day, in what Bailey called ‘divine timing,’ a second moment would lead her down a dramatically different career path.

“I was in the gym one morning on the treadmill and I remember seeing the violence, natural disasters and police brutality on the news,” Bailey said. “It was at that moment I realized I could not sit behind a desk any longer.”

Bailey had developed a passion for martial arts in the years following her graduation from Xavier. She earned a black belt in Combat Hapkido and holds rank in Filipino Kali and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Bailey’s calling to make a difference in the world was born from her journey as a martial artist. In the year following her decision, Bailey left her position as Editorial Director of Kirkus Media and co-founded Thrive Empowerment Center – a self-defense, healing and empowerment center focused on helping people prevent and recover from instances of sexual assault and domestic violence.

“I can’t do anything about crises in other parts of the nation or world,” Bailey said. “But I can try to make my community a better place.”

Teaching Women to Thrive

Bailey recalls meeting Lindsey Ross for the first time while the two trained at a dojo. Bailey and Ross were the only two women there at the time, so they became acquainted with one another as sparring partners.

Bailey and Ross bonded during a long car ride to a martial arts seminar and found they shared a passion for women’s self-defense. The two became friends and before long, they found themselves traveling together to every self-defense seminar they could find within a five-hour drive of Cincinnati.

“But those seminars were always taught by men,” Bailey said. “The guys were all super well-meaning and we did get some good information, but they also were limited by the fact that they walk around with male privilege in a male body.”

Bailey noticed that many of the male instructors were unable to answer questions common to women’s self-defense such as, ‘What should I do if somebody grabs me by the hair?’ When such questions were presented, Bailey said she and Ross would occasionally offer their perspectives in front of the larger group. Other women attending took notice.

“We would have women coming up to us in the parking lot after the seminars asking us when we planned on teaching,” Bailey said.

Fueled by her calling to make an impact on her community, Bailey said she and Ross co-founded Thrive Empowerment Center in January 2020. Just as the name implies, Thrive Empowerment Center was created with the goal of empowering individuals by teaching techniques and strategies to interrupt, respond to and heal from interpersonal violence.

Bailey and Ross teach Empowerment Self Defense (ESD) curriculum at Thrive. Unlike other self-defense programs that primarily focus on teaching physical skills, ESD takes a holistic approach to violence prevention through the inclusion of mental, verbal and physical techniques. This includes training on how to set boundaries, courses on how to appreciate your body and therapeutic writing sessions.

“There’s no way you can live your authentic self and take up the space you have a right to take up in the world if you don’t believe you should be doing that to begin with,” Bailey said. “You’re never going to throw that palm heel if you don’t believe you’re worth fighting for.”

A Musketeer Through and Through

The self-defense concepts Bailey teaches at Thrive Empowerment Center are strikingly similar to the core Jesuit values taught and practiced at Xavier. Cura Personalis, for example, invites each person to recognize the uniqueness of others by going beyond immediate needs in order to provide a more comprehensive level of care.

Additionally, Xavier calls on individuals to embrace Service Rooted in Justice and Love – to invest in the well-being of neighbors, particularly those who suffer injustice.

Bailey, who jokingly says Xavier ‘stayed under her skin’ throughout her two decades in publishing, said her time and experiences on campus set her up for success in her career – both as an editor and an entrepreneur/self-defense practitioner.

“That 20 years in publishing was great,” she said. “I learned so much and I accomplished everything that I wanted to accomplish. But I had been given a gift in these martial arts skills and these communication skills and understanding trauma psychology. With that gift came the responsibility that I needed to bring it home and do something here.”

From 2020 to 2021, Thrive Empowerment Center grew tremendously. Bailey and Ross began their venture traveling to and from appointments with a hockey bag full of self-defense equipment. Today, Thrive Empowerment Center holds roughly three workshops each week out of their downtown Covington location.

Thrive Empowerment Center offers confidential, age-appropriate workshops tailored to women and children ages 5 and older. Workshops are commonly taught in groups, though individual appointments can be made as needed.

For Bailey, that defining moment on the treadmill opened up a path for her to use her talents to impact hundreds of women in need of support.

“If we can provide a safe space and some support for people who would otherwise completely lose hope,” she said. “Then I feel like we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”