Gabrielle Rubin was born and raised in New York and founded Female Awareness, a company that teaches self-defense classes to all types of New Yorkers. She talks to GetHealthyHarlem.org about why it's important to take a self-defense class.

Q: Why do people take self-defense classes?

A: It's usually for one of three reasons:

1. Taking a self-defense class is something they've always wanted to do, so they do it to check it off their list.
2. They hear about someone similar to themselves being attacked. Usually it's one degree of separation such as a friend or someone in their neighborhood who got attacked, or if they're a jogger, for example, they hear about another jogger being attacked.
3. The worst scenario is that something happened to that person and now they want to take a class to protect themselves in the future.

Q: Why do you think it's important for people who live in New York City to take a self-defense class?

A: The reason I call my class Female Awareness is because it's so important to be aware of your surroundings. I'm not just talking about looking out for the bad guys. You live in a city with so many things going on-scaffolding around buildings that create dark narrow passages, bike messengers zooming through lights, and so on. If you step off the curb without looking you can easily be hit by a bike messenger or a car going by. So, it's really important to be aware of what's going on around you. You see so many people just listening to their iPods^TM, texting while walking down the street, or reading on the train and never once looking up. My class really helps people understand the importance of knowing what's going on around you.

Q: Even though your class is called Female Awareness, do you also teach men?

A: I teach EVERYONE-kids, seniors, men, women, gay, straight, transgender-everyone deserves to be safe and protected!  I focus on women because the threats against them are very different than the threats against men.

Interested in taking a self-defense class? The Female Awareness cost is $65 and if you have six or more people the class can come to you! Check out the Female Awareness website or contact Gabrielle at (646)-717-0017 or Gabrielle@femaleawareness.com .

Read more from Gabrielle Rubin by clicking the links below:

• Female Awareness and self-defense classes
• What to do if someone is following you
• Self-defense lessons every woman should know

To listen to our interview with Gabrielle Rubin, click here for our podcast page.

Harlem Word is a series of interviews with Harlem health experts, written by HHPC and reviewed by our Health Advisory Board