ATLANTA —

Meet Raquel Riley Thomas

Raquel Riley Thomas is the founder of Defend Riley, an initiative focused on self-defense for women and children. For Thomas, who served as a Captain in the U.S Army, this initiative is personal.

“Defend Riley started out, trauma, in my home,” she said. “Unfortunately, my mother in 2013 took her life by suicide. And I later found out that she had been assaulted, sexually assaulted.”

That loss led Thomas to taekwondo — and ultimately, to what she says is a calling.

“I started to try to understand why I was in this class and why I felt God was putting me in this place,” she said. “And it came to me one day, this is how you put respect on your mother's name. This is how you continue her legacy.”

Defend Riley, named after her mother, is now Thomas’ pla

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