HarmoniJoie Noel was raised in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN. She started her martial arts training in January 2004 at Concordia College – Moorhead, MN when she took a women’s self-defense class taught by Aikido Sensei Robert Angotti of North Wind Aikikai. After the self-defense class was over she continued to train under Sensei Angotti until she graduated in December 2004. She moved back to Minneapolis to work and joined Aikido of Minnesota until May 2005 when she moved to Lincoln, NE for graduate school. She looked for an Aikido school but could not find one similar enough to her previous training so she decided to try something new and joined Sei Shin Kan Okinawan Karate dojo. In June 2006 a lucky turn of events took place and she found Shin Koo Hapkido led by Instructor Joshua Cather. She was very happy to find a place where she could learn practical self-defense skills and never looked back. She currently holds the rank of recommended black belt and will be testing for her 1st Dan soon.

Self-Defense Instruction: Harmoni has assisted her instructor, Josh Cather, with several Women’s Self-Defense Seminars over the past few years and is planning on teaching a 3 Week Women’s Self-Defense Class in April 2010.

Related Training: Harmoni has been a weekly volunteer on the local Voices of Hope (Rape/Spouse Abuse Crisis Center) Crisis Hotline for almost three years. She is also completing her doctorate in Sociology where her research focuses on intimate partner violence.