Donna Chaiet, Esq.
Donna Chaiet is the founder and President of Prepare, Inc. Prepare offers a nationally recognized violence prevention program. Ms. Chaiet is a certified IMPACT instructor and has trained in the martial arts and other self-defense programs. She has co-created (together with Randy Clancy) an anti-bias/anti-bullying program – Walk the Talk.
Ms. Chaiet is a recognized speaker and conducts seminars for Fortune 500 companies as well as independent schools. The IMPACT program has been featured on NBC Today, CBS This Morning, Designing Women, Roseanne, and Oprah Winfrey. Ms. Chaiet’s television appearances include: CBS, NBC, ABC, WOR, FOX, Lifetime, Fox Cable, and New York 1.
She is the author of an award winning series of eight books for Rosen Publishing Group entitled “The Get Prepare’d Library of Violence Prevention for Young Women.” Her book “THE SAFE ZONE: A Kid’s Guide to Personal Safety” published by Morrow Junior Books won an ALA award. Ms. Chaiet is a 2002 recipient of the NOW New York City Women of Power and Influence Award.
Additionally, Ms. Chaiet was a practicing attorney in New York City, specializing in family law, small business and entrepreneurship. She has volunteered her time with Crime Victims Counseling and did pro bono legal work victims of intimate partner violence.
Karen Chasen, Esq.
Ms. Chasen is Vice President of Prepare, Inc. and the Board Chair for Emerging Strategies.
She is a certified IMPACT Instructor, has completed a year-long certificate program at the International Trauma Studies Center at New York University (now at Columbia University), and is a certified Project Alert instructor and a certified LifeSkills instructor (adolescent substance abuse prevention).
Ms. Chasen has edited two award-winning books on personal safety, is the co-author of the IMPACT Personal Safety Workbook, and has written numerous articles on safety and empowerment. She is a frequent lecturer on personal safety for major corporations as well as prestigious universities. She created Prepare Leadership Seminars for Executives — a curriculum for enhancement of personal and professional leadership and communication skills.
She served on the Board of Directors for the Family Business Foundation where she developed and coordinated programs and conferences designed to build and preserve businesses and family relationships.
Jill Cermele, Ph. D.
Dr. Cermele received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Delaware. She is Professor of Psychology, and an affiliated faculty member of the Women’s and Gender Studies program, at Drew University in Madison, NJ. In this position, she teaches courses in gender violence, critical psychology, abnormal psychology, scientific writing, and stress and coping, and conducts trainings in issues of gender violence for organizations and committees on campus.
Dr. Cermele’s research interests lie in the areas of women’s mental health, and specifically in the area of gender violence and women’s resistance. She has written or co-written several articles on violence against women and women’s resistance, including a recent solo publication on the importance of women’s narratives of successful resistance. In addition, she guest-edited, along with co-editor Dr. Martha McCaughey, a special issue of the journal Violence Against Women that is focused specifically on self-defense, which came out in March 2014. She and Dr. McCaughey also co-author the blog See Jane Fight Back (https://seejanefightback.wordpress.com/), which is a mediated and mediatized effort to mobilize women’s self-defense advocacy. She is a member of the Association for Women in Psychology, the National Women’s Studies Association, and the American Psychological Association in three Divisions: Psychology of Women, Teaching of Psychology, and Trauma Psychology.
Gianine D. Rosenblum, Ph. D.
Dr. Rosenblum is a licensed psychologist in both New York and New Jersey. She received her doctorate in Psychology from Rutgers University. Dr. Rosenblum is a clinical psychologist in private practice and a board member at the Center for Family Resources in Metuchen, NJ. Dr. Rosenblum provides individual, family and group psychotherapy to children, adults and families with a clinical focus on recovery from trauma and child sexual abuse. In her position as Senior Research Psychologist at Emerging Strategies Dr. Rosenblum is working on research to examine the benefits of IMPACT training in clinical populations including trauma survivors.
Dr. Rosenblum has nine published articles to her credit and is a regular presenter at national and international conferences. Formerly on the faculty at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Department of Pediatrics’ Institute for the Study of Child Development in Piscataway, NJ, Dr. Rosenblum has developed and implemented scholarly research and intervention programs related to such topics as childhood aggression, childhood obesity, adolescent emotional and sexual development, as well as the effects of child maltreatment.
Dr. Rosenblum is the past President of the Board of Trustees of the Women’s Health and Counseling Center in Somerville, N.J., and a past Advisor to the American Council on Marital Arts where she contributed to the design and implementation of the first national certification program for martial arts instructors. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and the NJ Psychological Association.