Meet Elizabeth Smart at the Be Fearless Conference This Weekend

Meet Elizabeth Smart at the Be Fearless Conference This Weekend

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, APRIL 21, 2015 -Looking for a chance to meet Elizabeth Smart? You may get your chance this weekend at the Be Fearless conference coming to the SLCC Miller Campus this Saturday.

Smart will be there to speak about being a survivor of sexual assault and being held against her will after her abductors took her from her Salt Lake City home in 2012 at the age of 14. She was repeatedly raped and abused for 9 months before being rescued by police in 2013.

Smart has since become an advocate for change related to child abduction, recovery programs and National legislation and founded the “Elizabeth Smart Foundation” where she promotes The National AMBER Alert, The Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act and other safety legislation to help prevent abductions. Her story and her continued road to recovery continues to motivate parents of missing children, law enforcement and leaders worldwide to focus on children’s safety.

Smart’s New York Times best-selling book, “My Story,” will be available at the conference for those wishing to meet her during the book-signing event.

The conference was organized by Fearless Self Defense, not only as a fundraiser for the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault (UCASA) and The General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Utah (GFWC), but to offer opportunities for others to talk with survivors, learn about risk prevention and awareness as well as how the community can get involved.

While Utah is known for lower than average violent crimes, Utah’s sexual assault numbers are twice as high as the national average. According to the Rape Recovery Center, the national average of sexual assault victims is one in five women but in Utah, one in three women have experienced some form of sexual assault.

There will be two other motivational speakers at the conference, Martin Liccardo a University of Utah Graduate with a degree in Women’s Gender Studies who focuses on primary prevention, by-stander intervention, males’ responsibility, and victim blaming, and Shayne Chance, a women’s self-defense speaker, trainer and coach who talks about risk reduction and setting boundaries

Earlier Saturday, Fearless Self Defense is also sponsoring the 5K run/ walk at Memory Grove Park, 375 N. 120 East, Salt Lake City. “We hope the run encourages others who want to help raise awareness and be an advocate for change will show their support and stand up for combating sexual violence here in Utah,'” said Megan Hoffman, co-founder of Fearless Self Defense. The run will also have a live band, a photo booth and vendors.

The event sponsors Megan Hoffman and Lauren Mickelson, both graduates of the U. started Fearless Self Defense in an effort to bring education and awareness of assault and abuse full circle. “We aim to empower women and men so that everyone feels free to live, love and dream in both private and public spaces without fear,” says a quote on their website.

Mickelson, who shared her own personal experience with a stranger placing a tracking device on her car and harassing her at work said that they want to bring awareness to the community. “I realized after that ordeal I had no way to protect myself, and I lived in fear. I don’t want others to have to experience the same thing and if they have, they need to know where to turn,” said Mickelson.

For more information on the times of the 5K and the Be Fearless Conference please see the Fearless Self Defense event facebook pages:

Facebook Event Page
5K info page
Conference info page

You May Also Like