Meet Maggie
Maggie Messina is an award-winning entrepreneur, world champion martial artist, US gold medalist, and two-time author. She has spent her life breaking barriers, not just for herself but for those who come after her.
Bold yet Compassionate
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Relentless yet Gentle
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Commanding yet Approachable
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Courageous yet Cautious
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Bold yet Compassionate • Relentless yet Gentle • Commanding yet Approachable • Courageous yet Cautious •
A Woman of Duality
Maggie grew up poor and in the foster care systems, but with blond hair and blue eyes, many assumed otherwise.
She was a caretaker, yet fiercely independent. She’s commanding, yet approachable. She spent her career in a male-dominated field, but refused to play by outdated rules.
Rather than seeing her life as an either/or, she embraced it as a yes/and.
One of eleven siblings, Maggie was constantly underestimated. She refused to become another statistic part of life’s circumstance. When people told her no, she said yes. When boys challenged her, she fought back.
Over time, she developed a grit that set her apart—described by her high school English teacher as “feisty, determined, smart, and quick-witted.”
Breaking Rules
with Purpose
Throughout Maggie’s life and athletic career, she became known as a rule-breaker, perhaps a rebel, a ‘Harley Davidson’ of her own kind.
In the conservative, male-dominated world of martial arts, she had no choice but to build her own path.
And so she did.
Not just for herself, but for other women as well. Maggie rejected outdated systems but did so to create structures that truly (and fully) serve others, rebuilding them into something stronger, fairer, and more inclusive.
She understood that you can’t break the rules effectively unless you understand them deeply.
Martial arts taught her discipline, focus, and respect, but also how to challenge systems that don’t serve everyone.
A Fighter and a Caregiver
Though it may come at a surprise, at her core, Maggie is a caregiver. As a child, she cared for her disabled sister, Mary. As an adult, she worked in nursing at Memorial Sloan Kettering, later earning certifications in early childhood development and education.
This balance between fighter and nurturer defines her approach. Her rebellion is not destruction—it’s construction.
She teaches discipline to those who feel lost, provides a safe space for people to grow, and instills confidence in students navigating life’s challenges.
Empowering Others to Rise
Maggie’s "how" gives others the courage to step into their own power, even if it means doing what feels scary, unconventional, or rebellious. “If she did it, so can I.”
Her life proves that contradictions aren’t weaknesses—they’re strengths. She didn’t just rise above expectations; she redefined them. From hardship to beauty, from structure to rebellion, she’s not one or the other—she’s both—and it’s precisely this paradox that makes her influence so impactful.
She has distilled this philosophy into The Master’s Method™, a framework that helps people master vulnerability, discipline, acceptance, and agency before transcending it.
This method fuels her work at TaeCole Tae Kwon Do, her nonprofit Female Fighters Matter Too (FFM2), and her speaking engagements worldwide.
Her duality serves a profound purpose: to break down barriers not just to protect, but to empower. Her rebellion isn’t reckless—it’s purposeful, driven by love and the desire to see others thrive. She’s not challenging rules for the sake of it, she’s doing it to create something better.
She embodies the truth that you can do both, and that real empowerment comes from knowing when to follow the rules, when to bend them, and when to break them entirely.
Maggie herself broke free from societal, physical, and personal constraints to achieve what others said she couldn’t. By seeing her example, people are reminded that no limitation—be it external or internal—has to define them.
She doesn’t just succeed because she breaks rules or because she’s disciplined—it’s because she’s learned to master both. Her example says: You can be strong and soft. You can follow and lead. You can honor tradition and create your own path. This duality reminds people they don’t have to fit a box—they can be complex and still achieve greatness.
