About · Richmond, Virginia
Carmen “The Momba” Gulliksen — safety instructor, professional boxer, health researcher.
Thirty years of martial arts, an active professional fight record, a postgraduate research background in how stress works on the brain, and a DPOR-approved real estate school. All of it points at the same thing: what people can actually do when preparation runs out.
“Safety isn’t the absence of risk. It’s the presence of options.”
— Carmen “The Momba”
Who we are
Momba Promotions LLC is a Virginia SWaM-Certified, Women-Owned and Military-Owned Small Business providing professional readiness, situational awareness and resilience training for individuals, organizations and communities operating under pressure.
We design and deliver evidence-informed, real-world training that goes beyond theory — focusing on decision-making under stress, personal safety, adaptive resilience and practical skill development. The work bridges physical readiness, mental resilience and situational awareness in environments where clarity and preparation matter.
Momba Promotions partners with public agencies, nonprofits, educational institutions, professional groups and private organizations — including SYWO Security Academy, Manifesting Wellness and the Department of Veterans Affairs — that are looking for grounded, trauma-aware approaches to safety, readiness and performance.
Current offerings include customized workshops, educational programming, and applied training in safety and situational awareness for client-facing and high-responsibility professions. Momba Promotions is also a DPOR-approved Virginia real estate school, delivering the Realtor Safety & Situational Awareness Continuing Education course (course #0214031425, 2 elective hours) — the Commonwealth's only live, hands-on Realtor safety CE.
The business is based in Richmond and works throughout Virginia: the metro counties of Chesterfield and Henrico, and out to Midlothian, Glen Allen, Short Pump, Mechanicsville, Williamsburg, Petersburg, Charlottesville and Northern Virginia, with expansion underway.
Carmen Gulliksen (The Momba)
Carmen “The Momba” is a professional boxer, health researcher, martial arts master and safety educator whose life is a blueprint for resilience and reinvention. With 30+ years of martial arts training and multiple black belts across disciplines, she has spent her life breaking barriers and building others up.
At 47 she made the extraordinary leap into professional boxing — proving strength has no expiration date. Now 6–2 in the ring, her fighting spirit is backed by a lifetime of leadership, including recognition as Shihan and instructor certifications spanning karate, hapkido, tae kwon do and law enforcement training. She is a 2025 RVA Female Athlete of the Year runner-up, a Division I collegiate athlete, and a mentor to women and girls learning to fight — physically and mentally — for their rightful place in the world.
Outside the ropes, Carmen holds an MBA, an MSIS and a postgraduate diploma in health research (with merit), with academic work focused on psychiatric disabilities including PTSD and ADHD. She is a published author, an active health researcher and — as founder of Momba Promotions LLC — a DPOR-approved real estate school owner and CE instructor. She channels that expertise into evidence-informed programming that builds professional readiness, situational awareness and resilience for real estate professionals, women, first responders and organizations operating under pressure. Her work has been published in Real Estate Agent Magazine and featured across industry podcasts.
A German-born immigrant, Carmen spent 17 years navigating the U.S. citizenship process while balancing a full-time IT career, parenting, homeschooling and rebuilding after personal loss. A homeschooling mother of three and wife to a disabled Army veteran, she leads a Virginia SWaM-certified, women-owned, military-owned business — and continues to prove that fighting for your future, at any age or circumstance, is a cause worth dedicating your life to.
“Safety isn’t the absence of risk. It’s the presence of options.”
— Carmen “The Momba”
- Professional boxing record 6–2
- 30+ years teaching martial arts and self-defense
- Shihan recognition; multiple black belts
- Karate, hapkido, tae kwon do, law enforcement training
- 2025 RVA Female Athlete of the Year runner-up
- Division I collegiate athlete
- MBA, MSIS, PGDip Health Research (with merit)
- Research focus: PTSD and ADHD
- DPOR-approved school owner and CE instructor
- Published in Real Estate Agent Magazine
Writing and thought leadership.
Two published perspectives on the relationship between anxiety and performance degradation — and what unpreparedness quietly costs in professional environments.
The Anxiety Tax™: How Agent Safety Is Quietly Hitting Your Closings
Carmen reframes agent safety as a brokerage performance issue rather than a footnote in a safety memo. Drawing on peer-reviewed neuroscience (McEwen, Arnsten, Lupien, van der Kolk), she explains what happens in the brain when a showing feels “off”: the threat response floods the body with stress hormones and takes the decision-making prefrontal cortex offline — precisely when an agent needs it to read a client and close. The cumulative cost shows up as missed cues, thinner margins, higher turnover and greater liability. Her solution is the structured Predict, Prevail, Persist readiness framework.
Read it in Real Estate Agent Magazine → · Also on ActiveRain →
Personal Safety and Self-Defense in Volatile Post-Election Times
A no-nonsense playbook of practical, family-focused advice you can implement today, covering building awareness as a first line of defense, creating a family safety plan, learning self-defense techniques, and building mental resilience.
Podcasts & interviews.
Long-form conversations on readiness, performance under pressure, and the road to turning professional at 47.
Investor Fuel · Real Estate Pros Show
Why Realtors Need Self-Defense & Situational Awareness Training
With host Dylan Silver. How stress and unpreparedness quietly erode an agent’s confidence, decision-making and productivity — and what training reverses.
Listen →
ASKITA · Episode 177
More Than A Pro Boxer
From collegiate athlete to professional boxer and resilience educator: the physical and psychological dimensions of martial arts, and building confidence for women.
Watch →
Our Family Invests · Episode 013
Gary + Carmen Gulliksen
Carmen and her husband Gary on building discipline, resilience and purpose through career pivots, parenting, and investing in health and mindset.
Watch →Let's work out what you actually need.
Fifteen minutes, no pressure.