Barbara White began her martial arts career in 1991, holds a 7th Degree Black Belt in Kenpo karate, and is an active practitioner and teacher. Barbara found her way to her home at Bob White’s Karate Studio (BWKS) 5 years into her training. There, she met her husband, best friend, and partner, Bob. Together, they own and operate Bob White’s Karate Studio in Costa Mesa, California. They have traveled to Europe, South America, and throughout the United States, teaching seminars together and sharing knowledge and experience with friends.
Barbara has had the opportunity to participate in local tournaments. She has competed successfully on every level at the International Karate Championships in Long Beach, California, and the Karate On the Beach in Southern California.
Barbara, her husband Bob, and the BWKS team actively promote a weekend event for Royal Family Kids, a world-wide organization that provides a week-long camp for abused and neglected children. Barbara has been a camp nurse since 2006. She also runs a karate program at this same camp and many children have had the opportunity to experience karate and board breaking for the first time in their lives.
Another passion of Barbara’s is the desire to further the recognition of women in our Kenpo system. In 2014 at the 50th anniversary of the IKC, Barbara was asked by Mr. Steve Cooper to form a Women’s Symposium that consisted of a panel of women who have made differences in their community and in Kenpo. This was a first-of-its-kind recognition for women in Kenpo. The symposium was well-received and gave voice and recognition to women in martial arts. Barbara feels strongly about bringing the voices of women to the forefront.
In 2017 Barbara was inducted into the Kenpo Hall of Fame and continues to nominate other women to receive the recognition for their efforts in Kenpo. She also feels honored to have been featured in Tom Bleecker’s The Journey – Book 3: American Kenpo’s Next Generations and to have been recognized as the Kenpo Woman of the Year in Miami, Florida in 2019.
She expresses her gratitude to God for giving her this wonderful life, her husband, her beautiful family and friends, and for having the opportunity to be involved in the martial arts.