Alia White-Cass is a wife to Kris Cass, and together they are proud parents of 10-year-old twin girls, Bonnie and Ruby. She runs her own business as a hairstylist, is PTA President at her children’s school, and is a 2nd degree black belt in Kenpo.
Her start in the Kenpo world was not by choice but more of chance — chance that she has grown to love and appreciate. She was born to Bob White and his then-wife, her mother, Barbara Lee White. Both already had a reputation that she felt she had to live up to at a very early age. It caused her to push back in her involvement in karate, a push back she is now experiencing with her own kids. When Alia reached her teens, she backed off and took a hiatus. She then returned to the studio in her 20s. She was one of many who held on to a brown belt for years and finally tested for her black belt in her early 30s.
Alia has a life-time of accomplishments in the industry. She competed in many tournaments for both sparring and kata and fought on stage at the IKC. She participated in the filming of Karate Kid and Karate Kid 3. She was a guest on Romper Room and was in many demonstrations as a child. As an adult, she taught at Bob White’s Karate Studio for years (until she was 7 months pregnant) and eventually started her own studio, Fullerton Kenpo Karate, at the local YMCA. It would be short-lived, as parenting her kids and maintaining her sanity became a priority.
Where is Alia now? She works on techniques with her kids and hits her pads on occasion at home. The balance of self-care and parenting has been a tough one. Her kids are 10 and reaching puberty, and they don’t know it yet, but they will not have a choice to learn self-defense. Alia is ready to fight that battle, as she knows the importance of it. The generational struggle continues.