Karen Sheperd Accepting Hall of Fame Award, Long Beach 7/29/23

Karen Sheperd's acceptance speech on July 29, 2023 for the Long Beach International Karate Championships Hall of Fame Award. Actress and Black Belt champion Karen Sheperd was the first woman to be rated #1 in the Karate Illustrated magazine ratings. At a time when there were no ratings in existence for women in Martial Arts Forms competition, trailblazer Karen fought to establish those ratings so that more women would compete. Sheperd held the #1 title for 2 years: 1979 and 1980. In this video, she recounts her accomplishment from her first Long Beach Internationals tournament win as a brown belt, returning to win it as a Black Belt and accepting the Hall of Fame here on July 29, 2023. ‪@realkarensheperd‬ ‪@LandsmithRES‬