Welcome to On Her Own, a space for women to explore and learn how to navigate the world solo.

Self-defense is the heart of On Her Own, because it’s ultimately about bodily autonomy and independence. But it’s also about emotional and mental safety, inside and outside of the relationships that may surround us.

More than that, On Her Own recognizes that when women lack traditional support structures, they may no longer have – or ever had – help figuring out how to take care of their health, housing, food, finances, and so much more.

On Her Own is here to help women survive and thrive in all of those areas, wherever and whenever she may be on her own.

Who is a woman On Her Own?

• She is the teenage girl just starting college.
• She is the twenty-something young woman moving out on her own for the first time.
• She is the thirty-something new widow, discovering life without her high school sweetheart.
• She is the forty-something divorcee, no kids, just a dog.
• She is the fifty-something eternal bachelorette, loving her independence.
• She is the sixty-something housewife whose husband just left her after 30 years of marriage.
• She is the seventy-something retiree, single and at loose ends with her children having flown the nest and then some.
• And she is the woman enjoying a girls’ night out, going on a solo business trip, staying home while her partner works late….

All women have a piece of life where she is On Her Own. Come discover yours with me.

I am Annette Evans, founder of On Her Own, and also known as the Beauty Behind the Blast. I am a woman in my 40s looking for the best version of myself every day as I juggle my day job as a commercial attorney and my passion work through the world of On Her Own. In many ways, On Her Own is the culmination of my years in the firearms and combatives worlds crossed with my deep nerdery about what it means to be who we are. Call it my dissertation, and this my education:

After discovering guns in 2006 “because every girl should learn how to shoot,” I became obsessed with competitive pistol and multigun shooting starting in 2010 and earned a handful of top finishes at major matches including Ladies Centerfire Pistol Champion at the 2016 East Coast Steel Challenge Championship and Ladies Production Champion at the 2017 USPSA Area 8 Championship. I authored The Dry Fire Primer (affiliate link), appeared as a professional shooter and instructor on NRA TV’s Love at First Shot, Season 5, and was sponsored by (among others) a major firearms manufacturer, while serving as a match director and match official in IDPA and USPSA. During this period, I also apprenticed with Kathy Jackson, the Cornered Cat, as an instructor, and trained under Ben Stoeger, Bruce Gray, Op Spec Training, and more.

In 2018, while co-owner of the now-defunct Race Street Range, my training took a left turn and I began a deep dive into combatives: the practical application of firearms in defensive use and related soft and hard skills.  After starting with Edged Weapon Overview, I have since completed all of the open enrollment coursework available from Craig Douglas, and have trained with the rest of the Shivworks Collective (including assisting Cecil Burch with his Immediate Action Combatives class).

My accomplishments on the range include being a Rangemaster-certified instructor, a certified pepper spray instructor under Chuck Haggard, the Rangemaster Ladies Casino Drill record-holder (13.52 seconds), and holder of two Gabe White Training Light Pins. In addition, I am a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu purple belt under Rob Scheier of Precision Jiu-Jitsu. My time on the range, in the classroom, and on the mats is fully documented here (link coming), and includes – in no particular order and not including those already mentioned – time with Tom Givens, Massad Ayoob, Dave Harrington, Rob and Matt Haught, Caleb Causey, Ashton Ray and Tim Chandler, the staff of Citizens Defense Research, and more.

But most importantly, my cats are named Tuna and Goose.