Music Academy of Karate and Empowerment blends discipline, fitness and opportunity in Mansfield

MANSFIELD — A single roundhouse kick changed the course of Reneta Music’s life.

In 1991, she joined her brother’s karate class after he told her, “girls can’t do karate.”

More than three decades later, Music leads the Music Academy of Karate and Empowerment, a non-profit organization at 44 W. 4th St. that is one of only four female-founded karate academies in Ohio — and the only nonprofit karate and fitness center in Mansfield.

The academy’s mission goes beyond martial arts techniques, emphasizing perseverance, integrity, courtesy, courage, and self-control.

Its classes serve students ages 4 to 99, with a focus on providing a positive, disciplined environment for children, including those who are neurodivergent.

Music built her foundation at the YMCA, where she taught karate for more than a decade after taking over the program in 2011.

In 2023, she left to launch her own academy, driven by a vision to bring access to Mansfield’s north end.

“I wanted to open a nonprofit karate school in the north end of Mansfield, where kids don’t necessarily have access to karate,” she said. “Karate is so much more than kicking and punching, and I wanted them to have the same opportunity other kids have.”

The academy also houses an old-school style fitness center with steppers, bikes, a rower, and free weights.

Music, a certified personal trainer and retired StrongFirst Team Leader, leads kettlebell and strength training. Other instructors teach yoga and Pilates/Barre fusion, and the academy hosts empowerment seminars on awareness and self-defense.

The academy is currently offering free introductory lessons in karate, strength training or empowerment, and life protection. To learn more visit https://www.musickarate.org/ or call 419-405-5711.