A Mini-Documentary About Urban Martial Arts:
Urban Martial Arts is a martial arts studio in the Ditmas Park section of Brooklyn, NY that offers fitness kickboxing classes for adults, a transported karate after-school program, a karate sports summer camp, and karate classes for kids and teens.
The New York Daily News selected the Urban Martial Arts karate sports summer camp as one of the city’s hottest camps, and the L Magazine has named the kickboxing program at Urban Martial Arts as one of NYC’s top 10 workouts.
Urban Martial Arts has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the New York Daily News, Fox Business, Inc.com, Crain’s New York Business, The L Magazine, Direct Marketing News, and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
The school is run by husband-and-wife team Sensei Serge Sognonvi and Carmen Sognonvi.
Take a Tour of Our Facilities:
About Sensei Serge Sognonvi
Sensei Serge Sognonvi [pronounced Surge Sun-Yo-Vee] is owner and head instructor of Urban Martial Arts, a martial arts studio in Brooklyn, NY.
Urban Martial Arts has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the New York Daily News, Fox Business, Inc.com, Crain’s New York Business, The L Magazine, Direct Marketing News, and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
Sensei Serge won the New School of the Year award from leading martial arts association United Professionals in 2009 and was named one of “five urban entrepreneurs you should know” by BrandMakerNews in 2010.
Sensei Serge has practiced martial arts for over 20 years and holds a 5th-degree black belt. He started his training at the age of 11 and achieved his 1st-degree black belt at the age of 15. He currently trains in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Master Renzo Gracie.
He fought on the competitive circuit for five years as a nationally-rated fighter in the North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA) and the Professional Karate League (PKL). Sensei Serge was a member of the Metro All-Stars, which was the No. 1 team nationwide for five consecutive years. He was also one of the top 10 nationally-rated fighters in the junior black belt division.
Sensei Serge is a born and bred New Yorker. He grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.
About Carmen Sognonvi
Carmen (Van Kerckhove) Sognonvi [pronounced Sun-Yo-Vee] is owner and general manager of Urban Martial Arts, a martial arts studio in Brooklyn, NY.
Urban Martial Arts has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the New York Daily News, Fox Business, Inc.com, Crain’s New York Business, The L Magazine, Direct Marketing News, and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
In 2004, Carmen founded a diversity education firm called New Demographic. Her views on race and racism were featured regularly in media outlets including CNN, MSNBC, and The New York Times. She visited as a guest lecturer at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, among many other colleges and universities across the country.
Carmen created a network of blogs, podcasts, and email newsletters that reached over a quarter million people each month. The network included Racialicious, an award-winning, influential blog about race and pop culture; Love Isn’t Enough, a blog about parenting and race; and Addicted to Race, a podcast about all things race.
In 2010, Carmen decided to close down New Demographic and join Urban Martial Arts full-time as General Manager.
Carmen was born and mostly raised in Hong Kong, but also spent much of her childhood living in Shanghai and Belgium. She graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Political Science, and lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and daughter.