Stiletto Spy School, New York

In movies, spies need to be ready for any situation. A high-speed car chase? You bet. Hand-to-hand combat? A must. Seductive dance? Possibly a life-saving skill—especially since all villains secretly love to tango. Fortunately these topics and more make up the syllabus at Stiletto Spy School and at the Mi6 Academy. Here, the instructors help women unleash their inner femme fatales during immersive classes that hop between topics such as poker and even samurai-sword fighting—all with an eye on their practical application in business and life. Men may also test their skills in deception detection, edged weapons, knife fighting, and improvised weapons. And to give their students plenty of field practice, the school hosts weekend-long "missions" in New York and Las Vegas.

Stiletto Spy School comes from the mind of founder Alana Winter, who grew up loving Charlie’s Angels, Emma Peel in The Avengers, and the other women of spy films. And thanks to her efforts, her school has garnered ample press attention, including MSNBC, the Tyra Banks Show, New York Daily News, NPR, The Wallstreet Journal, and a feature on the Today Show that saw the hosts enroll themselves in the academy.