Shownotes
About This Episode In this episode, David Figueroa-Martinez reflects on 15 years in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, addressing the need for cultural growth, inclusivity, and genuine respect across the sport. He highlights the essential role of organizations that create welcoming spaces for women and diverse body types, and shares standout creators and competitors whose voices, humor, and instructional insights are modernizing BJJ for practitioners and coaches alike.
3 Key Takeaways
- Creating Inclusive Spaces: Organizations like Girls in Gis and Bodied Jiu-Jitsu provide crucial community support, specialized competition experience, and welcoming environments for women and diverse body types.
- Elevating Female Leadership: Academies must move beyond relegating high-level women to niche or kids' classes by actively positioning them as lead instructors, gym owners, and competitors.
- Modern Voices Shaping Culture: Content creators like Beatrice Jin, Rosie Miller, and Tinley Tsezom are shifting the sport's landscape through accessible technique breakdowns, comedy, and candid discussions on mat etiquette.
Chapters
- 00:00 – Introduction & The Evolution of BJJ Culture
- 02:40 – Why Community Matters: Supporting Female Practitioners
- 04:25 – Organizations to Know: Girls in Gis & Bodied Jiu-Jitsu
- 07:34 – Creators Leading the Way: Beatrice Jin & Rosie Miller
- 10:48 – Spotlight on Tinley Tsezom & Closing Thoughts
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Transcripts
Episode Transcript
**** Welcome to Tapped In. My name is David Figueroa-Martinez of DFM Coaching, and today we’re going to be discussing the women and organizations that are reshaping modern Jiu-Jitsu culture. I am someone who’s been around for 15 years. And in that 15 years, I’ve watched the sport and art that I love grow. And I am seeing far more gyms, what feels like on every corner. I live in San Diego, so we are a hotbed of Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, and there is no direction where there isn’t a couple of gyms.
**** And so the sport has grown, it’s grown in a little bit in maturity, we’re getting into the right direction when it comes to maybe shedding some of the toxic traits that were around. But most importantly, what I’m really enjoying is the women that are now stepping into leadership positions and putting themselves into as voices that should be heard, respected, as competitors that should be applauded and respected. And they’re putting themselves out there just the same as the men.
**** While this culture is not perfect, and there’s a lot of things that I wish I can change about the culture, there’s a lot of things that I wish that we would be better about as a martial arts community—a community that is supposed to be about the weakest person in the room being able to defend themselves, and is supposed to be about mutual respect, and growth, and camaraderie—we have quite a bit of improvement and growth to do, as men and as an art. There’s way too many men in this community that are shunning women, who are disrespecting the women, who are not giving them their right dues, and it’s frustrating.
**** But as we grow into this, I think we’re going to see—sadly, I don’t think it’s ever going to completely go away—but I think we’re going to continue to see the sport and art evolve. We’re going to continue to see more and more women as owners, more and more women as promoters, more and more women as competitors and lead instructors. My hope is that gone are the days where you get a purple belt, or brown belt woman, or even a black belt, and you relegate them to the women’s-only classes or you relegate them to the kids' classes. Like, women need to be front and center if they are of quality and skill set. Put them in the positions of leadership. Put them in the positions that their voice can be heard and they can be front and center and present.
**** I know it’s hard in certain communities where you don’t have a whole lot of women coming in as students, but it’s still our job to create the environment that would foster that when it presents itself. If you’re in a gym that you know is doing things or has a vibe that would not be welcoming, it’s not going to create that opportunity once it arises. You have to put yourself in a position where it’s going to work when those women come.
**** So, as I’ve, you know, 15 years in, we did not have the voices that we have now when I was coming up. We didn’t have a lot of the technology, we didn’t have Instagram, we didn’t have like all these other things, but in general, we did not have women competing the way they are. We didn’t have women making or putting out content the way it is now. And again, I understand the relationship with technology has evolved. But it’s a pleasure to watch.
**** As someone who, like I have a student who trains with me, I’ve been her instructor the entire time. And one of the things that I am adamant about is I understand that I can’t give you the foundation or the environment that you completely deserve. And in that, I mean there aren't other women in this program that come regularly. We have a great program, we have a great environment, she trains hard, she gets supported by—like, I absolutely love our community, beautiful community. But I understand, as a woman, she needs that support from other women. She needs to train with other women, she needs to be around other women.
**** So one of the things that I have been adamant about was start picking up and start going to Girls in Gis. They come around quite often. I think the first one she went to, and don't quote me here, I think the first one she went to was Gracie South Bay, if I remember correctly, and Leticia and them. And I encouraged it, like, go! In general, I encourage open mat, I encourage cross-training, I encourage go to the seminars that you want to go to, build up the network of friends that you want to go to, get the support that you desperately need, because gyms can only give you so much.
**** And as a woman, I understand that there's certain elements that might be missing from being around guys all the time. And Girls in Gis is a fantastic organization that puts on events, and you know it’s good by the numbers that they get, the amount of women that show up. They get an instructor to teach a seminar or a workshop, they get there and they get to be around like-minded people—not the savages of men—and they get to network, they get to discuss issues that are very specific to them, they get to train around other women. It is not the same training with men as a woman. That’s a different beast.
**** And it’s very similar to, not to speak for women, but it’s very similar to like if you’re the smallest person and you’re a guy and you’re going and training with people that are A4s and above. Like, there’s only so much you can get out of this, and eventually you want to train with other people that are similar to you. So I genuinely love Girls in Gis. She’s been going to these quite often whenever they’re in town, to the point now she’s volunteering, she takes pictures for them, she helps set up or log people in. So this is one of the best ones that you can get. If they come to your area, I highly suggest getting there and experience it. It’s not expensive, and it’s a great event.
**** The other one that I am just getting hip to is Bodied Jiu-Jitsu. My student went to one of their camps or their events, seminars, I think last year. And she said she had a great time. And then they reached out to her and said, "We’re putting on a similar camp or similar seminar this year, or in January technically, but we’re also going to have a tournament." And what Bodied Jiu-Jitsu is specifically about is a place dedicated for heavyweight women—and that’s the wording I believe they have on their website—diverse body types that don’t always get represented in the sport and in competition.
**** So in January they’re going to be holding a competition, I believe eight women per bracket, so it’s not going to be one of these things where you’re trying to get through 15-20 people. So they’re capping the size, which I think is great. And it is specifically so women of this body type can get competition experience. It sucks, especially as a coach, when you go and your student signs up, and because of the weight, there’s no one to compete against, or because of the weight, it’s sitting at like you and just one other person. So then you got to do best of three or whatever it is, and it’s not the greatest experience.
**** So when I heard, my student came to me and she was like, "Hey, how do you feel about me signing up for this?" And I started looking through it, I started asking some questions, we’re going back and forth through IM, and I’m like, "Fuck it, let’s do it." So it’s going to give her experience in rolling with women her size at a competition, and we get to prep for competition knowing that we’re going to have eight other women in that bracket, which is to me pretty unheard of. It doesn't happen all that often. You go to a Jiu-Jitsu World League, and no shitting on them, but you go to a Jiu-Jitsu World League, there might be one or two people in your bracket, specifically as you go up the belt structure.
**** So this is going to be great for her. I’m excited about it. I’m excited, and I love the fact that this exists for her, because without it, competition-wise it’d be pretty slim. So I’m looking forward to one, coaching, getting ready for that, but I’m really excited about what this can be as it grows and it moves forward. Great job.
**** Now, three people that I genuinely love following: Beatrice Jin. Competitor, instructor, she has a fantastic Instagram account. And she has this way, and please don't kill me for this, there's this almost dry humor she hits you with for her whiteboard segments that I absolutely love. I am a huge fan of dry humor, I'm a huge fan of like that sense of comedic timing, and I don't know if you would compare her to like elements of The Office, but it feels a little bit like that, without The Office. And she goes through certain segments or certain topics, and she has a whiteboard and she addresses the thing, and sometimes they're serious, but more often than not they're on the comedy side. And it's done in a way that I thoroughly enjoy, thoroughly enjoy. She's been on BJJ Mental Models a couple times if you want to actually hear her speak, gain some ideas from how she approaches Jiu-Jitsu, I highly recommend that. She is a fantastic follow.
**** I also really enjoy Rosie Miller. She’s out here in San Diego. My student that I’ve been talking about has met her a few times at Girls in Gis, she has instructed at that event as well. She is a fantastic follow, she puts together these technique videos in a way that is simple to follow. So I can recommend these videos for a white belt, for example. And she just does a really good way of the way she films, the way she gets your attention. Sometimes she's talking you through it, sometimes she's showing you the mistake that happens first and then she's addressing how to improve it. And I think she drops videos close to daily. She is a fantastic follow, great content, great attitude.
**** I reached out to her through IM. Something I try to do is in general—men, women, authors, Jiu-Jitsu, it doesn't really matter to me—if I read your book and I love it, I try to find the author on Instagram and send them a message. Sometimes they respond, sometimes they don't. If you're in Jiu-Jitsu and I love your content, or I love what you're doing, or I love the message that you're getting across, I will find them and hit them up personally on IM. I've done that I think twice with her because I genuinely love what she's doing right now as a black belt. She's putting her spin on things, and it's not just technique, it's how you approach certain settings, what culture do we want to set, how do we want to address issues. She's also been on BJJ Mental Models, and if you want to hear that, I think she was on there recently, and she may have been on there twice actually. Again, great follow. I genuinely love her vibe. She's fun to watch when it comes to technique and whatnot.
**** My newest and favorite right now, and I don't know how to quite pronounce the name, Tinley Tsezom—T-I-N-L-E-Y and then last name T-S-E-Z-O-M, Tinley—she is by far my favorite right now. She does these videos out of her car, or out of the sauna, or random things. She tackles big issues, small issues. Sometimes she's funny, sometimes she's dead serious. And she has created a little bit of a following at the moment, I think she's at 2,000, she's on the up. But I'm glad I ran into her feed because I get so much enjoyment from it.
**** She has zero fucks when it comes to addressing a major issue, she will address minor issues. She tagged me on a question, me and a bunch of other people, question about how hard we should be training if we are someone's training partner and they're getting ready for a competition. Her personality comes out, she seems to be a joy to be around. There's just that energy about her that is infectious. And I would highly recommend any of these women, but if you were to only pick one up-and-comer, I think this is my favorite. I enjoy her feed, I enjoy the content she's putting out, and again, none of it is technique-related. It's not overly produced, it's not overly done, it's just someone who has great opinions and great approach, infectious personality, putting stuff out. And it is simple, it is quick, and a great thing to jump into or to see come up on your feed. I would love to have her on the podcast, and I don't have guests, so I might set that up at some point.
**** But overall, support the women. I know there's a bunch of others that I could have highlighted, that I could have included in this, but I try to keep this to a certain amount of time for your commute. I know there's a bunch of women. I'm genuinely, incredibly happy and proud of the women and the work that the women are doing to change the culture of Jiu-Jitsu, and to improve it, and to highlight the things that, you know, sometimes men, we are blindspotted to. Sometimes we're not aware that we're doing certain things, sometimes we're not aware of the need for certain things. And the more women we have in these positions of as voices in the community and as voices within our own academies, the better off we're going to be.
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