06/04/2026
Recently, I was lucky enough to participate at โ Career Exploration event. I had an absolute blast meeting and speaking with the kids and seeing many familiar faces. In 5 different time blocks, I had current/former students and even children of students in 4 of them!
During my presentation, I brought in objects that might bring more Q&A to me in an attempt to engage with the students rather than just speak at them. One of them was โs 2016 World Championship medal, which is when this photo was snapped.
Reflecting, I am so proud of this moment to this day. We had nothing at the time - no house, shared one vehicle, barely had money to make it out to LA, and did most of our training in our living room and at a local YMCA. Our priorities were completely out of order.๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝDuring this, one of the most sentimental photos during the most dominant run I had ever seen at the time was published in a popular BJJ magazine. In a ridiculous purple belt adult lightweight division - 5 matches, 5 submissions, all within 2 hrs in a single elimination format. ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝYes, it was all worth it.