Leticia Cardozo

Black Belt
Instagram: @leticiacardozobjj

I started training jiu jitsu out of curiosity when a gym opened near my house, I always passed by and was ashamed to enter the gym, because it was a clearly male environment. Until my computer teacher invited me to take a class, because he had been training for a month and what made me go there was when he told me “I never thought it would be so easy to break an arm” and I got interested.

I remember that I was very afraid of falling to the ground, and I held on tightly to everyone I trained (typical white belt). I ended up falling in love with jiu jitsu, in addition to all the barriers and my difficulty in learning, I had to convince my parents to let me continue training, they didn't like it at all and because of that I wore borrowed gis for long time. After a few months my mom bought me a Gi, I was so happy.

Now I have competed for 10 years in jiu jitsu and I've been a black belt for almost one year. My biggest accomplishments are competing in No Gi Worlds in 3 months as a black belt, American nationals, and 3rd place at Europeans. My goal is to compete in Worlds Gi, and also keep teaching seminars, traveling the whole world and living my best life doing what I love most.