Brianna Ste. Marie

Black Belt
Instagram: @briannasm

I started my jiu-jitsu journey in 2016. My dad was a purple belt at the time but he had been grappling "unofficially" since the 80s. Back then they would roll on industrial carpets and it was a lot of catch wrestling-type stuff. I finally gave in to my curiosity at 19 years old and tried my first BJJ class with my dad.

 Coming from a rugby background I was used to contact sports and it made it easy to fall in love with jiu-jitsu immediately. Like many, the first move I learned was an Americana from side control. What stood out to me the most, was just how incredibly fun this sport was! I felt like I was 7 years old again wrestling around with my friends. When the first competition came to town 2 months after I started, I signed up without hesitation. Having played sports all my life, I just assumed that competitions were a part of the sport that everyone took part in. And then I just kept competing.

The competition got bigger. I started training more and more. Started skipping classes to train JJ. Started quitting jobs that wouldn't give me the time off to go to competitions. And that's kind of when I knew I should either make this jiu-jitsu thing work for me full-time or I should probably quit before I was living on the streets haha. And here we are today :)

My biggest accomplishment to date would have to be my silver medal at ADCC Worlds after having won East and West Coast trials to be there. I am also very proud of my Gold Medal at IBJJF No Gi Worlds. A fun fact about me is that I love to cook! After a big win, I go out and buy really nice ingredients and spend hours cooking myself a really nice meal.