First Female Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt in Portsmouth

In December I was the first female in Portsmouth to receive a BJJ black belt.

I started martial arts 30 years ago when I was five. I initially started taekwondo because I wanted to be a power ranger. When I turned 17 I started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu where I found my love for the ground game.

My ultimate goal was to do MMA so once I received my BJJ blue belt I started competing in kickboxing followed by amateur MMA which lead onto professional MMA. My record in this was 2-4 and once I had decided MMA wasn’t what I wanted to do any more I decided to dedicate my time back into BJJ, work towards a black belt and compete at the highest level of shows.

In 2023 I managed to compete on Polaris Professional which is one of the biggest stages in the world and was invited back the following year. Since then I help found and became head coach at Vespasian Security BJJ where I found my love for teaching a group which not only started developing in BJJ but helped with their roles as security operatives too.

We started the team in February 2025 and have now expanded to not just security but the rest of the community too, competing at tournaments and also awarding our first blue belt.

I was awarded my BJJ black belt for my years of consistency training and competing and showing a good attitude amongst the team as well as now leading my own team. I was award this by coach Colin Howells of Vitor Shaolin BJJ UK who has been my coach from the start.

In terms of my future goals I’d like to keep building Vespasian Security BJJ, inspire more females to do BJJ, compete at Black belt and teach people the same game I have fallen in love with