Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa/Joao Rafful/Tavares
Hi Vanessa/Joao, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Joao practices Jiu-Jitsu since he was 7. He was being bullied in school and his parents decided he needed to learn a martial art. The closest gym to his place was a BJJ gym. He got his Black Belt in 2004 and his Law Degree in 2009.
I’ve started Jiu-Jitsu later in life. I was 22, dealing with anxiety, and looking for an activity to help me get through this tough moment. I’ve met Joao 6 months after I’ve started training. He was visiting the gym that I used to train.
We came to Minnesota from Rio de Janeiro, in 2015. Joao was invited to teach in a gym here in Minnesota. I was a Blue Belt at the time. Joao opened Rio Jitsu with his partners in December 2017. I was still a Blue Belt at had recently given birth to our older daughter. In 2018 I started to work at Rio Jitsu, since the gym was growing and Joao needed assistance to manage it while teaching. I started to teach BJJ in ‘19, a class for women. Earned my Black Belt in 2023. We were lucky for having such a great community that embraced and received us here.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No. As immigrants, we had to learn how to navigate a new culture, new language, away from our families and friends, in a very different weather from what we were used to. Some people don’t know that in a temporary work visa, you can only work on what you’ve petitioned for and spouses sometimes aren’t eligible for a work authorization. So we had to make ends meet with only one income. After getting our green cards, things got better. Then a couple years later, COVID hit all of us, and being a Jiu-Jitsu gym owner made it very difficult to keep things afloat. But again, we have an amazing community, many of our students kept paying their memberships and supporting the gym. Joao and I had to work on side jobs to not rely as much on the gym’s income.
As you know, we’re big fans of Rio Jitsu . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Rio Jitsu is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo school. We teach children as young as 3 years old and adults of all ages. More than teaching Martial Arts, we are proud for building a community that is not only within Rio Jitsu, but also our affiliate gyms. We believe Jiu-Jitsu and Judo are capable of changing people lives, because it has changed ours.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
A good mentor is someone that can make you see life through different perspectives and is respectful with everyone, no matter their background or position. If you have the luck to find that mentor (in our experience, Julio Cesar Pereira, GFTeam’s head coach) and you learn and become a lot like him/her, being a respectful and empathic person yourself, it will be easier to network in all kinds of places.
Pricing:
- Monthly Kids classes range from $130 to $160
- Judo classes from $140
- Jiu-Jitsu classes from $160
Contact Info:
- Website: https://riojitsu.com
- Instagram: @riojitu
- Other: info@riojitsu.com
