Beatrice Jin wasn’t supposed to become a full-time martial arts professional. She certainly wasn’t supposed to end up ranked among the top ten female lightweights on the planet by FloGrappling, not to mention the IBJJF’s top ten adult black belts in two different weight classes. A studious, Ivy League-trained data visualization professional, Beatrice didn’t discover the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu until a chance encounter with the sport in her early twenties, just a few years after graduating from Cornell.
Since then, she’s gone on to earn her black belt within six years, a feat that famously takes most athletes at least a decade. Lest anyone assume her rank is merely for show, as a rookie black belt, she’s already racked up several noteworthy competitive accomplishments, including an IBJJF American National championship title; bronze at Euros; and most recently, a podium finish in the absolute division at Pans: an honor she shared with current superstars of the sport Elisabeth Clay, Sarah Galvao, and Gabi Pessanha.
While her competitive accomplishments in Brazilian jiu-jitsu are objectively impressive, Jin truly entered the limelight through her unique sense of humor, combined with a keen artistic eye. Her famous whiteboard reels — comedic videos detailing everything from cheeky blue belt behavior to the ongoing plague of self-doubt on the mats, all with the aid of her trusty whiteboard illustrations — go consistently viral on social media platfororms.
“The most surprising part about all this is that I get recognized at tournaments for my whiteboard reels even though I've dedicated 1000 times the hours and work to competing in jiu-jitsu, my true love,” Jin shares with self-deprecating amusement. “Probably 95 percent of people who say hi or ask for pictures come from the reels.”
In truth, Jin has always harbored a love for well-constructed comedy. “I love love love watching stand-up comedy, especially the comedians who were good at telling stories and making me think about people or life in new ways,” she tells us. “Throughout childhood, my favorite books were all comic strips and graphic novels, and most of them had at least humorous elements hidden here and there.”
Jiu-jitsu, as it turns out, just happened to be the perfect outlet for her own comedic voice. “I honestly always loved entertaining and creating, but just felt like I didn't have a story or even interesting anecdotes,” says Jin. “Luckily, jiu-jitsu is a very fertile breeding ground for unhinged behavior and side quests!”
What inspired the whiteboard format in the first place?
“Honestly I always thought much of BJJ humor was very cookie cutter and superficial,” admits Jin. “I grew up reading comics and watching stand-up comedy, using humor to cope with my own problems. And I thought a lot about how the only way I could be heard was to be brave enough to put myself out there!
“All those factors combined led me to create my first whiteboard reel about Instagram captions one day. The IBJJF main account commented positively on it, so I knew I was onto something.”
Hard work and hustle have never been a problem for Jin, who connected with the team here at Gaidama when she was still a purple belt earnestly making her way through the local tournament scene. Though she was still years out from the countless IBJJF podium finishes that would secure her status as a world class competitor, Jin decided to shoot her shot with a company she admired: at the time, still a relatively small brand that just happened to make well-constructed women’s spats that Jin liked.
“I feel so lucky to have essentially randomly cold-emailed Gaidama as a new purple belt with only local tournaments where I had to list my bronze medals to buff up the resume,” Jin discloses, with trademark good humor. “Fast forward almost six years, I've gotten to meet and speak with [the CEO and founder] multiple times, flown out to HQ twice, and connected with gym owners and elite athletes from all over the country. It was very evident from being on the same mat with the team, even just sharing twenty minutes in the car, that Gaidama is a powerhouse and destined for success.”
Outside of her time on the mat and in front of the camera, Jin also puts hard-earned visual art skills to work through her own independent business, Buttscooter Jiu-Jitsu. A distinctive contrast to more self-serious and openly agggressive combat sport-themed brands, Buttscooter abides by the motto “cute gear for a tough sport.” True to its promise, the brand peddles a variety of stickers, plushies, and apparel featuring pun-filled, grappling-inspired cartoon characters designed by Jin herself.
“I definitely just wanted something that was cute and unserious, since jiu-jitsu culture leans toward a very macho vibe,” Jin says of her sticker and apparel brand.
Jin comes by her fine art skills honestly. “I grew up taking drawing lessons and drawing on my own constantly,” she explains. “As a high schooler, I would spend chunks of four to six hours at a time sketching and painting while listening to podcasts, stand-up, or YouTube videos. My teacher was a professional artist from China, and we did a lot of still life and learning ‘traditional’ art, like the paintings you might see from the Renaissance era. We'd have to ‘copy’ paintings and literally just recreate them over 20 hours or however long it took.
“Now I just draw cartoons so it's a lot more simple and lighthearted,” she adds.
At the end of the day, when Jin considers what she values most about her sport of choice, it’s the genuine sense of community she’s discovered. “I always thought [making the podium] at a major at adult black belt would be the proudest moment of my career and possibly the beginning of my retirement!” she jokes. “But now that I've stood there at Euros and Pans this year, I realized almost immediately that while it mattered to me, it's not where I was happy.”
Whether through art, comedy, or long, sweaty hours on the mat, for Jin, real happiness comes down to connecting with other people in a meaningful way. “I’m most proud of building my own life and community at Kogaion and around the DMV,” says Jin, naming the Northern Virginia-based jiu-jitsu academy she co-runs and teaches for full time. “I say this often, but truly in the past several years, through all the hardship, injuries, and heartbreaks of jiujitsu, I have never felt alone on the journey, and I believe that is the true gift of the sport. So corny, but 100 percent true.”
Will Jin be putting her talents as an artist and comedian to use on Gaidama’s behalf? She offers fox team fans just one hint: “Something cute and squishy is on the way!”
And for what it’s worth, we can’t wait to share it with the rest of the world.
Want to channel your inner Beatrice Jin? Twin with her in the famous whiteout set that she’s been rocking in her viral Instagram reels.