Master Christianny Paiva Lima, an officially recognized 4th degree black belt by the World Taekwondo Federation (Kukkiwon), first heard of Tae Kwon do in 1989 while on a three-month vacation in Italy visiting family members. Having been absolutely fascinated by all the spinning kicks, when she got back home in Brazil, she immediately found a local Tae Kwon Do school and signed up. At that time she was 15 and had no idea how strong of an influence Tae Kwon Do would come to have on her life.

Before starting Tae Kwon Do, "Master Chris," as she is called, had studied ballet for nine years. Her initial progress was very fast, aided by the strength, flexibility and agility she had developed as a dancer. Although Master Chris had enjoyed ballet, the more she studied Tae Kwon Do, the more she grew to love this Korean martial art for several different reasons. First, she felt that there was something exotic, something different about Tae Kwon Do. Ballet is a beautiful, graceful art that tends to be somewhat aesthetically motivated. Tae Kwon Do, however, blends grace and artistry with the more practical application of self-defense, which made it much more appealing to her. Second, she loved the idea of the belt system of advancement. To her it meant concrete goals and challenges to be met and conquered. Lastly, competition in Tae Kwon Do would allow her to compete in an individual sport where her success depended only on her and how well she had prepared for the challenge.

Master Chris Lima pregnant in 1997

Lima family in 2004

Master Chris Lima competing in a local tournament

After completing her first year of study, Master Chris decided she was ready to begin her training for competition, but not everyone felt the same way. Because she was the only girl at her school preparing for tournaments, her training partners were the boys and they made it very clear to her that they would not be losing to "a girl" any time soon. Some students may have been intimidated by such bravado. But, never one to let someone else stop her from achieving her goals, Master Chris met the boys' challenge head-on and trained even harder, determined to succeed. And succeed she did. Though her training was not easy, she worked so hard that by the time she was actually competing, winning came easily for her. She found that she was having a lot of fun now and taking home a lot of medals, too!

Her successes were not limited to the competition ring, however. In 1994, Master Chris took part in a rigorous national test in order to become a Federal Agent for the Brazilian Police. She passed with flying colors. But by them she had already met her future husband, Master Andre Lima, and she decided to move to Los Angeles to marry him. Soon after, they opened Lima TKD ACADEMY and have been teaching together ever since. Besides her life in Tae Kwon Do, Master Chris enjoys two rather interesting hobbies: scuba diving and handgun shooting, which she learned from her father, an avid gun collector.

In addition to her 4th Dan in Tae Kwon Do, Master Chris also holds a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. She dedicates her time to running the Academy and to caring for her family, sharing with her 8 year-old daughter the secrets and wonders of this Korean martial art she loves so much.

Competing in 2001 U.S. Open Championship

Master Chris Lima performing a round house kick

Master Christianny Lima