Grandmaster Christianny Lima

Grandmaster Christianny Paiva Limais the CEO and founder of Lima Taekwondo & Martial Arts Academy and has over 35 years of experience in martial arts. She is a Taekwondo Grandmaster certified 7th degree black belt by the World Taekwondo (Kukkiwon). She is a pioneer and the first female identified to achieve a Black Belt level in these two very distinct martial arts styles: Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Grandmaster Christianny first heard of Taekwondo when one of her brothers was taking lessons. She was a young child and was very involved in different dance styles practices at that time. She was always curious about martial arts but was too busy in the dance world. In 1988 while on a six-months exchange student program in Italy, she was exposed to Taekwondo demonstrations. Having been absolutely fascinated by all the spinning kicks, when she got back to her home in Brazil, she immediately found a local Taekwondo school and signed up. By the time she was 15, Taekwondo had become a strong influence in her life.

Before starting Taekwondo, Grandmaster Christianny, had studied ballet and many other dance styles for near 10 years, performing in innumerous shows and demonstrations. She was also a volleyball and swimming competitor during elementary, middle and high school. Since a very young age, Grandmaster Christianny was involved in a world of discipline as athlete, with many commitments. Her teaching skills initiated very early, assisting classes in Volleyball, Swimming and Dance.

Master Christianny initial Taekwondo progress was fast, aided by the strength, flexibility, and agility she had developed as a young athlete in other sports. Although Grandmaster Christianny had enjoyed the other sports, the more she studied Taekwondo, the more she grew to love this Korean martial art, for several different reasons. First, she felt that there was something exotic, to some extent special about Taekwondo. Ballet is a beautiful, graceful art that tends to be somewhat aesthetically motivated. Taekwondo, 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 Taekwondo 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. But the most important point Grandmaster Christianny loves in the martial arts world, is the fact that people don’t have to “fit in a box”. Ballet is lovely, but if you don’t have the perfect body or looks, most like you won’t have the best position or best part in a performance, even if you work very hard for it. Martial arts are not about your looks, shape, age or gender. It is about how your work for yourself, of course, respecting others. It is you against you! You compare you with yourself! You must compare your progress with your beginning and not others. Your progress depends a lot of you with the guidance of your instructors and the help with your training partners.

After completing her first year of study in Taekwondo, Grandmaster Christianny decided to begin competing. At that time, she was the only girl at her school competition team; her training partners were the boys, and they made it very clear to her that they would not be losing to “a girl” at any time soon. Because of that, training was practically demanding, but she never let someone else stop her from achieving her goals as a teen, Grandmaster Christianny 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 competing, winning came easily for her. She found that she was having fun and taking home a lot of medals, too!

Grandmaster Christianny is a pioneer. She was the first woman in the whole state of Ceara in Brazil, to achieve the Black Belt level in Taekwondo. Consequently, she was the first woman to represent the state in National Taekwondo tournaments, bringing, again, more medals… As a result of a long-time career as a nonstop martial artist, she also became the first female Master, and now Grandmaster, at the state of Ceara in Brazil, and so far, the only one.

As this date, Grandmaster Christianny is the only female Taekwondo Grandmaster in the entire country of Brazil that holds the highest official Taekwondo rank as a 7th degree Kukkiwon certified. Grandmaster Christianny represented two countries in Taekwondo Nationals: Brazil and USA.
Her successes are not limited to the competition ring, however. In 1994, Grandmaster Christianny took part in a rigorous national test in order to become a Federal Agent for the Brazilian Police. She passed the test, but by then she had already met her husband and business partner, Grandmaster Andre Lima, and she decided to move to Los Angeles to share her life with him in 1995. Soon after, they originated and opened the well-known Lima Taekwondo & Martial Arts Academy.

In addition to her 7th Dan in Taekwondo, Grandmaster Christianny also holds a black belt 1st Degree in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, which she is been practicing side by side with Taekwondo for the last 25 years. She was introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by Grandmaster Andre Lima, who recommended her to train it to achieve a grappling balance martial art style to her Taekwondo training. Grandmaster Christianny had few Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructors thru the years.

Grandmaster Christianny accomplished many martial arts athletics awards for representing women in martial arts thru the years. Her lately big award was her induction as “Outstanding competitor of Brazil and USA” on the International Taekwondo Hall of Fame in 2019, which the Ceremony was celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand.

In 2019, Grandmaster Christianny founded and created her successful Women’s Jiu Jitsu Self-Defense Program. The Program is for all women who want to learn realistic and effective self-defense in a safe, fun, and supportive environment. The program is designed for working professionals, moms, pre-teens, teens, young women preparing to go off to college and leave home for the first time; for anyone who has ever wanted the skills and confidence to know that they could protect themselves if they needed to, but don’t necessarily feel comfortable in a typical, predominantly male group class setting.

Currently Grandmaster Christianny dedicates her time managing, teaching and training in both locations. She daily teaches both Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu styles. She also teaches and leads all the Lima Taekwondo & Martial Arts Academy after-school programs around the Los Angeles area. A program successful founded, created and developed by her over 20 years ago.
Grandmaster Christianny has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Associate Degree in Business and Education. She is specialized in teaching children and teenagers with special needs thru martial arts.