Meet Jaime Mendez III

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaime Mendez III.

Hi Jaime, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio by my parents Jaime Mendez Jr and Carmen Mendez. They were both born in Puerto Rico and came to the mainland as children. I am the oldest of their three sons. My brothers and I were kept busy by playing multiple sports in our youth. I gravitated towards football and martial arts due to the aggressive nature of both. I practiced karate, aikido, and boxing as a kid while also taking part in football, basketball, and track. As time went on, football took up the majority of my time, and everything else was put on the back burner. I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship to play football at Kansas State University and then go on to play three more years professionally for Philadelphia and Baltimore. After that, I moved to Los Angeles, where I resumed my martial arts training. However, it wasn’t until a brief move to NY in 2011 that I found Jiu Jitsu. I trained at Renzo Gracie Stamford and Renzo Gracie NY for about six months and was hooked.

Upon my return to LA, I decided to join the only Renzo affiliate in the city. Professor Shawn Williams was the owner and head instructor. He received his black belt directly from Renzo, so I was excited to continue my journey under his guidance. I began teaching classes for him as a purple belt in 2016 and soon after decided I wanted to do this for a living. After I received my black belt from him in 2018, I made it known I wanted to open my own academy in the near future. As things would turn out, Professor Williams was looking to move closer to family in the Midwest and wanted to turn over Renzo Gracie Los Angeles to someone he trusted. He approached me in early 2019 in regards to purchasing the academy from him. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity and the rest is history. Little did I know soon afterward that we would face the biggest challenge we could imagine when the pandemic started in March of 2020. I had not yet been in charge for a year, and we were fighting for our existence.

My business partners and I made the decision to move RGLA from its home of ten years to a new location in East Hollywood in order to save the business. The new space provided us with the flexibility to train outside as well as indoors. It literally saved us from closing our doors. Three-plus years later, we are thriving and bigger than we could have imagined. We opened a second location in October of 2022 in Commerce named Renzo Gracie East LA and we could not be happier with the progress of that academy. The future is bright for us, and we are currently looking for our third location, which we are hoping will be in the San Fernando Valley. However, none if this would be possible without the wonderful people who make up the RGLA family. I am thankful for each of them and excited to see what the future has in store for us. We live by the motto, “We are a family, not a gym. That’s the difference”. And I truly believe it is. We wanted to create a space where people from all walks of life could come together under one roof and find a common interest to unite them. I think we have done that so far, but we are not satisfied.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I took over Renzo Gracie Los Angeles in the summer of 2019, and the pandemic started in March of 2020. So needless to say, it was not a smooth road. It was the exact opposite of that. We were shut down from March until August for the most part. I believe we had a month in the summer where we were allowed to reopen but closed again rather quickly. When I purchased the academy, we had almost 400 students. By the time we were allowed to reopen, we had less than 150 still with us. We were literally on life support. To make matters worse, the space we were renting did not want to work with us and let us use the parking lot to train outside. So we made the decision to move locations in July and moved into our new space in East Hollywood on August 15th. The Sunset location gave us the flexibility to train inside and out. It was also much larger than the Wiltshire space. The move has been the catalyst of explosive growth for us, and we are beyond thankful.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Renzo Gracie Los Angeles and Renzo Gracie East Los Angeles?
Renzo Gracie Los Angeles and Renzo Gracie East LA are martial arts academies located in East Hollywood and Commerce, CA. We specialize in teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai to adults and children. We also have fitness and Judo classes. What sets us apart is our family atmosphere. We live by the motto, “We are a family, not a gym. That’s the difference”. I am most proud of the diversity and acceptance of our academies. I remember what it was like to move to LA and not know anyone. It’s really hard to make friends in big cities, and I always wanted to create a space that felt welcoming. I think we’ve done that. I think I want people to know we are not in this business to get rich. We offer very affordable pricing because we want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to be a part of our community. This is a labor of love for me, and I feel blessed to be able to do what I love for a living.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I think my drive to be a servant leader is what is most important at this time. Now, it wasn’t always that way. However, I am focused to spend the remainder of my days trying to make other people’s lives better.

Pricing:

• Kids 2x per week $139 per month
• Kids unlimited $159 per month
• Adults 2x per week $169 per month
• Adults unlimited $199 per month

Contact Info:

• Website: wwwrenzogracielosangeles.com www.renzogracieeastla.com
• Instagram: @renzogracielosangeles. @renzogracieeastlosangeles. @jjmendez3
• Facebook: Renzo Gracie Los Angeles. Renzo Gracie East LA