Professor Charlene Dixon

Tested at the highest level, teaching at home

Charlene is an international Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. Her titles were earned in the deepest divisions of the sport's biggest federation — Pan American champion, and a silver medalist at the Master World Championship. That record matters to her students for a simple reason: the technique she teaches is technique she has proven, under pressure, against the best in the world.

At WDC BJJ, she is a leader in the full sense of the word. She heads the women's program, coaching women of every level — from first-day beginners who have never done a martial art to experienced students preparing to compete. Her sessions are real jiu-jitsu: technique, partner drilling, live training, and belt progression, in a room where every woman is taken seriously.

Families meet her too. Professor Charlene is on the front line of the kids program's trial classes — pairing each new child with a buddy, learning every kid's name in the first few minutes, and checking in with parents mid-class. It is the same standard she brings to the women's mats: know people's names, know where they are, and coach the person in front of you.

Her standing in the wider community matches her standing in the academy. When WDC BJJ applied to partner with Montgomery County Recreation, Professor Deivid named Charlene as one of the gym's two professional references — the name he puts forward when the county asks who stands behind this program.

And underneath the titles, she is — in Deivid's words — a BJJ lover. Someone who genuinely loves this art, and whose love for it shows up in how she teaches: patient with beginners, exact about details, and still a student of the game herself.

Her philosophy is simple: take every student seriously, from the very first class — and hold the room to a champion's standard while you do it.