She Named Her Gym to Filter Out the Wrong People. It Worked.

Hilary has been one of Oregon's first female black belts in BJJ. She's competed against Cyborg, gone to war at purple belt with a Polish judo national team athlete who's now one of her best friends, and fought Gabby Garcia at Fight to Win. She also works as a paralegal during the day.In this episode, Alex visits Unicorn Jiu-Jitsu in Portland, Oregon—a gym Hilary and her husband Brian built deliberately around a culture filter: the name alone weeds out the people they don't want. The result is a gym where noon classes run 80% women, world-class competitors like Dominika Stranková show up to coach and paint murals on the walls, and purple belts teach classes because they're better at certain things than the black belts are.What you'll hear in this episode:How Hilary went from competitive equestrian to college basketball walk-on at TCU to training alongside active UFC fighters at Team Quest, and why jiu-jitsu is the one that stuckWhy she named the gym Unicorn, what it means to her personally, and how it became the most effective self-filtering tool the gym hasThe "think street, train sport, practice art" philosophy she built the gym around, and why she believes more women leading at the front of the class changes the culture of the sportHow a supportive landlord who waived rent during COVID shutdowns is the reason Unicorn survived, and what happened when he sold the buildingWhy she lets a purple belt teach the no-gi class, and what that says about how she thinks about ego, expertise, and building a teamWhat she's learned watching kids transform on the mat — and why one shy, homeschooled kid who's now leading the line makes all of it worth itIf you've ever thought about what kind of gym you're actually trying to build—and who you want walking through the door—this one's for you.Unicorn Jiu-Jitsu is based in Portland, Oregon. Hilary is one of Oregon's first female BJJ black belts and has been competing and coaching for over 15 years.