Danielle Kelly is quickly becoming one of the most recognizable faces in the BJJ world… And that newly-found popularity has been a unique challenge for her.
She revealed why that’s been the case in a recent interview with ONE Championship:
Yeah, it’s grown on me a lot. In the beginning, I was kind of like, nervous or confused.
Like, why are there cameras all over? I don’t know, I kind of just got used to it. And it’s just kind of like, talking to people.
But Kelly has, nevertheless, been learning how to handle the fame with great success:
I just learned to make eye contact when I talk to people because I didn’t do that before. And I’m also just socially awkward. So it’s kind of me.
But yeah, I mean, at first it was kind of new. But now, it’s my job. So I just learned to get better at interviews.
So when I compete, I can just be more interactive with my interviewers. Yeah, I’m pretty used to it now.
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She is also trying to set an example for other female grapplers:
I have to keep a lookout because there are lots of girls and I’m being challenged more at the gym. So I’m just pretty confident in who I go against now. Especially MMA fighters, I think a lot of them, they’re really tough too.
But yeah, it just feels really good to be like the face, because I’m trying to set an example.
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