On Saturday, April 27th, a launch collaboration between a Dubai local brand; Gorillarolls, one of the fastest growing jiu-jitsu brands in the MENA region, and an Arab Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, Yara Kakish, was in full effect. The purpose of the collection was to launch Gorillarolls first women’s Gi.
“This is a Gi that I personally collaborated with them on designing and guiding their direction for women, I feel it’s a launch for me as well in many ways” Yara Kakish
It is no secret that the event was also there to promote Arab martial arts, and Yara who has a reputable following on Instagram, has been helping pave the way for women’s mixed martial arts for some time. She is the lady’s head coach at “Entropybjj” and has a vast variety of educational and motivational videos with the aim to empower, educate and inspire women within Mixed Martial Arts.
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“My goal is to always help women in the region reach to the highest heights and grow in every way possible, especially when it comes to Martial Arts and Jiujitsu. Martial Arts can add so much value to women in the region by helping them build their confidence, self-discipline, willpower, problem-solving, fitness and self-defense.”
When speaking to the design director, Ameena for Gorillarolls on what made them choose Yara as their key guest; she had this to say;
“We collaborated with Yara Kakish, who is a black belt jiu-jitsu athlete (among the very few female black belts in the UAE). Through her experience and expertise, we were able to understand what female athletes in the jiu-jitsu community are lacking and what they want in terms of their uniforms, i.e. the gi- understanding what is lacking in terms of functionality, sizing, and aesthetics.
We tried to align our vision and design direction with Yara, who is an important voice in the community and created something authentic for the women. The Gi is their uniform and it is their self-expression. We want to feel both strong and beautiful when they are on the mats..”
Speaking at the event was Ghalia Baggily; a highly admired and respected member of the Middle Eastern Martial Arts community. One of the first Arab blackbelt in Jiu-Jitsu, Ghalia has been an integral part of building a women’s environment in multiple Middle Eastern countries as well as being a major contributor of both time and effort towards the introduction of BJJ to the region.
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The 2nd speaker present was Maya Mattar the founder of, “Lasting Impressions by Maya” which is a CX strategist company that specializes in helping organizations create lasting impressions in business.
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This inaugural event was here to inspire, motivate and educate women within the MENA space on not just starting Martial Arts, but also being business savvy. Is this event a stepping stone in doing this? We are optimistically hoping this will be the case.
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