Molly Jimenez (left) is a force to be reckoned with. She leads the Jiu-Jitsu program at The Front, in addition to owning and operating Wild Mountain Roasters, which supplies The Front’s Soma cafe with its delicious espresso.
Molly and her best friend of 20 years, Danielle, grew up together in Colorado’s Western Slope riding motorcycles, traveling, and doing adventurous things.
In 2013, the duo participated in the second Cycle World Adventure Rally as the only all-female team and adopted the name “Adventure Annies.” Although Molly had transplanted to Salt Lake City, the two always made time for their semi-annual Adventure Annies trip together. In 2016, Molly discovered a new passion, Jiu-Jitsu.
“I know it comes across as an aggressive sport, but for me, Jiu-Jitsu is a lot of laughing and silliness. It’s like a physical chess match,” Molly said.
She found a Jiu-Jitsu academy that felt welcoming and began spending all her free time practicing, participating, and competing at the highest level of the sport.
By 2020, Molly and Danielle were juggling supporting their families and parenting their remote-schooled children. With new babies on the way, they were seeking opportunities to work from home. Danielle already had experience running her own coffee shop and had been roasting for a few years, but without the bandwidth to undertake a new business alone, she teamed up with her time-tested partner, Molly, to create Wild Mountain Roasters.
Molly tells us that when Danielle first opened her coffee shop in 2017, her goal was to find the best espresso. So, the Adventure Annies journeyed to Europe to sample the product at small, boutique European coffee shops and experience the variety of flavor profiles available globally. After touring seven cities in 10 days (Rome, Budapest, Barcelona…), Molly and Danielle concurred that a classic, European style of espresso with “third-wave” attention to bean quality and freshness was their favorite.
Armed with this knowledge and a newly refined pallet, Danielle returned to Colorado to search for the perfect roast. It didn’t take long to find a local Colorado roaster who had spent her career developing and perfecting her signature blend: Fearless. However, after a year of doing business together, their roaster made the decision to back down from commercial roasting. Danielle seized the opportunity, purchasing the equipment and inheriting the training and knowledge that had been acquired by the roaster over many years. Their travel and hard work paid off, as Molly considers Fearless Espresso to be their best product. It’s also her favorite.
Meanwhile, around this same time in 2020, our beloved South Main gym was opening its doors to the public. A few years prior, Molly was introduced to bouldering at The Front, and she was surprised to find so many similarities between the two problem-solving sports: climbing and Jiu-Jitsu. Not long after, a friend mentioned that another climber-Jiu-Jitsu-enthusiast, George Poulton, was interested in establishing a Jiu-Jitsu program at The Front. Molly begged to be put in touch if it ever came to fruition.
“One day, George showed up to my gym and I guess it was just a matter of, ‘Who do I have to choke to get a job around here?’ I partnered with him, we rolled together, talked about what the program would look like at The Front, and got to work,” said Molly.
Molly became the Jiu-Jitsu Program Manager and helped get The Front’s program up and running at South Main. Since then, the program has amassed a substantial crew of regulars and is recruiting new participants every Monday night during the Intro to Jiu-Jitsu class.
“It’s been cool having the intro class because we can deconstruct this strange sport. I’m always curious of people’s first impressions,” said Molly.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, however.
“It was a massive undertaking to introduce Jiu-Jitsu, a full-contact sport, in the middle of a pandemic. Only now, with lower COVID case numbers, are we finally starting to get to show people what Jiu-Jitsu is all about. It’s really a community activity,” she told us.
The program’s success has encouraged further growth for the sport at The Front.
“We are working toward offering youth camps in conjunction with climbing, hosting in-house tournaments, social events, and competition classes!” Molly shared.
We can’t wait to see these awesome program innovations come to fruition.
Recently, Molly further entrenched herself in The Front, as Wild Mountain Roasters is now providing espresso for our newly opened Soma Café.
“Soma Café definitely has the nicest espresso machine of all the shops we work with,” Molly told us.
When asked, “If you had to choose between coffee and Jiu-Jitsu, what would it be?” Molly responded, “Without coffee, I wouldn’t have the energy for Jiu-Jitsu!”
That’s a bit of a cop-out, Molly, but we’ll let it slide, just this once.
Check out our Jiu-Jitsu page to learn more and get started on your Jiu-Jitsu journey at The Front!
