Inspirational Women In Hollywood: How Rayna Vallandingham Is Helping To Shake Up The Entertainment Industry

An Interview With Elana Cohen

Cooking is a reminder that I can always provide for myself, and that I deserve the same love given to me that my mom would always provide in the kitchen after training at the dojo all day. These practices can align you with your highest self and remind you how worthy you are of self-love and self-care.

As a part of our series about Inspirational Women In Hollywood, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Rayna Vallandingham.

Rayna began her martial arts journey at the age of 2 and has been intertwined in the industry ever since. Now with 17 years of experience, Rayna is truly a unique individual leading the new generation of fighting experts! Her accolades include being the youngest Black Belt martial artists to attain 13 World Championship titles, In 2011, at age 8, Rayna won 4 World Titles in Little Rock, Ark (the Triple Crown in Traditional; Forms, Weapons, Sparing and Creative Weapons) making her the youngest black belt ever to win a Championship (competing against girls twice her size and a number of years older). The next year (2012) she won 6 more world championships (Triple Crown in Traditional, Creative Weapons, XMA Forms, and XMA Weapons), and in 2013 she won the XMA Forms World Championship. After winning her latest World Championship she flew to Los Angeles to debut in Phillip Rhee’s film “Underdogs” as Leticia. Rayna has traveled across the globe, performing, teaching, and making appearances.

She has also modeled and explored other areas of the entertainment industry, such as writing, stunts, and more. She is a Brand Ambassador for the American Tae Kwon Do Association; as she films campaigns, videos, does interviews, photo shoots, appearances, etc. She was the youngest to compete in the 12–14 group on ESPN and performed in front an audience of thousands of people. Throughout her career in the martial arts industry, Rayna has constantly had to unfairly prove herself to her male counterparts, former masters as well as competitor and is a strong advocate for female empowerment in the industry traditionally favoring men as a “male dominated sport.”

When Rayna is not busy creating content, acting or practicing Taekwondo, she can be found spending time with her friends in LA. Rayna is also currently learning both Hindi and Spanish in her spare time. Ultimately, Rayna would love to open her own dojo one day.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to the specific career path of Taekwondo?

I started Tae Kwon Do at two and a half years old and immediately fell in love with martial arts. My passion for it consumed me and had me in the dojo every day without fail. When I was seven, I earned my first-degree black belt and was given the opportunity to compete. I was then training from dawn to dusk, fueled by my determination to compete in my first tournament, The World Championships: the biggest competition of the entire year with thousands of competitors from around the globe. Subsequently to winning the tournament, I grew obsessed with the journey of tireless hard work and improvement toward winning world titles. From then on, I would go to school, go to the dojo during recess, go back to school to finish the day, and then be back at the dojo until 8 pm every day. Weekends were no different, either spent training or competing at tournaments. Martial arts has been my passion, purpose, and driving force since the first day I stepped onto the mats. That is why I am a thirteen-time world champion and fourth-degree black belt at twenty years old.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I have been blessed to adapt martial arts from an athletic passion into my full-time career. In early 2021, I had freshly turned 18 and had just gotten rejected or waitlisted from all my top colleges. At first, I felt aimless; I was conditioned to lofty success in my early years, and much of what had occurred in my years of being a teen made me feel inferior and merely worthless. I spent a single day sulking before I turned my complacency into fuel. At that moment, I decided that I was going to dedicate the rest of my life to what always made me feel worthy and passionate: martial arts. I’ve always known that my end goal is to be a film action star, but I needed a way to adapt my passion into a career first to actively make waves in the industry. I began consistently posting martial arts content, and my social media platforms followings proliferated. After a few months of posting and growing from 7k to 60k followers, I moved to LA to further my journey and pursue martial arts as a career. I was met with immense adversity and experiences that should have made me quit, but it only made my convictions stronger, my vision more precise, and my path more paved. Two years later, I have garnered over a million followers on TikTok and hundreds of thousands on Instagram, which have supported me in fulfilling goals of mine in the entertainment industry.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I have made a multitude of mistakes throughout my career, and there were defining ones that taught me to always maintain an optimistic attitude, even through loss and “failure.” There were a few occurrences during competition where I would forget my form or fall. For instance, the time I was competing at the World Championships and was slated to win a world title. I was finishing up the form I had hit perfectly until I slipped on the mats and fell during a flip. I got up, finished the form, and immediately joked about it with the judges and my competitors. Even though I was overtaken by embarrassment, I had always been taught by martial arts and my instructors to lose with grace. I would not trade these mistakes for the successes that could’ve occurred, because they would not have built the same character I now have.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am eternally grateful to my parents for sacrificing much of their adult life so that they could fully dedicate themselves to me and my passion for martial arts. The lifestyle was chaotic; it required an abundant amount of travel, training, money, and not to mention, stress. I remember on Friday nights when other families would be grilling or going camping together, my parents would be with me in the living room helping me train and keeping me accountable. During holidays like the 4th of July, my parents would be with me preparing for World Championships while other families would indulge in vacations. I would not be where I am without them, and they have always inspired me to strive to be better constantly, both physically and mentally, on and off the mats.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

For those who want to embark on this career path but seem daunted by the prospect of failure, I suggest that they allow their passion to overtake them. Indulge in it, fearlessly allowing martial arts to become your fuel, meditation, and career. The incredible thing about being a martial artist is that it immediately establishes uniqueness and boundless creativity, so be and do just that. Invest in your craft, and watch it invest right back into you, rewarding you for your courage and dedication. I was terrified when I first began my journey, but every bump along the road made the ride more exciting and character-defining. If you believe in yourself, no one nor anything can deter you from what is meant to be yours. Don’t waste any more time doubting what your capabilities are.

Every industry iterates and seeks improvement. What changes would you like to see in the martial arts industry going forward?

I have faced much adversity and judgment from the martial arts industry. Being a female martial artist, you are immediately prone to receive criticism from misogynists and the older generation who believe that martial arts should strictly be done by men in a traditional uniform. Moving forward, I will continue to challenge these perspectives and effectively change this flaw of the martial arts industry. I can feel sexy while doing martial arts and still be a respected black belt. I can combine martial arts with dance and still be a respected black belt. I would never allow these people to make me feel inferior or dwindle my fire for martial arts, and I want to ensure that no other girl in this art is enabling these adversities to cease their passion.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I am doing everything possible to align with my mission statement of becoming the female Bruce Lee. This mission statement entails continuing to create content I am passionate about and spreading my passion for martial arts like wildfire, developing action projects for me to lead on the big screen, and breaking barriers in various industries by introducing martial arts into them. For example, I recently did a music video for a Latin artist Lenny Tavarez. I co-wrote and created the story of a man who had become lost in his vices of drinking and partying. He encounters my character, a strong female sensei, who teaches him the way of martial arts and how it can guide one physically and mentally toward greatness and self-fulfillment. Many of the projects I am working on now align with this, bringing my passion into every industry possible by combining acting and martial arts in ways otherwise not done before. I am incredibly excited about the future and the visions I have for the development of my career.

We are very interested in looking at diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture and our youth growing up today?

It is imperative to have diversity represented in film and television. I remember that in my impressionable years, I was saddened by the fact that I had no badass brown action star to have as a role model and inspiration. It inadvertently made me feel that I was not worthy of dreaming that dream and that martial arts could not be meant for me. Whether we realize it or not, this occurs in many adolescents’ minds. As we lead this next generation, I believe it is essential that we have diversity in media to ensure that they always believe that they can achieve anything they set their mind to regardless of their race, disability, passion, etc.

Can you share with our readers any self-care routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Please share a story for each one if you can.

I firmly believe that exercising your mind and body daily is the key to maintaining open chakras and a healthy lifestyle. Other than utilizing my passion for martial arts as meditation, I enjoy journaling, writing poems, hiking, yoga, and cooking. Writing has gotten me through my most formidable challenges, and I can now look back on my diaries, remember who I was, and be proud of who I am becoming. It’s incredibly empowering to be reminded of what you have been through, and how making it through your next obstacle is no different. I enjoy yoga and hiking as a way to reconnect myself to nature and remember the grounding values of being human in all its vulnerability and raw beauty. Cooking is a reminder that I can always provide for myself, and that I deserve the same love given to me that my mom would always provide in the kitchen after training at the dojo all day. These practices can align you with your highest self and remind you how worthy you are of self-love and self-care.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I have always loved this bible verse: “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:3. Though it speaks in a literal sense, this verse has always resonated with me. I have interpreted it as my goals being immovable, and that I will reach them through perseverance and relentless hard work. My story is already written and will hopefully positively impact generations to come; I must stay true to my values, be kind, work hard, and be disciplined. I know that I will accomplish all that I am destined to.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

If I could inspire a movement, it would be not to condemn or judge other people, but to focus on ourselves and our passions. I believe that a lot of resistance and tension in this world is due to differing opinions and harsh judgment; but at the of the day, we are truly just beings with hearts that beat for different things, and we each deserve the liberty to pursue them with our greatest might.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

You can find me on all social media platforms @raynavallandingham!

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!