Meet Our Team!

Jeff is currently a 41 year old Black Belt hailing from Jackson, New Jersey. He began his BJJ journey under Kurt Pellegrino in 2009, continuing up through his Purple belt. In 2013, he began training with friend and mentor Professor Aron Rocha until 2014 when he moved to New York City. There, he continued to train at various schools, including Marcelo Garcia Academy, Renzo Gracie Academy and UNITY Jiu Jitsu School. 

In 2017, Jeff was awarded his Brown Belt by Professor Rocha. He then joined Unity Jiu Jitsu School as a student under Professor Murilo Santana's guidance. After 10 years in NY Jeff has moved to South Carolina where he has teamed up with a close friend and mentor, Professor Julio Salazar of “ONE LOVE JIU JITSU CLUB” to create a new community of individuals with the same “MINDSTATE”.
He was awarded his Black Belt on August 10th 2024 by Professor Salazar. 

Jeff has competed in multiple professional events in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, including various Super fights, IBJJF, NAGA, and multiple other organizations. 

Jeff has been teaching since he was a Blue Belt and served as program director for UFC GYM as a Purple Belt. Alongside his accomplishments on the mat, he has been a Senior Referee for North American Grappling Association for the past 10 years. 

With 15 years of experience and passion in teaching, competing, and refereeing, Jeff has made a name for himself in the BJJ community and is excited about bringing his expertise to the Bluffton Community to help others achieve their BJJ dreams. 

Stephanie started her journey with Movement with Dance at age 7. Falling in love with dance and choreography,  she decided to pursue her BFA from The Ohio State University in Modern Dance. After college she moved to NYC. In NYC she started cross training with indoor rock climbing and fixed gear cycling. Stephanie fell in love with feeling strong and started her training career as a Personal Trainer at Equinox in Manhattan. There she was exposed to many different types of training. To her strength training was movement. It made sense and it was fun. 

She eventually left Equinox and became an Independent Personal Trainer and experienced many different types of training. Stephanie has dabbled in Functional Training, Gymnastics Strength Training, Capoeira, Break dancing, kettlebell training, Animal Flow, Pilates, Yoga, Barbell Training, Flexibility Coaching, Old School Lifting methods and finally Jiu Jitsu.  

In NYC she met Jeff and had Sylvia, their now 2.5 year old. They decided to move to Bluffton to be closer to her Family. 

Stephanie believes training should push you and be fun so you can stick with it. At the end of the day Movement is the core of fitness. Mindstate is a place to explore new movement and get stronger and she hopes to bring this idea of training to the Bluffton community. 

Jhosep has been an athlete since he was 6 years old, but it wasn’t until 2018 when he stepped on the mat for the first time.

He was born in Venezuela, started training MMA  just for fun and realized he was good on the ground game. His dad had to move out of the country to USA for political reasons forcing Jhosep to be the man of the house at such a young age, that was when he officially started training Jiu Jitsu and the situation he was going through inspired him to work harder and harder everyday. 

After 3 years away from his father, only seeing him through FaceTime, the Velasco family was reunited when Jhosep moved to United States (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina) in 2021 with his mom and little brother. Just before moving to USA he won 1st place in the Venezuelan National Championship and his dream to compete in the best tournaments against the best people came true when he moved to America. 

After Jhosep put a Gi on he knew it was where he was going to spend the rest of his life; Jiu Jitsu helped Jhosep to find his path in life. He has traveled all over the United States competing in many tournaments with the highlight of getting the 2nd place at NAGA WORLDS 2022. 

He met his best friend/training partner/coach and now wife Jessica Velasco and she’s been the key of all his success on and off the mat giving him all the support he needs. Jhosep also loves teaching kids and spreading his knowledge to make them give their best and become not just good fighters, but also good people.

Jhosep is currently a Brown Belt at MINDSTATE JIU JITSU and is under Professor Julio Salazar of ONE LOVE JIU JITSU CLUB

Jessica has been around MMA for 9 years starting her journey in Muay Thai training at a UFC gym in the south loop of downtown Chicago. 

Jessica moved to Bluffton in 2019 and continued her Muay Thai training and eventually started training Jiu jitsu in 2022. The mat is where she met her best training partner/coach and now husband, Jhosep Velasco, who she credits much of her success to. She quickly became obsessed with training and improving her game going on to compete in several tournaments, with the highlight being placing 3rd at Newbreed Worlds in 2023. 

Jessica has been a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach since 2020 and has been training a wide variety of clients for sports specific performance, strength and conditioning, endurance, longevity, and overall fitness. 

Jessica is thrilled to lead and grow our women’s Jiu jitsu program and create a community of strong, empowered, and confident women through the art of Jiu jitsu. 

 Specializations: LISW-CP, RYT200, Certified Yoga for Trauma 

We are excited to offer Yoga as part of our fitness and movement program! 

Leslie Slemmons is a trauma-informed therapist and yoga teacher with 20 years of experience working with a variety of populations in settings such as residential facilities, alternative schools, non-profits, and addiction centers. In 2020, Leslie completed her 200 hour training to be a yoga teacher. Shortly after, she received additional training to be certified in Yoga for Trauma which enhanced her understanding of the mind/body connection in bridging movement with breath and meditation. She continues her studies of the Yoga Sutras through a 6 year commitment led by Karin Carlson, who follows the Desikachar lineage. Leslie has led yoga classes for somatic experiencing, yoga for anxiety, prenatal yoga groups, and yoga for eating disorders. In 2024, Leslie also completed her Level 2 Internal Family Systems which connects how to utilize the breath to guide an understanding of one's self. 
Leslie's private practice is located in Bluffton where she specializes in providing compassionate care to clients with issues such as body shame, trauma, anxiety, and disordered eating. Her heart's passion is to guide and support people who are experiencing difficulty living in their bodies to find ease, safety, and comfort within. By using movement and the breath, her hope is to empower clients to find freedom in stillness.
When she's not working, Leslie can be found outside playing with her 4 kiddos, making candles, reading a good book, or moving her body in fun and enjoyable ways.