2026 August - Emerald Coast Woman Magazine - Magazine - Page 20
A
s Kesha DeShields earns the title of
Master in Taekwondo, her greatest
achievement may be the con昀椀dence,
resilience, and leadership she inspires in
every student who steps onto the mat.
Kesha DeShields never planned on
becoming a martial artist. In 2008, she
signed up for taekwondo because a friend
wanted a training partner, someone
whose brother worked for the FBI and
needed a sparring companion to prepare
for the bureau’s hand-to-hand combat
requirements. Kesha went along for the
company, and she stayed for something
she didn’t expect to 昀椀nd.
Nearly two decades later, that decision
has carried her from white belt to Master
Instructor. This rank represents not just
physical mastery but a lifetime of discipline,
teaching, and quiet perseverance, which
her journey has steadily built.
“Being dubbed a Master Instructor means
more than the words I have in my brain
20 | Strength Beyond The Belt: Kesha DeShields • Emerald Coast Woman
to describe,” Kesha says. It is the kind of
sentence that only makes sense once you
understand the road behind it.
That road was not a straight line. Like most
traditional martial arts, taekwondo requires
students to demonstrate a speci昀椀c set
of skills at every rank, tested and proven
before they are allowed to advance. While
Kesha climbed through each one, belt
by belt, she was also training to become
a certi昀椀ed instructor, a second, parallel
journey most students never attempt.
“I never thought I’d even make it to a 昀椀rst
degree black belt,” she admits. Someone
told her otherwise. Your journey will look
different than mine, they said, but you can
make it if you stick to it. She held onto that.
There were plenty of reasons to quit. A
higher rank once criticized her sparring. Her
uniform didn’t 昀椀t the way she wanted. She
failed a test. She had bad days, the ordinary
kind that make people walk away from
things they love. Still, Kesha kept returning
