Brian Keith Banks born in Jamaica, Queens, New York, NY with Celiac Disease and partial brain damage. He is part Celtic (Irish) and Native American (Crow Indian) and a husband to a very beautiful, sexy, intelligent, funny, and classy Hispanic lady from Michoacán, Mexico and a father to an amazing, witty, intelligent and beautiful son. He is a military brat whom his father was stationed in Honolulu, HI who held the rank of Staff Sargent in the U.S.M.C. Force Recon Unit; a division of the Special Operations Forces of the Marines.
Upon relocating to Hawaii, due to his father being stationed with the Marines, he had to remain in the hospital for almost almost two years as medical staff ran all kinds of tests due to his unknown illness; which was later discovered by a Filipino Navy doctor who finally diagnosed him with the disease, which there is no cure for. Shortly after, his father and mother divorced and she later remarried a navy man. Due to the military life, Brian and his older brother moved around a lot, living in many different cities and states.
In 1988 Brian received his Black Belt in Taekwondo and started teaching while also cross training in Jeet Kune Do. And in 1989 he received his 1st Degree Black Belt and his 2nd Degree rank in 1991 under now 8th Degree Black Belt. Master Randy Edwards. Brian also spent countless times traveling to Murfreesboro to personally train which he slowly developed a special friendship/instructor bond with now 9th Degree Black Belt, Grand Master Brad Whitlow; while also privately training under now 9th Degree Black Belt, Grand Master Robert Hardin in Nashville, TN. Soon later Brian received a personal phone call from Grand Master Whitlow and he soon moved to Murfreesboro, TN to train exclusively under GM Whitlow; which he also became a Demo Team Member of the M.A.T.C. Taekwondo Demonstration Team.
Then in 1993 Brian moved to Dallas, TX to begin his studies in the media arts at the Art Institute of Dallas, and in 1995 he received his Associates in the Music, Video & Business program and in 1998 graduated with an Associates in Multimedia; where he also promoted art shows, promoted radio station contests for Clear Channel Communications, and worked in the graphic design department for Superpages.com. In 2009 Brian continued his martial arts studies in Jeet Kune Do under Sifu/Guro Raymond Crow of Crows Martial Arts in Carrollton, TX. And in 2010 Brian competed in two mixed martial arts events in Hot Springs, AR, which during that same year where he finally moved to Phoenix, AZ.
Towards the end of 2013 Brian met his soon to be wife, Nayeli, however during 2014 he also received 4 certifications in diving in Cozumel, Mexico and upon his return to Phoenix, he also became a parent to a Siberian Husky named Kali. Then in 2015 Brian was promoted to 4th Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo under Grand Master Whitlow, and in 2016 Brian and Nayeli welcomed their first child, a son, Sean Kaden Mejia-Banks. He finally opened his martial club in 2018 at the North Mountain Visitor Center working with the Save Our Mountains Foundation.
During that same year Brian became a Tour Guide on a Segway in Old Town Scottsdale and worked as a Ground Crew Member launching Hot Air Balloons in the North Phoenix area. Brian along with his wife soon began training in Brazilian Jiu-JitSu in 2021 in which he received his 5th Degree rank promotion in Taekwondo under Grand Master Whitlow, and in 2023 both Brian and his wife received their Blue Belt promotion, under 2nd Degree Black Belt, Professor Victor Emanuel.
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