PFL star Kayla Harrison aims to win her third $1million prize from this year’s season to grow her sexual abuse foundation.
Harrison kicks off her third PFL season on Friday when she faces six-time sambo champion Marina Mokhnatkina. The former judoka has already won two PFL titles and re-signed with the promotion in March.
Winning several national titles in judo as a teenager, Harrison had the courage to speak out when she turned 16 by revealing she had been sexually abused for years by her coach. She later created the Fearless Foundation to raise awareness of young people being groomed.
Harrison refused to be a victim and found the bravery to continue her judo journey, becoming a two-time Olympic gold medalist under the guidance of her new coach and father-like figure Jimmy Pedro. Two months after winning her second Olympic gold, Harrison made the switch to MMA by signing with the World Series of Fighting promotion, which later rebranded to PFL the following year.
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Whilst her goal in MMA is to become the best fighter of all-time, Harrison aims to use her platform to help young children speak out about sexual abuse. She has already released a book about her own story and is now writing an educational book that she hopes to introduce into the US school system.
“The foundation is for survivors of child sexual abuse. The first book is not a memoir and not a textbook, it’s a combination of both. It’s my story used as a guideline and two psychiatrists who break down what grooming is," Harrison told Mirror Fighting .
"It’s about why kids stay silent, what things you can talk to your children about and what the court process is like. It’s also a story of redemption, there is a gold medal at the end of the tunnel if you choose to stand up and not be a victim."
Harrison's mission is to have school children to complete a project on mental health after reading the yet-to-be-released book. She is also in the early stages of planning a curriculum about the topic that she hopes to present to a local school in Florida.
“The goal for that is to now write a curriculum to go alongside it," she added. "We need kids to talk about it because you think you’re the only one in it and you have no idea how to talk about it. I want them to have the tools to know that they’re not alone and it will be ok, you just have to find the courage within to speak up.
“The curriculum is coming along painfully slowly, but I’m in the process of trying to find someone to run the foundation for me. Someone I trust so I can delegate a little bit, once that gets put into place I think things will come quicker."
Harrison says she will be putting a considerable chunk of her fight purses for this season towards developing her foundation. A third $1million prize would give her increased funds to find a CEO for the foundation, something she is already actively looking for.
