October 29, 2024
Locked On Women’s Basketball: How Harmoni Turner is changing the world while starring at Harvard
By The Next
Turner: 'I prepared for this my entire life, and understanding that obstacles are going to happen, that's just life'
On today’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, host Howard Megdal is joined by Harvard senior guard Harmoni Turner. In 2023-24, Turner was an All-Ivy First-Team selection and led the Crimson in points, assists and steals. She also helped lead Team USA’s under-23 (U23) 3×3 team to gold at the 2024 FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup.
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Originally from Mansfield, Texas, Turner is also the founder of Pretty N’ Secure, a non-profit organization focused on supporting and empowering young girls who have experienced childhood trauma. Turner and Megdal discussed how the Pretty N’ Secure came about, and what its goals are:
“I started it with my mom, over a year and three months ago, it basically just tackles mental health, anxiety, childhood trauma, a lot of depression, and these are all significant to how my mother and I grew up,” Turner explained. “I faced a lot of abuse with my biological mother, and no one really knew about it, because I was always smiling, I was always happy. No one really thought that anything was wrong, like going on with me that was an adversity point. So I really wanted to express that to young girls and young women that are going through similar traumas, and show them that there’s more to life than what’s handed to them …”
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“We set up an event where we took them to the American Airlines center, and we had different speakers come speak to them, and a few of the speakers didn’t have college degrees, and we made sure, like, hey, that is okay … if college is not for you, school is not for you that is okay, but we have an alternative route for you. You can be certified in a lot of different areas without a college degree. And so we just were just giving them different outlets and different perspectives on what they want to do to pursue whatever goals they want in life. And then we took them to HBCU week, and they had a blast, and we had a few scholarships that we gave away. So it’s a pretty beneficial program, and we’re basically working really, really hard to do what’s best for these kids, because they don’t really have that opportunity when they’re at home,” she continued.
They also talked about the serious knee injuries Turner has dealt with throughout her basketball career, and that sidelined her for some of last season.
“I think once I injured myself, I was like, they better be glad that I’m out for this amount of time, because once I come back, it’s like unleashing a beast, like I finally get to go out there and expose the talents that God gave me,” Turner said. “And honestly, it’s again, you just go out there with a different level of confidence, because you’re like, they haven’t seen the best of me yet, and still haven’t, which is also scary for them, great for Harvard, and I just just really confident in my preparation. I prepared for this my entire life, and understanding that obstacles are going to happen, that’s just life. So it’s not what happens to you, is how you deal with [it]. So [I] just try to take that approach every single time, with everything that I do in life, and just be grateful throughout the process, that’s just what it is. You find beauty in the struggle.”
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Tune in to hear more from Turner about the 2024-25 Crimson, her relationship with head coach Carrie Moore, what makes a great point guard, competition in the Ivy League and much more. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!
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