Kayla Hightower is from Camden, New Jersey and is a 2018 recipient of the Sisters Giving Back Scholarship, an award recognizing her academic achievement, leadership, and commitment to her community. She completed her bachelor’s degree and earned a Master of Science in Psychometrics from Morgan State University.
During her master’s program, Kayla completed a thesis titled “Relation Between Mental Abilities and Physical Performance in Basketball.” Her research examined how mental rotation, abstract reasoning, and self monitoring relate to consistency in basketball performance. As part of this work, she participated in the NBA Draft process to explore how mental abilities can be used to predict the future success of rookie athletes. This experience strengthened her interest in the relationship between mental performance and athletic development.
Kayla is a Research Affiliate with the Consumer Health Informatics Lab at Yale University, contributing to the WellSis project. WellSis is a mental health app designed to support the wellness of Black women. Kayla focuses on research, cultural responsiveness, and developing content and tools that reflect the lived experiences and needs of Black women in mental health spaces.
She is currently pursuing her PhD in Social Psychology at Howard University. Her work focuses on athlete mental health, performance, and the creation of culturally responsive psychological assessments for use in sports settings. Her goal is to improve how athlete wellbeing and mental performance are understood and supported.
Kayla is also the founder of Sport of Mind, a clothing brand that promotes mental health awareness in sports. The brand combines education with sports culture, encouraging athletes and sports communities to have open conversations about resilience, emotional wellness, and the importance of prioritizing mental health.
Kayla’s long-term goal is to become a clinical sports psychologist working in professional sports and to create psychological tools that support both the performance and the mental wellbeing of athletes.