Erin Harpe was born on July 28, 1994, in Springfield, Massachusetts, and later relocated to Hamden, Connecticut during her middle school years. Martial arts was woven into the fabric of her upbringing from the start — her father, James Harpe, is a Royce Gracie black belt who trained directly under Royce Gracie for over 20 years, giving Erin an authentic connection to Gracie lineage before she could fully appreciate its significance. Under his guidance, she began training jiu-jitsu at age five, making the art a foundational part of her childhood rather than a discipline she discovered later in life.

James Harpe's background extended into karate as well, meaning Erin's earliest martial arts exposure was both broad and deeply rooted in tradition. As she entered high school, she briefly stepped away from the mats to pursue track, exploring her athletic identity through a different discipline. That detour proved short-lived. Jiu-jitsu pulled her back, and she recommitted to it as her sole extracurricular pursuit — a decision that set the trajectory for everything that followed.

Erin Harpe's colored belt years established her as one of the most compelling competitive talents of her generation. Her results on the IBJJF circuit were not the product of a single breakout performance but of sustained excellence across multiple belt levels — a direct reflection of the technical foundation built under her father's Gracie-lineage instruction.

Her most significant early milestones came back-to-back on the sport's biggest stage. She claimed gold at the 2014 IBJJF World Championship at blue belt, then returned the following year to win again at the 2015 IBJJF World Championship at purple belt — a consecutive world title run that few colored belt competitors achieve. She also reached the absolute final at the IBJJF World Championship in both 2013 and 2014 at blue belt, demonstrating a consistent ability to compete effectively against opponents outside her weight class.

The decision that most sharply accelerated her development came at age 19, when she relocated to Tampa, Florida, to train full-time at Gracie Tampa under Matt Arroyo. The move was a deliberate step toward a professional competitive career, transitioning her from a regionally recognized prospect to a nationally competitive force. Immersed in that training environment — and beginning her parallel pursuit of mixed martial arts — she sharpened both her technical game and her competitive mentality in ways that continued to pay dividends for years.

In 2016, Erin Harpe's competitive momentum was interrupted by a serious knee injury that kept her off the mats for nearly two years. It was among the most difficult stretches of her career — an enforced pause at a point when she had been building toward her peak competitive years.

Her return in 2018 spoke to both the quality of her rehabilitation and the depth of her commitment to the sport. She stepped back onto the competition floor at the 2018 IBJJF World Championship and earned a bronze medal at brown belt, demonstrating that she had returned not merely to participate but to compete at a high level. Later that year, she reinforced that statement by claiming gold at the IBJJF Pan Championship No-Gi at brown belt — a title that punctuated what had already been a significant comeback year.

Throughout this period, Matt Arroyo remained a central figure in her development, guiding her progression toward black belt while she balanced competition, recovery, and the work of building her own academy. On December 14, 2019, Matt Arroyo formally promoted Erin Harpe to black belt — a milestone that marked the culmination of a journey defined as much by resilience as by technical achievement.

Even as Erin navigated her competitive comeback in 2018, she and her husband Luis Mata were laying the groundwork for something with lasting implications: the co-founding of Gracie Apollo Beach in Apollo Beach, Florida. The timing reflected a dual commitment — performing at the highest levels of competition while simultaneously investing in the next generation of practitioners.

The academy carries forward the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu tradition that Erin inherited through her father's lineage as a Royce Gracie black belt and deepened through years of immersive training at Gracie Tampa. Her teaching draws on both dimensions of that experience — the foundational values instilled in her as a five-year-old on her father's mats, and the competitive refinement developed under Matt Arroyo in Tampa.

For Erin Harpe, Gracie Apollo Beach represents a full-circle moment in a career shaped by authentic Gracie tradition. The art handed to her as a child — through a father who dedicated over two decades to training directly under Royce Gracie — is now what she passes on to her own students, extending a lineage that runs deep and carries real meaning within the broader history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.