Elizabeth Murray (motivational speaker)
Elizabeth "Liz" Murray (born September 23, 1980 ) is an American motivational speaker and author ( Breaking Night ). Murray is known for making it to Harvard as the child of two drug addict parents despite being temporarily homeless . Her life was filmed under the title Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story and also processed in the short film Perseverance by Anson Schloat and John G. Young. In Urban Girls Revisited: Building Strengths , she is highlighted as a case study of resilience .
biography
Murray grew up in the Bronx , New York. Her father was a PhD student at NYU but addicted to drugs. Both parents were members of the New York cocaine scene. They met at a party: the father was a dealer, the mother bought cocaine from him. Murray lived her entire childhood in the shadow of her parents' drug addiction. Nevertheless, she also has pleasant memories. In an interview, she describes her parents as loving. Murray began doing odd jobs when she was ten to support her parents financially. After his mother died from AIDS and his father moved to a homeless shelter, Murray lived on the street. Her life changed when she was accepted into the Humanities Preparatory Academy . Liz Murray resolved not to end up like her parents. She graduated from the prestigious school in just two years (instead of the four years originally planned) with top grades and qualified for a New York Times scholarship . She then enrolled at Harvard . However, she left this university in 2003. In order to better devote herself to caring for her father, who is now suffering from AIDS, she enrolled at Columbia University . After her father died from AIDS in 2006, she resumed studying at Harvard, which she graduated with a bachelor's degree in spring 2009 .
Publications
- Breaking Night: A Memoir , Hyperion Books, 2005 ( ISBN 0-7868-6891-0 ).
Web links
- Homeless to Harvard in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- TELEVISION REVIEW; A Girl on the Street Finds a Path to the Ivy League , Report on Murray in The New York Times , April 7, 2003.
- 'Homeless to Harvard' subject to speak at local benefit ' , August 3, 2009.
Individual evidence
- ^ Bonnie Leadbeater and Niobe Way (2007): Urban Girls Revisited: Building Strengths . NYU Press; Page 53
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Murray, Elizabeth |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Murray, Liz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American motivational speaker and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 23, 1980 |