COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)–Elizabeth Joy led a roundtable discussion with black community leaders in NBC4’s latest edition of The Conversation.

“We want equality right, but what we’re really saying is we want to be well like everyone else can be well right?” asks roundtable leader Elizabeth Joy.

Her story of survival in this pandemic postcard isn’t a pivot, rather one of grit. Pain and suffering can be powerful teachers.

Her family picture certainly looked pleasant in the moment, but behind the smiles, Elizabeth was,

“Broken. I would say I was broken,” she said as a matter of fact.

She built a successful career at a young age. A couple of houses, a couple of cars, and a lot of money in the market in 2008.

“When the market crashed, I would say I was broken because I lost everything. I would also
say I met myself for the first time,” she said.

Her dad is a retired Columbus police officer. Her brother is still on the force. She hasn’t talked to either in years since the family conflict came to a head in 2014.

“We had an altercation. I went to jail. I was charged with assault and had a stalking order put against me,” Joy said without reservation.

Charges were dropped and so was her father’s name. Elizabeth Joy was building a new life.

“In life, you have what you want to be the case and you have what is the case,” she explained her philosophy. ”When those don’t match, you have to move your mind to what you want to be to what is.”

Elevated Outcomes is her new business of consulting and coaching that was thriving entering 2020.

“The 2008 experience of losing it all and the work that I had done since, allowed me to show up to 2020, emotionally, physically, spiritually, financially.”

She coached through riots and the protests against police brutality that hit so close to home and had painful conversations with her mother who held opposing political views.

“Sadly, as wonderful as our relationship is, just as it’s difficult for others to have conversations about racism, so is it for me and my mom.”

As the pandemic rages into 2021, so does Joy. Steady. Focused. Her roots, black and white dug into the firm ground of who she’s becoming, and her hope for more productive conversations.

“I am someone who has learned how to maneuver life in a way that doesn’t allow negative experiences to define me,” Joy insisted. “2020 wasn’t going to be any different for me in that way.”