Most people are familiar with Liz through her well-publicized story, which highlights her journey from homeless high school student to Harvard graduate. Liz’s story was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, made into a Lifetime Television film, and chronicled in her memoir, Breaking Night: My Journey from Homeless to Harvard.
However, a lesser-known fact about Liz is that she credits this unlikely change in life trajectory to a mentor who touched her life at exactly the right time.
Liz was raised in the Bronx by two loving but drug-addicted parents. She grew up in poverty, often without enough food, chronically absent from school and most of all, struggling to connect her education to a viable future.
During Liz’s middle school years, when her family fell apart due to drug addiction, mental illness and HIV/AIDS, an upstairs neighbor and trusted family friend named Arthur Flick stepped forward to help. Arthur tutored Liz, helped her complete homework, brought her on numerous day trips, and encouraged her to imagine a life beyond her circumstances. Above all, Arthur helped Liz understand that she matters.
Arthur died suddenly from a heart condition when Liz was only 15-years-old, the same year Liz lost her mother. Despite this devastating loss, Liz identifies her relationship with Arthur in early adolescence as the catalyst behind her courage to return to school, while homeless.
Liz says, “Arthur’s voice became the voice in my head that I used to speak to myself whenever it was time to have courage, to take a risk and to reach for something higher. He was gone, but he was still with me, helping me make the right choices. In that way, he will always be with me.”
Today, Liz Murray is a passionate advocate for underserved youth. She believes that when it comes to a child facing even the most extreme adversity, it is having a strong relationship with at least one caring, dedicated adult that can make all the difference.
Liz graduated from Harvard in 2009 and is currently completing her Masters degree in the Psychology of Education at Columbia University. She is the Co-founder and Executive Director of The Arthur Project, a New York Times bestselling author, and a traveling keynote speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau. Liz and her husband James live in New York City. They are the proud parents of two young children, Maya, and William-Arthur.
