Harmony Elliott

Background

About Harmony Elliott

For most of my adult life I have searched for a career. This search has given me expansive experience across a multitude of different industries. From the building trade to nonprofits, one thing has truly remained the same: hard work pays off. Let me explain. School was never really my thing. I consider myself a smart person. I consider myself an educated person. I do not consider myself a scholarly person. I loved my elementary years, but I felt swallowed up by the vastness of a regional high school and finding where I fit in felt impossible. My first job was at the local pizza place. The bus would drop me off after school and I would work until close. I took orders over the phone and over the counter, made pizzas and subs, scrubbed dishes and wiped down pizza pans. I went home every day smelling like I bathed in fryolator oil. The work wasn't necessarily hard, but the commitment to work at 15-years old was. Many of my classmates were out experiencing life, and I was working. At first it felt unfair, but eventually I found myself looking forward to seeing the regulars. I committed myself to the work so much that I caught myself answering my home phone saying,"Epsom House of Pizza". I have carried the lessons, and some of the relationships, with me over the last two decades. In college I like to think I bloomed, although the world bloom sounds like a rose, and my transformation was far less beautiful. I made mistakes. I failed classes and programs. I decided I was going to learn the hard way. Looking back, I silently cringe and applaud myself. College was a glorious display of a young woman working hard to find herself. After college I embraced my major. I dove headfirst into the world of Human Services, and I hated it. Well, I hated the system; but I loved the work. From there I shifted around, a lot. Each job brought me one step closer to where I am today. Today I am doing work I can truly stand behind for people that truly benefit from it. It is hard work. Not physically, but the nonprofit world is not easy. I embrace it though, because when I was 15, I learned that hard work pays off.