During her time receiving guaranteed income, Ana has experienced homelessness, while raising two children, and beginning a new career. She credits her participation in the GI program In Her Hands, launched by the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund (GRO), as motivation and a tool to achieving her aspirations.

Ana was born and raised in New York City. Growing up, she had a passion for business, which led her to study at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. In school, she studied logistics and supply chain management. After college, Ana began working in the industry, quickly moving from entry-level positions to roles with more responsibilities. She eventually decided that New York was no longer the place to be for her career, and moved to Atlanta in search of more opportunities including the dream of working for Coca-Cola's large-scale corporate logistics team. While she didn't get the dream job, she did settle into her new city, finding work, an apartment, and eventually becoming pregnant with her son. 

Ana's pregnancy and maternity leave started amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a time that shifted and uprooted many households across America from financial security. She was able to work from home at the start of the pandemic but eventually was asked to return to the office. Ana gave birth to her son early and was suddenly facing the need to provide extensive care of a premature baby,  while also being put on bed rest by her doctor. She trusted her workplace to understand her predicament and allow her to continue to work from home. Instead, she was advised to quit her full time role with the promise of future rehiring. Ana was never rehired, even after taking legal action, and the company she worked for was found to be not at fault for her employment situation. Ana also experienced workplace discrimination.  She lost not only her employment but a safety net for her family, which would only continue to grow as she welcomed a daughter a year later. 

With no job and a growing family, Ana struggled to cope in a household with only her partner's income. She experienced postpartum depression with both pregnancies, and the financial stress made daily life challenging. Ana was able to find some bright spots during her unexpected unemployment like having more time to connect with her children during their primary years. In this period of struggle, Ana was selected as a participant in the In Her Hands guaranteed income program. When she first learned she was selected for the program, she planned to use the funds to start a business. "I wanted to start my own business because it's something I really feel would set me [up] monetarily [to be] where I need to be in my life." Faced with a challenging year of mental health struggles and housing insecurity, the IHH funds ended up helping Ana with a different purpose – providing financial stability for her family. "The intention was to keep me afloat so that I wouldn't have to worry so much about being able to take care of my family,” said Ana G. Then, “once I was comfortable being afloat, [the plan was] to push me to do more when it came to not just staying afloat anymore, but  actually start sailing."

Even in difficult times, guaranteed income provided Ana the flexibility to stabilize her life. The journey was not perfect, but with $700 a month, she made magic. Now, she is on the path to thrive. She found a career in her industry at a company she loves. "I love my company now because everybody makes it easy for you to work. Everybody makes it to where you feel like you're actually cared for." She obtained an LLC and is working toward her long term future goal of starting her own fashion company. 

"To know the work we are "called" to do in this world, we must know ourselves," wrote bell hooks in Sisters of the Yam. Ana spent the last two years learning about herself—how strong she could be in the face of adversity and the type of livelihood she deserves. In Her Hands gave her breathing room to be, and that was enough for her to begin to blossom.