“I just wanted money so bad because we didn’t really have [it],” said Harper. “Everything I asked for [was] like, oh, I don’t have the money.” Harper grew up the oldest of her mother’s children in Illinois. She took care of her brother, who was ten years younger, and started working early to earn her own money. Harper started her first job at 12 years old, working in rural Illinois detasseling corn, a job she learned about from a bulletin board flier at church. Harper still remembers the exact amount of the summer stipend she received, $675.  It was physically demanding work, requiring her to wear long sleeves, be elevated with a ladder or machine, and pull corn directly from the stock.  Reflecting on her first job experience, Harper compares it to “picking cotton”, and says it was a job she took because of a lack of financial resources in her household, which made her determined to earn her own money. 

Harper would move to Georgia in her teenage years, again taking on numerous job opportunities. Those opportunities included working at the Varsity restaurant, a daycare, and a BBQ joint. As a high school student, Harper attended school with affluent classmates, who often wore designer clothing and were gifted cars by their parents.  Seeing this material wealth in her daily life, Harper also wanted to have some of these things for herself so that she would feel more comfortable at school.“I kind of figured out at 16 years old that to survive in Georgia, you're going to need some jobs no matter what,” said Harper. “From the 90s to the 2000s, there was a whole shift in fashion, and if you didn’t have that shift of fashion, you were gonna get made fun of.” 

The central role of work continued for Harper beyond her teen years and into adulthood. Work became even more of a necessity when, at 18 years old, Harper became a mother for the first time. Over the coming years, she welcomed two more children. Living in the new reality of her growing family, Harper jumped into action, and her love extended beyond the goals she had for herself. When Harper’s daughter began attending daycare, she taught her how to read. When her oldest son became interested in sports and needed new gear, Harper, a former high school track and basketball athlete, decided to pursue a job at Nike to get her son the supplies he needed.   While the hiring process wasn’t easy, it came with the benefit of discounted sports items. More importantly, it helped Harper discover a “livelihood” instead of just another “job”. During her 6-year career at Nike, she thrived, and she describes it as her “happy space”. Harper was recognized as MVP several times, moved to desired store locations, and was offered higher paying positions. 

That changed with the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic when Harper, like so many Americans, found herself in financial precarity. Her money wasn’t supporting all her needs. She was facing eviction and the weight of it all while balancing two jobs.  It was her enrollment in GRO’s In Her Hands guaranteed income program, which supplemented her income for two years, that provided her with financial relief. 

The additional income allowed Harper to reflect and make new decisions about her employment. She evaluated what was important to her and what would make her life sweet. The funds from In Her Hands allowed her to pursue a different path. Harper had been considering a teaching opportunity with the nonprofit, Hands on Atlanta, to be an emotional and social coach in the school system. “Because I had [the money from] In Her Hands, I was able to take a lower paying job,” said Harper. “I had the $850 [monthly income] I could depend on. I was able to see that maybe I got a better calling because these kids can’t read; they don’t have any motivation. [In the] city of Atlanta, only 11% of black and brown kids can read. [I was part of the Old Fourth Ward site of In Her Hands], which is in the City of Atlanta. So I’m like, I think I need to be in this environment to give back to the kids that are around me.” Harper moved from a social and emotional coach to a health and physical education teacher and received a stipend for her teaching certificate. Today, she is a full-time English Language Arts teacher. 

The switch to full-time teaching also sparked a shift in Harper’s relationship to work. She was always a provider and champion of her children, but her new career pushed her to rethink what the demands of working meant for her ability to be present and active in her children’s lives. She was still working at Nike while teaching, but she made the love-forward choice to take a step back. “I used to have to work at school. Then, hurry up and go to Nike. Then it was like, oh, my kids were stranded. My kids didn’t have a ride. Somebody was locked out. I missed the game, I missed the track meet, I missed this. I had no flexibility,” said Harper. “[Working at Nike] was my favorite job in the whole wide world, but it was time to go, I just needed a mental break from it because it’s draining.”  

Harper finds passion and a new perspective on her life with her teaching career. Her life is made more sweet by time with her children, sleeping on the weekend, and her newly found social life. “I wanted to have friends because I never really had friends. [Before, I couldn’t] do anything with people because I was always working. Now, I have meetups with my coworkers. We had an event for Labor Day; we had a game night at one of the friends’ houses. We went out for the summer doing AmeriCorps training; we would all go out for brunch or  Taco Tuesdays and things like that. I’m able to have a better work-life balance.”

In the book Sister of the Yam, author and social activist bell hooks writes, “The practice of ‘right livelihood’ invites us to be more fully aware of our reality, of the labor we do, and of the way we do it.” Harper has found the balance she deserves. Teaching and her family are her focus now, and the financial cushion of guaranteed income gave her the ability to make that decision. Her agency and enjoyment in her labor choices allow her to experience “work that makes life sweet.”