I believe, as Robert Frost has written, that persistent people begin their success where others end in failures. Here is a story of persistence. The courageous Liz Murray, a young teenager, triumphed over insurmountable odds by believing in herself.

Liz Murray grew up extremely poor. Her parents were drug addicts. Murray's mother also suffered from AIDS and mental illness. Her father was HIV positive and unemployed. Longing for parental love, Murray writes, "There is something about a parent's love that determines the size of the world for you; it's your foundation. In the deepest, most important sense there are no adults there for me." At 15, she found herself alone and out on the streets. Instead of crumbling, the troubled teen clung to hope.

She knew she was smart and could succeed. She just needed a chance to climb out of this place she was born in. She said, "Everyone I know is angry and tired. They're trying to survive. But I know that there is a world out there that is better, that's better developed. And I want to live in it." Liz Murray was determined to find and live in that better and developed world.

Seventeen-year-old Liz Murray decided to finish high school in two years. While keeping up with her classes, she worked odd jobs to make a little money. She packed bags for the grocer, pumped gas in self-service stations and hustled tips as a waitress, and did people's laundry, walked dogs. She did whatever she could to survive. However, Murray still constantly struggled financially, but, she says, she made enough money to get by.

Nineteen-year-old Liz Murray was attending Harvard University, and by 22, she was helping to create a TV movie based on her life. When she was asked how Lifetime got a hold of her story, she responded, "When I won the New York Times College Scholarship, they printed a brief overview of my life. 20/20 picked it up and it snowballed from there."

"Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story" was made for Lifetime Television. The film made in 2003 was the recipient of three Emmy Award nominations.

After her mother's death, while Liz Murray was attending Harvard, her life began moving at a faster pace. She also became caretaker for her ill father, and decided to leave Harvard because it was not " ... the best fit" for her.

Liz Murray has become a Lifetime moderator and participates in Lifetime Chats to encourage youths and as a role model she advises them to overcome adversities. "At Lifetime, it's important to remind ourselves and all women and girls in our lives that each of us can face our own personal challenges and reach for the stars," Murray states.

Now, she travels extensively around the world as an inspirational speaker and as a celebrity. She's been telling her story to different audiences. She says, "If I'm in a corporate setting, it's all about determination and fortitude." Her favorite place to go is classrooms, especially high schools where she can just be honest and say, "Look, it's hard -- it takes some of this and watch out for that and no one is perfect but this is what I've learned." Encouraging youths has to do mainly with finding a way to relate to them. The distance they have from success in their lives probably has to do with core beliefs they have about themselves or about the world around them. If you can find that core, open it up. Investigate it. Then you can find a way to bring them out of it. Make a bridge between where they are and where they might be better off.

Talking about her friend, she recounts, "The friend who really became the most like family was Chris. She's portrayed in the movie. She was out in the streets with me. She left home when she was 13. Now, she's 21 and she's still living on friends' couches. It's sometimes hard sharing with my friends all the things I'm doing now. I'm always on an airplane going off to do something, giving speeches and meeting people. I'll come back and some of my friends are playing video games, and I come in and say, 'I just gave a speech with Gorbachev.' It's especially hard with Chris, since we had a parallel journey at one point in time."

Liz Murray didn't wait for opportunity to knock on her door. She made the opportunity available with her tenacity and hard work. Beating all odds, she worked hard to earn a college scholarship. As soon as she received it, her sheer luck has been smiling at her nonstop. Dropping out of Harvard didn't matter. Her name fame and fortune have been on the rise.

This homeless young girl was once envious as she looked around at people who lived outside of her circle and enjoyed normal things, like education, stable living situations, a roof over their head, and family. She realized that there was another, better world which was different from the one she was living. She used that envy and insight to drive her far from the surroundings to which she was first bound.

Currently, Liz Murray claims that she is editing her memoir; next fall she plans to go to NYC to graduate from college and take courses in filmmaking. She says, "I've always been in love with the medium. I've sketched out screenplays and taken film classes. I'd like to make films -- not big Hollywood blockbusters, but films with real thought to them. Some of my favorites are "The Color Purple" and "Forest Gump."

Mandakini Hiremath is a Claflin instructor and coordinator of the university's writing center.

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