Liz Murray is the daughter of two loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx in New York City. She was raised in neglect and squalor, as her parents’ addiction eroded their family, eventually leading both her mother and father to contract HIV/AIDS. The disease ultimately claimed both their lives. Homeless at age 15, Liz graduated from high school while living on the streets and overcame incredible odds to win full scholarship to Harvard University. Liz is now a Harvard graduate and founder and director of Manifest Trainings, a New York based company whose mission it is to empower adults to create the extraordinary in their own lives.

Liz’s inspirational story was captured on Lifetime Television’s original film, Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story, which was nominated for three Emmys.

Liz has spent the last 10 years traveling to over a dozen countries, inspiring thousands of people as one of the most highly sought after inspirational speakers in the world. That same gutsy strength that pulled her from the streets now empowers the lives of others, from student groups to business audiences and people from all walks of life seeking strategies to overcome their own obstacles.

Liz’s gift is to work closely with a person to become attune to their heartfelt vision for their life, and to develop highly personalized tools to support them in creating deeper fulfillment and success defined by their terms.

Liz has been featured on ABC News 20/20, Good Morning America, the Today Show, CNN, written up in The New York Times, People magazine as well as numerous other media outlets. She has authored advice columns in the New York Times Upfront Magazine and she is the author of Breaking Night, her memoir, which is slated for publishing through Hyperion in the fall of 2010.

She has been awarded the White House Project’s Role Model Award, a Christopher Award as well as being among the first to receive from Oprah Winfrey, the “Chutzpah Award,” on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Liz has shared the stage with Steven Covey, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Dali Lama and Tony Blair. She currently lives in New York City and brings her empowerment work across the Unites States and throughout the world.