jaj awards

JaJ is using this website as a support platform incorporating the JaJ Crown Awards to celebrate incredible people that have the courage to take a chance. Interested in applying for the Crown Awards? Contact us online to request more information!

Award Winner

Elizabeth Hammil

- A True Inspiration

JaJ is using this website as a support platform for acknowledging inspirational people from all walks of life and all ages that have the courage to take a chance and follow their dreams.

So honored and excited to be the first person to win this award! I didn't have an easy childhood. The only thing as a child that kept me believing in the world was music and dancing. My whole life people told me I couldn't be a singer. No one special ever acknowledged me. I've been mocked and ridiculed for my singing and people would even tell me to hire others to sing my song or to sell my lyrics, I refused. After going into two studio sessions and neither engineer taking me seriously, I enrolled in Recording Engineer Institute. In 2016, I became my own Certified Audio Engineer. A dream come true, right?

When I was about to get my first real job in the industry, I got diagnosed with osteogenesis sarcoma (Bone cancer). Now, you see breast cancer awareness everywhere, but this was new to me. After learning how many forms of cancer and how severe my case was and how blessed I was my tumor didn't open and pour into my body, I started chemo.

For the next year, my life became hospital stays, being sick all the time, and port flushes at the cancer center. There was even a moment when I was ready to accept death and wanted to stop this harsh medical treatment that left me feeling like I was dying anyway. However, I was lucky to get a child like form of cancer as an adult. I believe what kept me alive was that little bit of luck combined with amazing doctors and nurses at Stony Brook Cancer Center and 19N, my mother and friends standing by my side, plus my persistence to keep my spirit up after everything.

After beating cancer, I dove into a depression. Even people who supported me during treatment couldn't understand what I was going through and I lost a majority of my friends. I was scared I was giving up on life again. If it honestly wasn't for my mother, Patrice and a couple of inspiring people I met, like my friends Matt, Zina and JJ, I wouldn't be where I am today. I realize now that I was given a second chance to live and I refuse to let that second chance pass me by.

Now, fast forward to 2019 and i'm about to release my first album as an artist! I engineered the music, wrote the lyrics, and am recording my vocals on the tracks. Now, instead of getting a job in the industry, i'm working on getting my first album out and living my dream as an artist. I realized I could look back at the opportunities lost or I could look at the new opportunities gained and trust the fact that everything happens for a reason.

I Hope my story to never give up inspires you to be able to live your truth no matter what odds are stacked against you. I hope my story inspires you, the reader, to never give up on your dreams and focus on manifesting your own destiny.

#LoveAllThings