Back to the team…
Meet Sharon Nelson
Manager
Like so many who go down the path of addiction, Sharon’s childhood was characterized by trauma. She is a survivor of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Yet Sharon’s is a story of strength and triumph over adversity.
As a child, she witnessed firsthand gun violence and death, and sexual abuse by both father figures in her life. By the time she was placed in the safety of foster care, she had already experienced more horrors than any person, much less a child, should ever have to go through.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sharon turned to a life of drugs, abusive men, and chaos. She lost everything, including her children, and began getting incarcerated. After 2 years of County Jail and 3 prison terms, Sharon had finally had enough. She knew that a short-term program was not going to be sufficient. She heard about a place called Delancey Street and was drawn to the idea of getting her life together.
Delancey Street was an amazing and transformative experience for Sharon. She ended up spending the next 5 years there, working in Corporate Development, the Business Office, Finance, and Retail Sales. During that time, she had the opportunity to get her GED and, after 10 years of not having a license, she got a Commercial Drivers License. Not only did she get her life back in order, but Delancey Street also empowered her to do the intrapersonal work that was necessary for her to undergo a genuine transformation. She was able to unearth all the shame and self-pity from her past and come to some dramatic and empowering realizations. “I will eternally be grateful to Delancey Street. I decided I didn’t want to be that weak person anymore. I realized that it’s not about me and that I could turn those things that happened to me into a strength. If I can spend the rest of my life helping people instead of giving them poison to hurt them, then that’s what I want to do.”