It’s been five years since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. At the time, the country was already in a sensitive state. Donald Trump was nearing the end of his first and, let’s just say, controversial presidency. Retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was tragically killed in a plane crash alongside his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. Throughout 2019, cases of officers killing unarmed Black people dominated headlines; the harrowing trend would unfortunately follow us into 2020. We were not ok. Then rumors and social media videos began to surface of a deadly virus that was quickly spreading across the globe. Before we knew it, we were all on lockdown, mandated to stay indoors for months; the virus would go on to claim the lives of over 3 million worldwide.
Our lives haven’t been the same since. Quarantine made working from home a new standard, working parents found themselves with more quality time with their children that many now prioritize, and online shopping became our go-to. Not only did the pandemic change the economy, but we also shifted as people. Some of us found a new spark for life. We began to take our mental and physical health more seriously, shed bad relationships, started new businesses, and faced fears we never thought we could. In 2020, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey and found over 50% of Americans agreed that the pandemic would transform their lives forever. We spoke to four people who made it through that gripping time and asked them how it changed them. From a change in career to a closer relationship with God, here’s what they had to say.
Jasmine Givens, 33
Givens walked out of the pandemic fully transformed. In 2020, she recalls finding herself sobbing on her rooftop. Her 30s were approaching, and she just wasn’t happy. “I was falling into a depression, and I never struggled with that before,” says Givens, who works in cyber security. She had been crossdressing on weekends but was undecided on whether she should take the steps to change her gender from male to female. “My heart was aching. I tried to take a trip and shake it off, but nothing worked; I knew I had to make a decision.” On her way to get her first hormone shot, she asked God for a sign to reveal if she was making the right decision. “At that moment, my song came on, and only God and I know that’s our song; that was my confirmation.” Givens used those initial work-from-home months to transition fully; she was Jasmine when she walked back into her office. “The blessings started to pour in when I started to live as my authentic self,” says Givens; she began booking modeling opportunities without having to audition and even walked in New York Fashion Week. “I no longer look at other women and wish I was them,” she affirms. “This is the first time in my life that I have never wanted to be anyone else; I just want to be me.”
Cassandra Goins, 68
Online shopping soared during the pandemic, but instead of joining the herds of people stuffing the pockets of fast fashion brands and big box stores, Goins went in the opposite direction. “The pandemic inspired me to become more socially conscious about the environment,” she says, “so I decided to purge.” Goins started removing mismatched cups and plates, as well as gently used clothes from her home, and had a stoop sale on the steps of her Harlem brownstone. “We couldn’t go anywhere or do anything, so people would take walks, see my stoop sale, and stop by,” she says. The sale grew into a neighborhood initiative, and before she knew it, the then-retiree was curating pop-up shops. In December of 2020, she hosted her first Christmas popup. She collaborated with neighborhood designers, artists, and bakers. Goins, who had worked in the music industry for decades, began advertising her events on Instagram. Eventually, she caught her friend’s attention, the late Michael K. Williams of The Wire fame. “He had a massive wardrobe and wanted to get rid of things, so he asked if I wanted to do an event with him. I conceptualized a pop-up shop for him titled From the Closet of Michael K Williams.” The 2021 popup was a hit, garnering media coverage and inspiring Goins to take things further. Later that year, she opened Harlem Creative Collective, a brick-and-mortar boutique curating preloved luxury brands in Harlem. The store has everything from vintage jewelry, purses, hats, and shoes to men’s and women’s clothing. The pandemic brought her out of retirement. “Covid changed my direction in life; it gave me a new career.”
Ingrid Archie, 43
Archie grew her faith in God during the pandemic. Before the stay-at-home order went into play, the mother of two identified as spiritual — she came out proudly claiming Christianity. “Everybody was losing it,” says Archie. “Anxiety was developing in high numbers, and we were just all trying to find ways to stay calm, so I dove into the word of God more.” As a mom, when schools were closed but encouraging parents to home-school their children, Archie was one of the thousands of parents who went from caretaker to teacher. She was still working full-time as lead organizer for Time Done, a criminal justice reform nonprofit. And to top it all off, she was pregnant. “My self-care is connected to my spirituality, so I started listening to sermons and reading the bible; it kept me grounded,” she says. Her decision to bolster her faith came at the right time. She was one of the many women who experienced a miscarriage during the pandemic. Early on, hospitals were overrun with COVID-19 patients and only admitted critical cases. Archie had to have her miscarriage at home, alone. Determined not to break down and lose her mind, she sought to get to know herself deeper to become a better mother and leader. “Learning who God is helped me get to know myself better,” says Archie. “Reading stories about how resilient he was when things were in disarray and how he still had to maintain himself as a leader and instill that in people around him inspired me. Taking on those characteristics felt like a revelation.”
Sy “Sunchild” Lu, 35
“COVID-19 rocked my world,” says Lu. “It shifted my entire foundation.” They describe a time when life was just starting to come together. The multidisciplinary artist was dancing professionally and booking modeling gigs; they felt like they were on the cusp of a big break. But when the pandemic hit, all that momentum came to an end. “It was nice in the beginning to slow down because I had been working so hard,” says Lu, “but when it got to the point of us being stuck inside and unable to go anywhere, I started to feel heavy and sad.” This caused Lu to self-reflect. “I felt lonely in a way that I had never felt before,” they say. Lu admitted to friends that they needed support and expressed what that looked like. But this vulnerability was met with some pushback. Lu is known amongst their friend group for being emotionally intelligent and supportive, so when that energy wasn’t being reciprocated, they reevaluated the people around them. “I wanted all of my relationships to be equitable,” says Lu. So they started having tough conversations with friends, expressing issues they had been harboring and left space for them to do the same. Some friends couldn’t handle their candor, so they parted ways. “For some people, their egos just got the best of them,” says Lu. “They were ok with being around me until I asked them to do the work.” But for the ones that stayed, Lu says their friendships are more substantial. “If we love each other and are friends, we should be able to have the conversation; we should all grow through our relationships,” they add. To this day, Lu still does these “friendship check-ins,” which they insist are the foundation of any relationship. “When someone is saying, ‘Hey, when you did this, it hurt my feelings,’ it’s saying I love you enough to tell you instead of just cutting you off,” Lu adds. Despite a few losses, the pandemic reminded them that friendships are key to navigating tough seasons in life. “Friends are your soulmates. They last past romantic relationships, family passing away, and sickness. You must nurture them.”