The Arc of a Rainbow: Amy’s Journey from Despair to Direction

Known affectionately as “Rainbow,” Amy has walked through some of life’s darkest valleys and emerged with clarity, resilience, and a passion for helping others find their light. Originally from Hazard, Kentucky, she now works as a job coach at the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) in Cincinnati, where she once stood as a participant herself.

Proudly calling herself “the epitome of a coal miner’s daughter,” Amy married at twenty and homeschooled her only son, now nearly eighteen. But behind the façade of family life, she endured years of abuse. In July 2019, she made the courageous decision to leave her relationship and start anew.

To support herself and her son, Amy took a physically demanding job delivering and retrieving parts for a major company, pushing through exhaustion while still healing from the trauma of her past. She was living with depression and a Stockholm syndrome diagnosis. “I started burning my candle at both ends,” she said, describing her 90 to 100-hour workweeks. During this period, she began using substances, and over the next three years, her life began to spiral.

“I started doing a lot of illegal activity,” Amy stated. “I created my persona; my street name is Rainbow, because I was out there doing the most, using drugs.” She found herself involved in survival-based work that exposed her to even greater risk, ultimately leading to seven felony charges. In August 2022, she was arrested. At the time, she was on the run from her treatment facility and law enforcement.

After being extradited, she was sentenced to prison in January 2023. Looking back, she sees that moment as a turning point: “If I hadn’t gone to prison, I ain’t gonna lie to you—it saved my life.”

During the timeframe of a “tour of prisons” as she described being moved from place to place, she lost her father and was not able to be furloughed to take part in his funeral. She made him a promise that she would stay clean and has honored her word through her proactive lifestyle changes and strength of spirit. “I made a promise to him that I’d remain clean and I would change my life. I wanted to be remembered for something positive,” she said. In November of 2023, Amy was released from prison, the last time she was incarcerated.

After her release, she voluntarily entered a sober living facility. She worked her way up to assistant house manager, and by March 2024, she was introduced to the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) through her parole officer. Today, she sends the same parole officer referral forms to others who need help, just like she did.

“When I came home, I came home with nothing. With no help,” Amy said. “With the help of CEO, I got my license back. I just recently moved into my own apartment in February. I purchased my first car. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that without the help of CEO. When I say they have supported me through thick and thin, the Cincinnati office—we’re like family here.”

Within three months, Amy entered CEO’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP), which helped her adjust to office life and build leadership skills. As she was seeking avenues for permanent employment, roles opened up around CEO, including the job coach position at CEO Cincinnati.

In August 2024, straight out of the ELP program, Amy became a full-time job coach with CEO. In that role, she now helps others begin their own reentry journeys. “I went from one extreme to being the epitome of what CEO stands for,” she said. “Because people still know ‘Rainbow,’ but you know now it’s in a positive aspect. Because I still go by my nickname. It’s a bubbly, shiny name. But I wanted it to be related to something positive.”

“Becoming a job coach is one of the most impactful things I’ve ever done. Because at the end of the day, these participants—I’ve walked a mile in their shoes. I’ve been incarcerated. I’ve struggled with addiction, with harm and abuse. So I can relate to them in some form or fashion.”

Amy is also a student at Cincinnati State, working toward her associate’s degree with the goal of becoming a licensed counselor. Her dream is to one day open her own sober living facility. “I’m very active in my recovery. I have a home group, I have a sponsor. It’s very important that you take care of your mental health. You gotta keep your circle right. You have to change old people, places, and things. And if you don’t do that, you’re gonna fall back into the same shoes you’ve been in before.”

Amy has no regrets taking this path: “People ask me, would you do it all again? And I say ‘yes, absolutely.’ Because I wouldn’t be where I’m at today had I not experienced the things that I went through.”

CEO gave her a pathway, but Amy did the work. She turned loss into purpose, and today she helps others to believe that they can change their own circumstances. But they have to work for it. If she could say one thing to someone still behind bars or struggling to rebuild, it’s this:

“Always use your time wisely. Don't feel like the world is against you. There are people who care.”

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