Step into Marjorie Roberts' home office and her pictures tell the story of the best moments of her life.

There is a picture of her receiving her doctorate degree in business. Then, there is a picture of her and her husband from their final trip to Las Vegas before the pandemic.

But the pictures also show a life Roberts says she will never live again because of what COVID-19 has done to her.

“You know, growing up your parents and the world tell you to go to the military, get a job, work, buy a house," Roberts said, as she looks at her accomplishments on her wall. "I did everything.”

Prior to the pandemic, Roberts managed a gift shop at a hospital in Atlanta.

“I was just happy. My life was good. It wasn’t perfect," she said.

Not long after she says the gift shop closed in March of 2020, she felt the symptoms of COVID-19.

“That morning I woke up, I was fine. I was fine, and by the time that the sun went down that night, my life had forever changed," Roberts recalled. “I just felt bad and the fatigue, and it just happened so quick.”

She is one of the country’s earliest COVID-19 survivors, but now about 20 months later, her battle continues.

Doctors found damage to her lungs, her liver, and she even lost teeth, since she had COVID.

“Seven teeth all at once, in the front my mouth," Roberts said.

A UC Davis study found as many as a third of COVID-19 survivors live with a symptom of the virus long-term.

Roberts says as a COVID-19 long-hauler, it’s hard to work. She is a certified life coach.

“I still have like no energy. I do walk. It took me months to be able to walk up this block," Roberts said.

Roberts says while COVID-19 has hurt her health, it’s also hurt how she and her husband get by.

“We went from a two-income house, savings, to him. It’s all on him," she said.

“We all know someone who has been directly impacted by this. Many of them are still suffering," says Chris Kocher, who leads COVID Survivors for Change.

The nonpartisan nationwide group is pushing for more government support for COVID-19 long-haulers, many of whom are now struggling to make a living.

In July, the Biden administration issued new guidance that said COVID long-haulers may qualify for government disability assistance, but Kocher said more needs to be done.

“This is a new condition. This is a new disease, so we need to make sure we are listening. The medical system is listening. To people who have COVID, first and for most, they’re the experts in what their bodies are going through, what their journey of healing has been," Kocher said.

These days, Roberts spends much of her time in a prayer room she's created in her home.

"This is where the magic happens," she said, as she looked at her Bible.

Roberts also leads a weekly support group for COVID-19 long haulers like herself.

“We stick together," she said. "Because we’re all we got.”

The truth about long-haul COVID is that at this point, there is much we don’t know.

“I’m going to be OK because have to. I have to, I have no choice," Roberts said.

While doctors work to find answers as to what causes long-haul COVID and how long the impact could last, those still suffering, like Roberts, say they can only try to move past its impact on their bodies, their lives, and their livelihoods.

ATLANTA, Ga. — Just about every morning, Monicha Taylor hits the gym. She says it helps with productivity before logging on to work at her kitchen table.

“My favorite thing about it is the flexibility that you get,” Taylor said.

Her current public relations job makes it possible for her to work from home, but just like 25 million other Americans, she was unemployed the first few months of the pandemic.

“It was super frustrating, honestly, and scary," Taylor said. "I live alone and I have to take care of myself, so I just wasn't sure how I was going to come out of this or how I was going to stay afloat.”

Since graduating college in 2017, Taylor has been able to stay afloat thanks, in part, to freelance opportunities through Black Girl Group.

Founded by Stephanie Alston, Black Girl Group is a creative staffing platform that connects men and women of color to companies seeking more diverse creative talent.

“Let’s say they're looking for a graphic designer," Alston said. "They'll come to us and we will vet out the top three candidates for them and then we'll send those candidates over for them. They'll interview those candidates and if they decide to hire, then a relationship with them is made and then that person is able to move forward in that role.”

Alston says the idea came to her in a dream. Her goal is to diversify companies all over the U.S. by bringing people of color to the table.

“Being in PR in the past and being the only Black woman in the room on several occasions, what I realize is that oftentimes either there was not enough representation at the table or there was representation where people were afraid to speak up because they were fearful that they would be retaliated against if they did speak up,” Alston said.

Bringing women of color into the workforce is critical right now. Demographics professor Rogelio Saenz at the University of Texas-San Antonio says Black and Latina women have been the most heavily impacted by job loss during the pandemic.

“Childcare disproportionately falls to women and then with women, they also had elder care as well,” Saenz said.

Saenz’ report shows the highest peak of unemployment happened in April. Latinos had the highest unemployment rate at nearly 19%, followed by Blacks at 16.4% and whites had the lowest at around 13%.

“With respect to who was able to work from home and there that was also a significant difference, that it tended to be much more likely to be people with higher levels of education and also more likely to be whites compared to African Americans and Latinos,” Saenz said.

“The Band-Aid that was often put on the struggles that women of color face in the workplace, it was ripped off,” Alston said.

Saenz says the lack of opportunity for higher education and well-paying jobs among women of color is an issue of sexism and systemic racism. Because of that, he says the types of jobs many women of color have are in the service or tourism industries, those heavily affected while we were in lockdown.

The need for diversity became essential and noticed after George Floyd was killed in late May of 2020. Alston says that's when companies started making commitments toward diversity.

“It is unfortunate that the death of George Floyd, you know, was one of those things that propelled us into that," Alston said. "But at the same time, we are now able to give more people opportunities to sit at the table who may have otherwise never had the opportunity before.”

Taylor says her long-term goal is to become an entrepreneur like Alston, propelling women of color into high-paying and meaningful jobs.

While most people seek safety during danger, Ebonique Johnson actually hurries to the frontlines.

“I’m running towards it because that’s where I’m needed the most,” said Johnson, a nursing student at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Set to graduate in December, she’s looking to land a job at an ICU.

“I want to be where I’m needed,” Johnson said. “I want to help the COVID patients.”

That help could come sooner or later depending on where she gets a job.

Some states are waiving certain regulations and allowing nursing students to enter the workforce more easily. Other states, however, have prevented nursing students from working with COVID-19 patients altogether.

“We can’t hit the pause button with what’s going on, nurses are needed now more than ever,” said Dr. Regena Spratling, associate dean for GSU’s school of nursing.

She says coronavirus concerns have limited student access to hospitals for hands-on clinical training and that more courses are now being taught online.

“We’re really focusing on what they would be doing within the health care system as far as taking care of patients,” Spratling said.

Despite changes, GSU is seeing more people looking to join its nursing program.

For GSU nursing student Phillip Parnell, this pandemic is personal.

“One of my older relatives recently passed away with the virus,” he said.

The army veteran is now making his second career his first priority.

“When it hits home, it’s a different level of intensity,” Parnell said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the health care industry needs more than 200,000 new nurses each year through 2026 just to replace retiring nurses.

“Although we never thought we would see a pandemic in our lifetime, it’s here,” Johnson said.

GSU students are happy to be leading the next generation of nurses while also fighting COVID-19 on the frontlines.

“We answer the call to be there for people,” Johnson said. “It’s our time to show up.”

Janine Vanderberg is the director of a Colorado-based initiative called Changing the Narrative, a campaign against age discrimination, something she says has increased during the pandemic.

"They were laid off. They were pushed out. They had their hours reduced. They had their salary reduced. I’ve heard hundreds of stories of people who not only want to work, but need to work basically for survival and are not able to," she said

According to a recent study by the New School Retirement Equity Lab, the pandemic forced an additional 1.7 million Americans into retirement than expected, saying that due to health risks and disproportionate job loss, more older workers were pushed into early retirement.

"One of the things that we know this is true in Colorado and across the country is that age discrimination isn't treated as seriously as other forms of discrimination," said Vanderberg.

Vanderberg says age discrimination is hard to prove but can be countered with proactive steps like getting rid of graduation dates on applications and putting money into re-training programs.

"If we're going to have successful workplaces where younger people and older people work together in any kind of workplace and gain the benefits of each other's perspective and insights and knowledge, why don't we train them together as well?" she asked.

But what about preparing for that unexpected early retirement? Financial experts say the earlier you prepare, the better.

"We've seen the turning point of most people not having large pensions and retirement, that, that notion of one day it all stops becomes a bit of an exercise and, and, and scares folks," said Scott Sparks, founder and CEO of Sparks Financial affiliated with Northwest Mutual.

He says the sooner you can establish a budget and figure out ways to put money away that can supplement your income, the more financial independence you will gain.

"If we can help our clients compartmentalize the time frames of when they're going to need and spend money, they become less emotional about their money. And we have a plan so that when we have market events, we can enter that in an opportunity mindset versus a scarce, fearful mindset that tends to cause people to panic," he said.

Whether it's planning years ahead or reaching out for help in the moment, there are avenues of help available if you find yourself in sudden retirement.

Meanwhile, Vanderberg hopes more employers realize the benefits of having a more diverse age range in the workplace.

"We can all sort of stop and think become aware of ageism. I like the concept of taking really small steps in our own lives to do something right," she said.

American employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, a sharp downturn from March. 

It's a sign businesses are struggling to fill open positions even as the country recovers economically from the pandemic. 

Construction companies and manufacturers, particularly automakers, slowed hiring last month due to parts shortages. 

Meanwhile, the hospitality sector, which includes restaurants, hotels and venues, is basically begging for workers. 

Lots of jobs are going unfilled because people have changed fields or left the workforce during the last year of the pandemic. And of course, some unemployed Americans are still afraid to go back to work due to the coronavirus pandemic and stubbornly high infection rates in certain parts of the country.

"Here we are in an empty dining room where normally, for lunch, we would be open and serving, you know, a couple of hundred guests," business owner Mac Hay said, "But this year, because of our staff shortage, both with U.S. workers but also workers from overseas, we've we can't fill the demand."

In response, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling on Washington to immediately stop paying Americans an extra $300 in weekly unemployment benefits. It's saying that boost is incentivizing some Americans to not return to work. 

The group also said the Biden administration's supplemental benefits means about 1 in 4 Americans is making more money unemployed than they earned while they were working.

This story originally reported by Gage Jackson on Newsy.com.