CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New York Times best-selling author, child abduction survivor, and child safety advocate Elizabeth Smart made a stop in Charlotte Monday.
Smart served as the keynote speaker for the JLC Working Lunch, hosted by the Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC).
At age 14, Smart was abducted on June 5, 2002, and her captors controlled her by threatening to kill her and her family if she tried to escape. Smart was safely returned back to her family on March 12, 2003, after being held a prisoner for nine grueling months.
On Monday, people lined up to meet Smart at the Le Méridien and hear her message of hope.
"It all comes back to ultimately our choices,” Smart said, “our choices to move forward, our choices to recover, to move on, to make the decision to not allow our past to define us."
Smart spoke openly about the details of her time in captivity but also shared how she overcame the traumatic experience with the help of her family and community.
"What these people did to me, I mean, they took a lot away from me, but I don't need to let them take any more away from me,” Smart said.
Smart has now authored two books. Her latest one is called “Where There's Hope: Healing, Moving Forward, and Never Giving Up.”
She has also become a leading advocate for change related to child abduction recovery programs and national legislation.
“Anytime a child goes missing, you know, we need to get the word out as far and as wide as we possibly can and as quickly as we can,” Smart said.
Smart is now showing through the message of her new book that it is possible to move on and reclaim one’s life.
“Hopefully most of the time, I choose to go out and live the life I always dreamed of living,” she added.