RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — When 72-year-old Mary Hill invites visitors into her home, she immediately points to her roots.
“And that is from Louisiana,” she said, gesturing toward her memories, photographs and keepsakes. “This is my grandmother. My mother’s mother.”
Framed pictures line the walls, alongside a colorful Mardi Gras mask. They are items Hill says help tell the story of where she came from and the life she has built since leaving Louisiana.
But her journey has also been marked by hardship.
“I’ve had a life of drug addiction. I’ve been locked up. I’ve been raped at gunpoint,” she said
Hill went viral through a social media post that has now been viewed more than 10 million times on Instagram. In the video, she identified herself directly while calling out Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos. The Amazon warehouse worker appeared in a video that was projected onto Bezos’ New York penthouse the night before the Met Gala, which was an event he sponsored.
Who is going to pay my bills if I retire? What am I going to retire on?
“When we struggle from paycheck to paycheck, from week to week. It really angers me,” Hill said in the video.
Hill told ABC11 she has worked at Amazon in Garner for the past five years, averaging about 25 hours a week at $22 an hour. She said she shares housing with a roommate to help manage expenses, but says rising costs continue to strain her budget.
“How is it enough? My rent just went up last month to $1,500, my car note and car insurance. Look how gas is going up,” she said.
Her experience reflects broader concerns many Americans continue to voice about inflation and the rising cost of living.
Hill said many of her co-workers are facing similar challenges, often forced to choose between basic necessities. For her, the financial strain has made retirement out of reach.
“Who is going to pay my bills if I retire? What am I going to retire on?” Hill questioned. “The last paycheck I got from Amazon? Really?”
In 2022, Hill and another former Amazon worker helped launch CAUSE, an acronym for Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment. It is a worker-led movement advocating for what she describes as a living wage of $30 an hour.
That effort came as Hill was also battling colon cancer, a diagnosis she is now in remission from.
She also shared with ABC11 a photo album filled with what she called deeply personal memories of her life.
“This is my life. Should I say the better part of my life after being in recovery?” said Hill.
Hill, who said she has been sober for 13 years, described her journey as one of multiple lives lived, from addiction and recovery to activism and survival.
Despite the challenges, she said she remains determined not to give up.
“I refuse to give up. I’m not going down without a fight,” she said.
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