A Bridgeport woman who lost several close family members over the past year says she's turning tragedy into triumph.

Dominique Turner says the past year has been especially tough for her, and not just because of the pandemic. The 33-year-old single mother says "the love of her life," her baby's father, was murdered last year.

Police say 31-year-old Daron Jones was fatally shot in the chest on Worth Street.

The loss happened less than two weeks after the stillborn birth of the couple's child.

"It was hard for us in my house. It was just so sad in my house and then 13 days later I lost him the day of our gender reveal, so that was hard, it was just like pain, after pain after pain," Turner recalls.

Turner would then lose her grandmother to the pandemic.

"I'll never forget. I had COVID myself and I lost my grandmother to it," Turner explained.

But Turner said at her darkest hour, something deep inside her pushed her to turn pain into progress.

"And it's just like, 'wow! If I could go through this, I want to help others that are going through it,'" Turner said.

She said her effort called Level Up is designed to help people like her struggling with grief and stress caused by the pandemic, violent crime and other factors.

"Mental health plays a big part in our community," Turner said, and expressed gratitude for all the support she received in her moment of grief.

"People have really been reaching out, that I never thought would reach out and it's not just people that I know, these are complete strangers, I never met them," Turner said and added that she feels fortunate to help others. "So, I'm just blessed that I can give back to the communities. I feel like it's my time, you know, to get the word out."

Turner explained that the logo for Level Up is a broken teddy bear because she hopes to heal broken hearts through this effort.