For Lauren Paylor, work was good.

She is a highly-decorated professional and leading voice in her field, but the coronavirus changed everything.

Paylor is a bartender and mixologist, most recently at Silver Lyan, a newly-opened cocktail bar in Washington, DC. She spent her evenings mixing new creations and serving fun surprises to Washington's high-end happy hour crowd. Until March. 

As with so many service industries, everything changed as stay-at-home orders went into effect and the bar closed. She went home to suburban Maryland where she's been ever since.

"We were all let go and encouraged to re-apply for our positions when the opportunity obviously presents itself to come back," Paylor remembered.

Paylor immediately filed for unemployment insurance, a process she, like so many Americans, found difficult. "I don't believe I received funds until five weeks after initially applying," Paylor said. "The communication process was a little difficult because I couldn't get in contact with anyone." 

Still, she feels fortunate. 

"Plenty of my peers have been denied unemployment, have not received unemployment at all, are waiting to get their stimulus check and unemployment," she said. 

During the pandemic, unemployment insurance has come with an additional $600 benefit, called pandemic unemployment assistance. For Paylor and millions of other Americans who are still unemployed several months into the pandemic, it has been a lifeline. 

"It's been very helpful. I'm trying to save as much as I can. And a lot of the reason, really, is that transitioning back into work, there are just a lot of uncertainties," she explained.

Especially in the food and beverage industry. COVID-19 cases in the DC area, including Maryland and Northern Virginia, continue to decline. Meanwhile, rising cases across the country raise concerns, especially as many of those new cases are tied to restaurants and bars reopening. 

That's something Paylor is watching closely. Especially because the additional pandemic unemployment assistance, some of which she has been able to save, will expire at the end of July. "Who knows if the second wave of this is going to hit anytime soon and if there's any assistance that comes with it," she wondered. "I think it's just really important to be smart."

Still, being unemployed is an adjustment. 

"Transitioning into not working is what probably caused a lot of the emotional toll that I encountered and that I went through," she said. "It's a life change."

Accepting unemployment assistance was a little easier for Paylor because of a lesson learned from an important person in her life: her mom. "I didn't really have an emotional toll for utilizing the resource because my mom always told me 'these are things that are there to utilize when you need them,'" Paylor said. "It just so happened a lot of people needed it." 

Paylor owns a health and wellness company along with being a bartender so that work has been keeping her busy. She's spending time outside with her dog and focusing on her own self-care. She encourages others to do the same.

"I think it's really important that we're just supporting each other as much as we can and making sure we're looking out for each other," Paylor said. 

As for what she's drinking during the pandemic? She recommends the Aperol Spritz, made of prosecco, Aperol, and soda water. 

"Honestly, it's because it's hot," Paylor said with a laugh, "It is swamp weather, hot and gross and humid. It's a great cocktail."

"I could have plenty of them, obviously low ABV [alcohol-by-volume] so they're better for you," she joked. 

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