Target --> Homeless --> HF? How

Well the title explains it. I got into a target school on a scholarship, and then my parents went bankrupt. Both of them were in the hospital within 8 months, one with a life threatening condition, one with a psychotic episode. I went through a period of transitional homelessness, since I didn't have any family that could help; I mainly ended up staying in random Airbnbs and on friends couches or floors. To get by, I dropped out of college and got a job coding because that was something I knew how to do and could get paid for. I helped my parents get back on their feet while saving money for the huge tuition bill. I've worked full time - fullstack dev and data science - about 60-80 hours a week while finishing college. I've also done a lot of work in algo trading on my own.

Now, I am entering my final year, and due to the workload I dealt with while attending college, my GPA is weak - about 2.9-3.0 depending on how my summer courses finish. I feel like I am in a place where I could out perform, or outwork, many who are getting similar jobs I want, but I've had no luck so far. It's been a struggle because I think I am just getting filtered out due to my GPA and the fact that my experience is not at a BB. My dream job is working in a macro hedge fund, but on paper my skills lean toward quant work. I realize I need to network more, but I am looking for guidance on two things:

1) how do I even present my circumstance to people I would network with? When would I bring this up with them? I don't want to appear to be making excuses for myself, but I need to get a foot in the door.

2) My goal is to work in the macro space, it's what I'm most passionate about, and I have a lot of life goals focused around it. I say that as someone who has worked in a wide range of fields compared to most 21 year olds. Knowing this, how should I optimize my time, do I reach out to hedge funds at all? Or should I try for something lower and then lateral?

Thanks for any advice