Joy is wife to Chris and mother of three incredible children, a daughter and two sons. She has survived a 12 year eating disorder and celebrated 14 years of recovery from alcohol on October 19, 2016.
Born a “preacher’s kid” she is the youngest of three girls, a self proclaimed “daddy’s girl,” a lover of words, photographer of much, follower of Christ, seeker of truth and a believer in Heaven.
After enduring her parents painful and very public divorce, at age 17 she moved to a new city to pursue modeling. Joy would describe this as “a time of growth disguised as painful life lessons.”
There would be many other jobs and experiences, all of which were helping shape the person she is now. She would say, “I am recovering from many “isms.” The strongest of which is my ego. I have walked a prodigal journey and share my experience in hopes that it will help others either avoid the same path or find forgiveness within themselves.”
Joy is now a full time photographer, writer, and speaker. She integrates her art with her writing to create a visual depiction of her message. Her main topic is beauty and the way we define it. She leads a one day, interactive workshop for women titled, “Beauty Undefined” where the misconceptions of the word and it’s meaning are laid out on the table (so to speak), sorted and put back together in a new way.
Joy gladly accepts the privilege of speaking with people from all walks-of-life about her experience, strength and hope. As she would say, “If you aren’t sure about God… believe there is no God…are a bible beater…a seeker…a Jesus freak…a veteran Christian or anything in between, my hope is that something I say will resonate in your gut and move you to positive action. I’m a masterpiece in the making and for me it’s about progress not perfection.”
