Location:

Tennessee

One place I’ve always wanted to visit:

Greece

Favorite pastime activity: 

Attending a MLB or minor league baseball game

Coffee or Tea?

Tea

More about Joy:

Joy serves as the Learning Manager for CAFO’s Center on Applied Research for Vulnerable Children and Families. Prior to this role, Joy has spent the last 18 years as a public school teacher, instructional coach, university professor, director of education and nonprofit board member for organizations serving students and families in the U.S. and abroad. She has also served the local church as a Missions Director and Director of Leadership Development. As a lifelong educator and learner, Joy is especially passionate about creating experiences that foster growth and development for the vulnerable and overlooked.

Joy received an Ed.D. in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change from Lipscomb University, a MS. in Cultural and Educational Policy from Loyola University-Chicago, a MS. in Language, Literacy and Specialized Instruction from DePaul University, and a BS. in Secondary Education, English, and Journalism from Butler University.

When she isn’t working, Joy loves exploring fun restaurants, sport stadiums, and hidden gems in new cities with her husband and two daughters. She also enjoys tending to her garden, supporting the local theater scene, anything creative and crafty, coffee shop conversations with good friends, and cheering on her hometown Chicago Cubs. Joy and her husband are also adoptive and former foster parents, and together, they love to partner with and support other adoptive and foster families as well as those who feel called to wrap around them.