Joy says that most people would not know just by looking at her that she is funny, smart, caring, and deeply loyal to the people she loves. She enjoys karaoke and playing pool, two things that bring her comfort and joy. Pool, especially, helps her when she is stressed because it allows her to focus. When the balls break across the table, she sees it as a reflection of life; you play what you are dealt and work around your problems as best you can.
She cannot wait to return to those parts of her life when she moves out on her own and no longer has a curfew. Joy shares that her flower is named Ember, inspired by the fire lily. Fire lilies are unique because they require heat to germinate and often bloom after forest fires. To Joy, this symbolizes the idea that something beautiful can grow after something else has been destroyed. She sees herself as that ember, that fire lily, proof that growth is possible even after devastation.
Joy recently started CISS’s agriculture job training program in the greenhouse, and she is incredibly excited to learn more about plants. While she knows a lot about fire lilies, she admits she does not yet know much about other plants. What she does know is that she loves to ask questions. She is curious about why things happen and what causes them, especially when she is learning something new. Joy is always eager to learn.
If her life were a movie, she says it would be called The Joy Experience. Sometimes, when she tells her stories, they sound like works of fiction, but they are all true, no matter how unbelievable they may seem. She hopes that whoever takes her centerpiece home will remember that beautiful and wonderful things can come from places and people you might not expect.
Joy lives with physical limitations due to a back injury, broken bones in her feet, and arthritis in both knees. These challenges limit the types of jobs she can do. She also struggles with depression, PTSD, and anxiety, conditions that can weaken the immune system and cause her to get sick more often than the average person. Because of what she has been through, Joy is hypervigilant, and she jokes that she might be great at a security job.
She is currently hoping to be approved for disability so that she can have a steady income and eventually secure her own apartment. Joy finds strength in a Buddha quote: “How you think about something affects how you feel about it.” She believes in finding the good in everything, even if that means joking about difficult situations and searching for the light within them.
This way of thinking became especially meaningful after Joy was nearly sold into sex trafficking. She fought back and reported what happened, which ultimately helped free thirty other women who were also victims of trafficking. She knows that if she had not fought and filed that police report, the outcome for herself and those women could have been very different. This knowledge is what keeps her going and keeps her fighting.
If someone supporting CISS is reading her story, Joy wants them to understand that going through experiences like this is terrifying and incredibly difficult, especially for a single woman. Trauma is not easy to live with, and continuing forward takes strength. Even when progress is slow, Joy does not give up. She keeps fighting.
Above all, Joy hopes people know that she is fun to be around, supportive, caring, and loyal. She believes in being there for others, in making people laugh when they are crying, and in showing that light can exist even in the darkest moments.
