If there is a book you really want to read
but it hasn't been written yet
then you must write it.
- Toni Morrison
Joiya is a former child advocate attorney who switched careers to advance diverse voices in literature. She completed an internship with Writers House Literary Agency in 2021. She worked as an Assistant Editor for Good Story Company from 2021 to 2023. She currently works as Assistant to Senior Book Scout Cathrin Wirtz at Liz Gately Book Scouting.
Joiya has been published in the moonShine Review. Her short story “Nursery Rhymes” won honorable mention in the NYC Midnight’s The Short Story Challenge 2021, and earned her a spot as a Red Clay Scholar in the 2023 Georgia Writers Association Red Clay Conference.
Joiya is the author of four published works of poetry, verse, and prose. She has several projects in various stages of completion, including an adult thriller and a YA novel full of history and magical realism.
Joiya loves Jesus, her family, running with girlfriends through crunchy fall leaves, and reading on the porch during rain storms. She lives in Marietta, Georgia with her super hardworking husband and four phenomenal children.
Joiya will matriculate at Drexel University in September 2023 to write her way toward an MFA in Creative Writing.