In Her Own Words

“According to my DNA results, I am a proud 46% French Native-American, 31% Spanish, and  a 23% mixture of other ethnicities including Irish and Swedish. I grew up with three very tall siblings in Los Angeles, California.

With my adolescent years in a girls' Catholic boarding school, I learned the value of education and discovered my art talents. As a senior, I graduated from a public school in Los Angeles at the top of my class. 

As a young working adult in Hollywood, CA, I held various jack-of-all trade jobs including singing, modeling, secretarial work, sales clerk, a traveling bus hostess attendant on a luxury bus line, and a short stint as a flight attendant with a major airline.

While attending community college in Santa Monica, Navy recruiters enticed me into enlisting with promises of a free education, skilled work, and world travel; the Navy kept those promises.

In the military, I learned a trade in aviation supply, lived abroad in Hawaii and Spain, traveled widely, and obtained several college degrees (2 undergraduate degrees and a masters). I married a Naval Officer and started a family during my early military career. I eventually transistioned to the officer ranks where I administered and instructed in naval reserve training programs and worked in manpower assignments.

I sustained my love for art and photography in and outside the military through freelance and commissioned art creating images of ships, aircraft, and military portraits. I've camped and photographed 1/3 of all the U.S. National Parks; I never tire of them.

After my naval officer career as an instructor, becoming an art teacher seemed a natural transition since I had a BA in Studio Arts. I completed the Troops to Teachers Program and worked as an art teacher in various American schools and in private international schools abroad where I continued my love for photography and world travel. I taught in 7 countries: Southampton, England; Dubai, UAE; Istanbul, Turkey; Suzhou, China; Iwakuni, Japan; Tegulcigalpa, Honduras; and lastly in Astana (the second coldest capital in the world), Kasakhstan. To date, I have 52 countries under my belt. Many of my photographic images from my travels found their way into various published coffee table books when I became a writer.

Single now, I am enjoying a full life of creativity, writing, seeing many more ancient wonders of the world, playing with my young grandchildren (2 twins boys and a beautiful granddaughter), enjoying the company of family in California, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and hanging out with life long friends in America and former colleagues abroad. 

I feel blessed to have done most things on my bucket list; still on it are traveling to South America, seeing The Northern Lights, and having a vacation home on any golden tropical beach."

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Joy sometimes uses her skills to work part-time in various areas: administration, executive secretary, data entry, telecommunications, training, virtual online teaching, and creative fields such as commissioned art, photography, photographic restoration, and tutoring in art.

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Bradenton, Florida

SKILLS, TRAINING, QUALIFICATIONS, ACHIEVEMENTS & EDUCATION

• Honorably discharged retired U.S. Navy Officer in the rank of Lieutenant (03E due to prior enlisted time) with 10 Point veteran preference.

• Proficient in MS Office Word, Excel, Power Point, Paint, Adobe Photoshop, Access, Notes, Publisher, PDFs, database management systems, and electronic calendars.

• Completed NTI (National Telecommuting Institute) online certification training through a VA Program.

• Awarded two National Defense Service Medals for service during Vietnam and Desert Storm.

• Under the J.W. Fulbright Scholarship Program, she lived and taught secondary art in Southampton, England.

• Earned Junior Officer of the Year award by Naval Reserve Association in Seattle, WA, for training and readiness excellence.

• Completed 17 Weeks of Navy cumulative advanced leadership and management courses.

• Supervised and wrote performance evaluations on navy personnel and cultural art teachers.

• Earned two Navy Achievement Medals for developing new reserve training programs, and redesigning administrative procedures and forms that saved the Navy thousands of dollars in aviation incentive pay abuses.

• Campaigned for United Way (as a temporary loaned executive) for 1 month, surpassing charity fund goals in Seattle, WA.

• Completed Private Pilot ground school at the NAS Belle Chase, Flying Club, New Orleans, LA.

• 6 years of self-employment as an artist and photographer for commissioned art work.

• Exhibited over 30 personal artworks with awards.

• Authored six published books: 2 photo books on Chinese architecture, 2 juvenile books on conservation of endangered animals, 1 young adult novel, and 1 military romance novel (under a pen name). Created all the artwork for her published book covers.

• Visited 52 countries as of 2016, and 23 out of 60 American National Parks.

• Speak, read, and write conversational Spanish.

EDUCATION, DIPLOMAS, CERTIFICATES

• BS, Business Administration, MO.

• BA, Studio Art (minor in photography), PA (cum laude).

• Graduate courses at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, and a Masters in National Security and Strategic Studies (AKA International Relations), Naval War College, Newport, RI.
• Graphic Arts Courses, MD.
  

• K-12 Art Education Training, Certificate, MD.

• Held K-12 Nevada, Maryland, and Delaware (still current) State teacher certifications.

"Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written."

Mark Twain

Honorably discharged in last rate/grade of AK2 (petty officer second class) and transferred to naval reserves.