About the Author

Joyce grew up a submariner’s daughter, moving every three years. She met her husband while running cross country in high school, but she didn’t date him until after college when they reconnected with old fashioned letters. Joyce graduated from Furman University with a Biology degree and spent seven years teaching middle and high schoolers before staying home with their two little girls. Joyce serendipitously discovered that she had the BRCA2 mutation, elevating her lifetime risk to 84%. She wasn’t sick, never felt a lump, and was years away from the recommended screening age. Yet, at the age of 36, Joyce was diagnosed with invasive ductile carcinoma. Joyce had a bilateral mastectomy, reconstruction, chemotherapy, radiation, and a hysterectomy. She learned first-hand the physical and emotional trials accompanying a diagnosis.

Since treatment, Joyce wanted to normalize the mental health aspect of a diagnosis and help women find the support they needed. She created a podcast interviewing key professionals, taught and produced a free resilience curriculum, and did IRB investigations and peer-reviewed publications with Dr. Elisabeth Counselman-Carpenter on breast cancer patient preferences on psychotherapy. She’s the founder of Keepers of the Flame® Foundation, a 501c3 supporting breast cancer patients physically and emotionally. Joyce works closely with her team to maximize program impact, specifically with mental health support opportunities.

“If acts of kindness are unique in their own beauty, like snowflakes, then when we increase these acts, we get to see the snow.” Joyce is known for teaching about the power of metaphorical snow, how it begins with ’snowflakes’, and that in focusing on them, we’re able to feel more in control of our lives, find purpose, and make the world better – even through the most difficult times.

Joyce loves spending time with her family, doing yoga, going to the beach, and cheering on her girls at swim meets.