There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it.
Goals
Joy attributes her success largely to her ability to set nearly impossible goals. Joy was one of millions of children born into extreme poverty in the US, as defined by the US Census Bureau as those in families surviving at 50% or less of the official poverty line. However, Joy still counts herself among the lucky. The standard of extreme poverty in the US is relatively high compared to that of the many countries whose poor face more extreme predicaments. Joy, however, never sat idly below that poverty line, and as she entered into her teenage years, managed to start to lift herself out of poverty one goal at a time.
For over a decade, Joy worked hard to obtain several hundred thousand dollars in educational scholarships that afforded her quality education in top private schools, undergraduate, and graduate programs in the United States and Europe. She has been financially independent since she was 14 years old, and has received several accolades throughout her academic and professional career.
Today, Joy is committed to building a life that maximizes the positive contributions she is determined to make around the world, which increasingly has included helping others realize their goals and take action regardless of their circumstances. Below is a list of educational and career goals, which Joy has strived to achieve in her lifetime and may help you achieve in yours:
- Get a full scholarship to attend a private middle school.
- Get a full scholarship to attend a private boarding school for high school.
- Get a full scholarship to the best undergraduate college possible.
- Get an advanced graduate degree.
- Maintain 3.5 GPA (grade point average) or better throughout entire academic career.
- Do meaningful work that helps people (particularly the poor).
- Be financially independent.
- Travel as much as possible.
Between ages 11-14, Joy received over $21,000 in scholarships to attend Community Preparatory School. The school was founded by two Brown University alumni, whose original mission it was to provide students from low income families with a rigorous education to best prepare them for college preparatory high school programs.
Upon graduation from Community Prep, Dublin School offered Joy over $80,000 in scholarships, including stipends for food and living expenses for all four years she attended as a boarding student.
Mount Holyoke College, a prestigious liberal arts college for women, granted Joy over $90,000 in scholarships, including stipends for food and living expenses to complete her undergraduate education.
The Carroll Graduate School of Management at Boston College offered Joy a half-tuition scholarship to obtain her MBA after four years in the workforce.
Joy has maintained a 3.5 GPA or better throughout all of her schooling. She credits her academic success to an unrelenting curiosity for how the world works and a genuine desire to share with others. Joy has learned that she is most successful when she enters each class thirsty, as though she is about to teach the next one.
Joy has always yearned to do meaningful work that helps people. While in the short-term she has had to focus on jobs that would provide her sufficient income to support herself and her family, she has attempted to front load her earning capacity so that she can have increased freedom to travel and directly help others, particularly the poor, in the long-term.
Joy has been financially independent since she was 14.
Joy has traveled throughout 5 continents, including North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. She is happiest when she travels.