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Speaking Engagements
Joy is asked to speak on topics in education and technology regularly, and does so with fervor. She has spoken to middle school, high school, undergraduate, and graduate school audiences as well as to groups of working professionals in the US and abroad.
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11/2020
Women's Forum On Career Advancement
Lenovo Corporation | Research Triangle Park, NCAs the Women In Lenovo Leadership Communications Chair, Joy co-moderated this open forum with her colleague Andreina Vivas Thomas from the RE@L (Rising Employees at Lenovo) Employee Resource Group. The esteemed all-women panelist team included an executive director from the Data Center Group, an inside account sales manager from the Intelligent Devices Group, and a worldwide social and digital media specialist. Each shared highlights from their careers and how they overcame challenges along the way. The audience was introduced to several resources to better navigate their careers at every stage with special attention paid to new considerations due to the global pandemic.
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9/2020
Uncommon and Critical Advice for Driving the Results You Want
Lenovo Corporation | Research Triangle Park, NCIn this 1-hour session, Joy led a panel discussion featuring two of Lenovo's executive directors, June Boersma and Darrell Brauner. This session was inspired by a TED Talk that went viral a few years ago by Susan Colantuono, CEO of Leading Women. In it, Susan talks about how building business, financial and strategic acumen are critical door openers for the advancement of women and narrowing the gender gap at the top. Both panelists spent their early careers in finance and business analyst roles and then transitioned to positions in specialized areas outside of finance leading to executive management. Each was well-positioned to discuss how they've used their finance and business knowledge to create personal and business win-wins. All attendees received a Lenovo Finance 101 deck to help them assess where their particular businesses are going and to articulate their role in helping the business get there.
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2/2016
Triangle Start-Up Weekend - Social Impact Business Pitch
Frontier RTP | Research Triangle Park, NCJoy successfully pitched her financial literacy for first generation college students idea during the 2016 Triangle Start-up Weekend event. She recruited a cross-functional team of 5 people, who worked diligently over an intense 54 hours to develop the initial idea into a minimal viable product to pitch to a panel of judges and potential investors.
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1/2015
On Working in Silicon Valley
Intel Headquarters | Santa Clara, CAFor three years, Joy has cohosted a group of Boston College undergraduate students visiting Intel as part of the Boston College TechTrek program. She enjoys talking to the students about her experience working in Intel finance and operations and how she has developed both a passion for educational technology and an interest in start-ups having lived in the Bay Area for nearly a decade. Joy is always eager to answer the many thoughtful questions from students ranging from Intel's strategy to the company's diversity and inclusion initiatives.
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12/2014
On Choosing a Career in Technology
Intel Headquarters | Santa Clara, CAFor two years, Joy has hosted a group of graduate students from the Emerging Leaders MBA program at Loyola's Sellinger School of Business and Management in Maryland at Intel headquarters. In December 2014, Joy was happy to interact with students in an open Q&A forum about life pre- and post-MBA and a lively discussion with the VP and GM of the IoT Application Ready Platform Group at Intel.
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6/2013
On Making Your MBA Internship Count
Intel's 10th Annual Finance Intern Conference
Santa Clara, CAJoy served on a panel of finance professionals with an average of seven years experience at Intel addressing a group of MBA interns attending Intel's 10th Annual Finance Intern Conference. Joy encouraged the MBA interns to take advantage of Intel's open door policy and not hesitate to reach out to anyone in the company who may be able to provide insights into their projects. She shared personal anecdotes about reaching out to senior level executives and others across the board at Intel since her first position at the company and how that has led to valued relationships and learning opportunities throughout her Intel career. Joy also stressed how MBA interns have a unique opportunity at Intel, where employees are often entrusted with enormous responsibility from Day 1. With that, she encouraged the interns to rise to the challenge and make the best contributions they could throughout the course of the internship program.
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3/2013
On Working in Silicon Valley
Intel Headquarters | Santa Clara, CAFor the second year in a row, Joy was happy to host a group of twenty-four Boston College undergraduate students visiting Intel as part of the Boston College TechTrek program. She talked about her experience working in Intel finance and operations and how she has developed both a passion for educational technology and an interest in start-ups having lived in the Bay Area for the past seven years. Joy also fielded thoughtful questions from students ranging from Intel's strategy in the mobile computing to the company's diversity and inclusion initiatives.
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11/2012
On Building a Meaningful Career
Intel Headquarters | Santa Clara, CAJoy served on a panel featuring five women with an average of six years of experience in finance, marketing, and operations at Intel. The panelists shared their experiences rotating within these different groups at Intel with an engaged audience, a group of finance professionals based at Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, California.
Joy spoke to her experience working in both Operations Finance and Global Tax and Trade under the Finance umbrella at Intel as well as in Operations with the Technology Manufacturing Group. She discussed how she managed to secure roles in the different business groups at multiple Intel sites across the world, including California, Arizona, and China.
Joy urged the audience to look beyond the next rotation and think about how they can and want to contribute in the long term. She identified choosing managers carefully and building a strong network of supporters as two of the most important success factors in building a meaningful career at Intel and beyond.
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5/2012
On Overcoming Poverty
An Evening with Viola Davis at the Squantum Association
East Providence, RIJoy delivered a heartfelt testimony about how her middle school, Community Preparatory School, was instrumental in helping her pave a path out of poverty over 20 years ago. Joy addressed a group of donors and supporters of the school, which included honored guest, Viola Davis, Oscar-nominee and fellow Rhode Island-native, who delivered the evening's keynote speech.
Joy talked about how she got her start when Community Prep granted her a seven thousand dollar scholarship to attend the 6th grade. She spoke to how Community Prep's teachers, staff, board members, donors, and volunteers became her "mega family," helping her overcome one challenge after another long after graduation. She shared her major accomplishments since graduating from the school, including receiving full scholarships to attend high school and college, obtaining her MBA, and building a career that allows her the opportunity to travel around the globe.
Joy's speech earned her a big hug from Ms. Davis, along with sincere words of encouragement from Viola's kind husband, Julius Tennon, and many others in the audience that evening.
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3/2012
On Changing the Odds
Ronald McNair Middle School | East Palo Alto, CAJoy was happy to participate in a program to expose middle school students to professionals with inspiring life stories and to encourage the students to imagine bright futures for themselves. The program, arranged by Youth Community Service (YCS) and partners in the Ravenswood City School District and community, placed Joy in the classroom in front of thirty-two 8th graders at Ronald McNair Middle School.
Joy shared her experience growing up on free school breakfasts and lunches and relying on scholarships and generous contributions from donors throughout her academic career spanning over two decades. She challenged the students to take measures into their own hands and to own the decisions they make on a daily basis, and then dared them to dream.
In hopes to impart some lessons learned, Joy highlighted the key decisions she owned that helped her pave a path to self-sufficiency and continue to allow her to realize her dreams to travel the world and give back. She encouraged the students to join her on their own unique parallel paths and to change the odds in their favor.
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3/2012
On Intel and the Compute Continuum
Intel Headquarters | Santa Clara, CAJoy presented a corporate overview of Intel Corporation to a group of twenty-four Boston College undergraduate students as part of the Boston College TechTrek program. She shared Intel's vision to create and extend computing technology to connect and enrich the lives of every person on earth this decade. She also spoke to Intel's global strategy to build a continuum of personal computing experiences beyond the PC across a wide range of other smart gadgets, including phones, TVs, embedded, and other devices.
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4/2011
On Class and Race
Dublin School Humanities | Dublin, NHAs a precursor to her 15-year high school reunion, Joy volunteered to organize and participate in an evening humanities program for the entire student body at Dublin School. Joy, along with two of her esteemed classmates, Nichelle Dowell and Jennifer Bogin, reunited to offer up some candid discussion about what attending Dublin in the 1990s meant to them from their three unique socio-economic vantage points.
Joy shed some light on what it was like attending the school with little to no family financial support and the key ways in which the school supported her throughout the four years that were vital to her success. Nichelle spoke to her struggle adjusting to the rural mindset coming for inner-city Boston, some of the challenges associated with being a "minority," and how as an educator she can help students struggling with the same issues. Jennifer talked about how even as a non-scholarship, "majority" student she struggled with learning disabilities and how critical the teachers were at Dublin in teaching her how to learn. She also spoke to how forming such deep bonds with classmates from diverse backgrounds gave her a perspective that helped her as she would later enter inner-city homes as part of her work with children and their families living with autism.
In the end, the students asked engaging questions which clearly indicated they identified with the alumnae and the school seemed committed to continuing to embrace community discussion about such sensitive issues as class and race.
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6/2010
On Innovation and Charting a Successful Career in Technology
Jalasoft Corporation | Cochabamba, BoliviaJoy was invited back to Cochabamba, Bolivia to lead a career development lecture on charting a successful career in technology to a group of employees at Jalasoft Corporation. Harnessing real life examples from her corporate experience, Joy challenged participates to think innovatively. She reminded participants how well-positioned they are to be pioneers in adapting existing and future technologies to meet unique local needs only they know best. She also underlined the importance of shaping a career in ways that are personally meaningful and building a strong network of supporters with whom to exchange ideas.
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8/2009
On Innovation in Developing Countries
TEDx conference | via web conferenceJoy joined an international panel of speakers in Cochabamba, Bolivia via live webcast at a TEDx conference led by Innovateurs Sans Frontieres. TEDxSansFrontieres is a small community of TEDsters who are passionate about technology, entertainment, and design. The purpose of this conference was to bring together innovators and thought leaders interested in sharing their ideas and experiences with the Latin American community. Joy offered a corporate perspective based on her experience working at Intel, a world leader in technology innovation since 1968.
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9/1999
On Creating a Successful College Experience
Mount Holyoke College Sophomore Orientation
South Hadley, MAAs a senior at Mount Holyoke College, Joy delivered a speech on strategies for success in college to the incoming sophomore class at their orientation. She urged sophomores to tailor their college experience to their unique interests and to keep that perspective while choosing a major, deciding to study abroad, and applying for internships and fellowships. The main strategies for success Joy outlined in her speech can be summarized as follows:
- 1. Choose a major that equips you with the skills you want to learn, rather than the one which simply provides an impressive title.
- 2. Take classes you enjoy as often as you can.
- 3. Tailor college to your unique needs and interests. This is your time.
- 4. Strongly consider studying abroad. It will broaden your perspective and deepen your self-awareness.
- 5. Locate fellowship and internship opportunities early to gain as much experience as possible and best prepare you for life after college.
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5/1995
On Taking Risks
Community Preparatory School Commencement
Providence, RIIn high school, Joy was invited to deliver a keynote speech at the commencement of the independent middle school she attended from 6th-8th grade. She spoke about the challenges she faced growing up in poverty in South Providence and how she managed to secure a full scholarship to attend boarding school in New Hampshire. Through a series of personal anecdotes, Joy conveyed to Community Prep's graduating class the importance of believing that, with enough will power, courage, and persistence, anything is possible.