Joy was born and raised outside Trenton, N.J., where her parents nurtured her inquisitive nature by having her watch and relay to them the morning weather report from the Today Show as they prepared for work each day.
Joy's television career began shortly after graduating from Villanova University with a B.A. Degree in Mass Communications and a minor in Education.
With an internship at Philadelphia's "Channel 6 Action News" under her belt, Joy joined public TV's New Jersey Network News producing and airing news updates on the radio.
Joy quickly became one of NJN's main TV news reporters, helping cover big stories like the inauguration and new administration of New Jersey's first female governor (Christine Todd Whitman), and interviewing prominent figures like the late Civil Rights leader Coretta Scott King, then U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, and then tennis superstar Pete Sampras.
Joy's strong journalistic reputation and contagious energy led her to Jacksonville, Florida as a Weekend News Anchor and "Police Beat" Reporter for then CBS-affiliate WJXT from 1995 to 2000.
For five years, Joy tenaciously covered countless big stories on the First Coast including the $20 million Loomis Fargo robbery (considered the largest robbery in U.S. history), Jacksonville's first black sheriff (Nat Glover), and the Jaguars historic inaugural NFL season. She even flew with the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels.
Joy was awarded the Associated Press' Individual Achievement Award for her work in Jacksonville. Her talents quickly took her to the bright lights of the "Magic City" in 2000, trading her Jaguars jersey for a Dolphins decal.
Before long, bigger markets began calling and Joy accepted a noon and 5 p.m. anchor position with CBS-owned WFOR in Miami; a position she maintained during her nearly seven years.
Known in the news biz as the nation's breaking news capital, Miami TV coverage sharpened Joy's journalistic skills. She reported from the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas as Category 4 Hurricane Frances passed directly over her. She traveled to the Kennedy Space Center to cover the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
She also reported on the infamous 2000 presidential election from downtown Miami, when she would find 'hanging chads' stuck to her shoes at the end of each day. "I could kick myself for not scooping up a bunch and selling them on EBay," Joy jokes.
After getting married in the spring of 2006, Joy returned to Jacksonville in September of 2007 to be with her new husband; what she calls part of God's perfect plan for her life.
"After dating long distance between North and South Florida for nearly seven years, my husband and I were elated when I was asked to join the First Coast News team."
Joy left WTLV early in 2013 shortly after giving birth to their second child to spend time with her young children. At the end of the summer, she was ready to get back into the professional world and was happy to turn to her first family in Jacksonville at WJXT.
Joy, her husband and children enjoy going to the beach and Jags games, and they all love to travel.
