Meet Joy Brown of Where There’s Joy: A Wedding & Event Planning Boutique in Southwest Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joy Brown.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Joy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Growing up, my parents were entertainment central. Our house is where the people came together.

We always had parties, cookouts, celebrations and just all-in-all fellowship. My parents were the host and hostess with the mostess, which later transferred to me. I was the one helping my mom get things together and making everything pretty and just right for our gatherings. I did the same when it came time to bring my group of friends together. I was the unofficial party planner in my crew.

At 12 years old, I coordinated my neighborhood’s first ever block party. I went door to door asking my neighbors if they would be interested in having a block party and if so, how they could contribute. It turned out to be a major success.

Eventually, my basement became the unofficial hang out for my friends (shout out to Club Shake-A-Lot). In a matter of minutes, I would coordinate arrival times, the menu, and our activities just so we could get together, vibe to music and celebrate anything worth celebrating.

In 2006, after I graduated from Spelman College, it was time to hit the pavement and start this thing called a career. I landed a pretty impressive job in the Mayor’s Office of Communications and eventually worked my way over to the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. It was in that role that my innerness was beginning to twinkle. I say twinkle because I was learning who I was as a young adult fresh out of college. I was taking on leadership roles and responsibilities, being a young woman about the town in Atlanta while managing my role in the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, which regulated all outdoor events and activities in the city of Atlanta. Aside from issuing permits, we also planned departmental celebrations and parties—I helped to start what many called “the party of the year”—the Mayor’s After the Masked Ball, the after party to the Annual UNCF Mayor’s Masked Ball.

Fast forward to 2013, a Special Events Manager position opened up at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. I jumped on it immediately, and I got the job. My career was advancing, and I was eager to take on new and exciting opportunities as I joined the team at the world’s busiest and most efficient airport.

Not too long after, I decided to take my passion beyond my 9-5, and Where There’s Joy: A Wedding & Event Planning Boutique was born.

I have been able to grow and stretch in ways that I did not think was possible. I love creating and planning events—there is nothing like seeing your vision come to life. There is a rush and glow that I get from seeing something that lived in my brain actualized. And, I no longer twinkle…baby, I am shining. This is me. I have landed right where I am supposed to be and I am doing exactly what it is I am supposed to be doing.

Has it been a smooth road?
As I grow, I’m learning that no road is ever smooth. Most of my life, I have taken the road that was easiest and safest for me to travel. Robert Frost, in his famous poem The Road Not Taken, really speaks to where I am in life right now. He says, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” The moment that I decided to make a change and began taking leaps of faith, I began to grown and stretch in ways that I never imagined. I work hard daily to move past comfort and what is easy.

Coming up against no’s, fighting for my yes’, standing my ground and owning how I feel can be quite the struggle at times, but I am learning that trusting myself in the vision and the goal is where I win.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Where There’s Joy: A Wedding & Event Planning Boutique – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Monday through Friday from 8:30am – 5pm, I am the Special Events Manager at the world’s busiest and most efficient airport. So, I like to think of myself as a world’s busiest and most efficient Special Event Manager. By night, I carry that passion into Where There’s Joy: A Wedding & Event Planning Boutique, where you can find me planning, executing, and curating events or serving as a day of wedding coordinator.

Whether I am helping a bride on her wedding day or helping an organization get their first awards banquet off the ground, I am beyond blessed to be living out my passion and pouring into Where There’s Joy.

As a company, I am most proud of the events that are near and dear to my heart. Those events would be my brother’s wedding in 2017, the first ever Friendsgiving amongst my tribe in 2018 and most recently my best friend’s epic 35th birthday party at Skyline Park atop Ponce City Market. The look on the faces of my family and close friends after seeing how much love Where There’s Joy has poured into them—priceless.

What sets me apart from the others would have to be my heart. Events are about the heart. Every single detail either requires heart or comes from the heart.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Atlanta just feels like me. I am going to try my best to describe that feeling. I grew up in a small town, Huntsville, Alabama. I always felt like a city girl who lived in a small town, but now I have found my place, my home. I made my way to Atlanta in 2002 to attend Spelman College and have been here for the past 17 years.

I have found a place that balances me with its southern comfort and southern hospitality. I love the busyness of the city whenever I need to feel alive. I also enjoy the quiet slowness it has when I need the world to be still just for a moment.

I love that our culture is so evident anywhere you go. We definitely have made an imprint on this world with our music, politics, peacemakers, world changers, artists, movies and change-makers. It feels so good to say I live, grow and thrive right here in Atlanta, GA.

I am so grateful for all that Atlanta is and has to offer. I may be Bama born, but I am without a doubt Atlanta made.

Now what I like least about the city is…the traffic. And I think we can all agree on that. Ha!

Contact Info:

• Email: wheretheresjoy@gmail.com

Image Credit:
BAP Photography

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