
When I'm not dreaming up catchy headlines for JCPenney, I'm a busy mom to two kids, Myla and Liam, who inspire me every day. They challenge me to see the world in a different light, which is how my two children's books transpired: Sun, Moon & Friends and Silly Similes.
At a young age, I joined Odyssey of the Mind, an international program that encourages students to embrace creative problem solving in a competitive environment. Weekends were filled with team-building activities, collaboration... and lots of paint and hot glue guns, ha! It truly shaped how I think and create today.


My master's in journalism, bachelor's in mass comm. and minor in fashion have taken me on a journey from media to nonprofit to retail.
Now, as a Creative Copy Manager for JCPenney, I write for jcp.com, as well as emails, SMS (text messages), store signs, and social videos for Shaquille O'Neal's big & tall line, XLG.
It's been a transformative time, especially in the last year as we've adopted AI. I've built three custom GPTs to improve efficiencies across marketing channels, and I am blown away. AI excites me!
In college, I interned at Texas Monthly, learning the ins & outs of publishing. At the same time, I was writing and designing my honors thesis, a magazine called Aspire. This experience, no doubt, opened the door for me to work at Plano Profile, a lifestyle magazine in Collin County that has since rebranded itself to Local Profile. I landed my dream job working at a magazine—and I was only 25. I covered community events, local restaurants, and interviewed more than 100 nonprofit leaders, published authors and local celebrities. I also joined Leadership Plano, Class XXV. It was quite a responsibility being the "voice" of the community, but I worked with a dynamic team to publish a well-respected magazine.
Another milestone in my career was in 2012 when I became the Director of Communications for Every Orphan's Hope, a ministry that builds homes for orphans and widows in Africa. One widow becomes a "mama" to nine orphans and together, they form a family. I traveled to Zambia to hear their stories of overcoming poverty and finding strength in God. I photographed their beautiful smiles and recorded their voices to design audio greeting cards for their sponsors. The audio cards were a reminder to sponsors that their monthly investment was far more than a monetary transaction.
Before Every Orphan's Hope, I took a position at Hilton Worldwide as a Content Editor, writing copy and editing photos for Hilton's elite family of brands. Mostly, I worked on Hampton Inn, the largest brand.
I love both digital and print media. From 2009–2017, I was a freelancer, and eventually Managing Editor, for Richardson Living magazine where I worked under the pseudonym Joy Rhodes. I have worked with several clients as a freelance writer or graphic designer, including Pizzeria Testa, Sci-Tech Discovery Center and Destination Imagination. I've also contracted for an agency, Tandem Theory, and their client Sally Beauty. I mostly wrote copy for emails and store signs pushing the latest beauty trends, but I also developed a style guide for Sally's 400+ brands to ensure consistent communication.
My passion is creative storytelling. I hope you enjoy my work!