Joy King

About Joy

• I was raised on the South Side of Chicago—my parents did their best to expose me and my brother to access and opportunities outside of our hometown.
• I was a good student, got good grades, and stuck with those themes of exposure, access, and opportunity by becoming classically trained in ballet and taking Japanese throughout high school.
• I went away to New York for college but I struggled to adapt to life on my own, so I ended up dropping out and moving back to Chicago after two years.
• After moving back home, I had to take a job in a back office with disgruntled co-workers and knew I didn’t want to be stuck like that.
• I decided to go back to school at DePaul University and was determined to graduate at the same time as my former class, so I took 15 classes per year and worked two jobs through school.
• I spent 10 years teaching in Chicago and got my master’s degree to become a school principal, but I eventually became disillusioned with the school system and moved to D.C. for other opportunities.
• I got into nonprofit work and had the opportunity to work for many great causes, including college access, literacy programming, and childhood hunger.
• Now I work as the managing director for Per Scholas, a nonprofit organization that teaches technical and business skills to individuals and connects them to career opportunities.