Never in Your Time . . . Always in Perfect Time !
As a single mother of two sons , it ’ s not always easy to focus on myself and my wants . I realize this is the same for many In order to break stereotypes , to break generational curses , to debunk the myths of who is and what a single mom can be and do I ’ ve chosen to give intimate looks at single moms who are living their lives that go against all of the norms and status quos . The title of this issue is “ New Year , New THRIVE !” so I sought out to find a woman who was truly THRIVING in her life and living it on her terms , her way . I didn ’ t have to search hard because I found her in one of the first people I met when I came to Atlanta ; Joi Pearson .
Joi is a model , photographer , radio show host , inventor and actually a good person . On top of that she has an amazing , mutual beneficial co-parenting relationship with her son , Brenton ’ s father . How is she able to not just balance all of these things but conquer them ? How is she able to be a PINKTABULOUS mother , a PINKTOUNDING business woman , look so darn PINKTASTIC and HOTT and still THRIVE over and over again ? Well you ’ ll have to read the interview to find out but I ’ ll give you a clue it has something to do with it never being in your time and an amazing village that starts with her co-parenting relationship .
Q : Who is Joi ? A : Joi is a mother , daughter , friend , creative person who loves to help .
Q : When did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur ? A : Mom would say from the beginning . I always went left when everyone else went right . I sold candy in elementary school ; always had the bug . Both of my parents worked really really hard and dad had the second hustle at night , a print shop . I knew the 9-5 wasn ’ t going to cut it and I wanted it all not a piece and knew I needed to create my own lane to get it .
I always went left when everyone else went right .
Q : You hold so many titles , but what did you start out as ? A : A Photographer . I always had a camera in my hand , since elementary school . I started out with the 35mm rolls of film that you had to take to Walgreens to get developed . My father always declared they better be the best photographs ever , but when they were developed they were out of focus , blurry or of no one at all but now looking back and looking at those photos and seeing how it bring back so many emotions that I can capture and hold on to it with a photo . Seeing how much satisfaction that comes from seeing someone else happy with something I was able to create for them , is why I ’ m still a photographer and loving it .
Q : I know you started out in front of the camera . Tell me about how that started and how it has helped you as a photographer .
A : The easiest way to get print work as a model was to do hair magazines and since I ’ ve always had hair down my back that ’ s how I started . I first met Patrick Radley out of Virginia and with him I started doing hair shows and hair print work . I “ love being in front of the camera because you can turn into whoever you wanted to be .” Now that I ’ m behind the camera it helps with directing the ones in front of the camera , because I understand what they are thinking and what the photographer needs as well . The best part is having a photography company that doesn ’ t just shoot one time but lives with the clients shooting their life through all the milestones making them family .
Q : Where were you in your career when you found out a baby was coming ? A : 6 years ago I was working for Marjorie Harvey , wife of Steve Harvey , as her personal assistant . “ She was amazing , they have an amazing family , and he ’ s amazing ”. Loved the job but I knew that the 80 hour work week and the traveling wasn ’ t conducive to having a child or at least being the mother I wanted to be . All the while , I had still been taking photos as my side hustle . As luck would have it while pregnant , I was booked to cover Reginae ’ s ; Lil Wayne and Toya ’ s daughter ; 13th birthday . Although I knew nothing about being an event photographer , I did it and woke up to my pictures being all over the blogs and the internet . I called Necole Bitchie , owner of necolebitchie . com , and told her those were my photographs and she said I should get a watermark for next time . Not being a fully fledged photography business , I didn ’ t have or know those things and that was the wakeup call I needed to get my business together and what
THRIVE MAGAZINE 9