Joy Wiggins is a TEDx speaker, writer, professor and facilitator who promotes racial and gender justice through compassion and open dialogue to ignite equitable, empowering and transformative business practices. Wiggins offers executive coaching, strategic planning, leadership programs, workshop facilitation, keynote speaking and is known for moderating sensitive topics on race and gender.
Who/what inspires you?
Women activists like Angela Davis, Benazir Bhutto and Isabel Allende.
What career advice do you live by?
Everyone’s perspective has value.
Future goals and aspirations for your career?
Eventually I’d like to work for the United Nations.
What has been your biggest professional achievement?
My doctorate in Multicultural Education.
How do you define success?
Success is the ability to choose the life you want to lead by overcoming barriers, having time to develop your sense of self and know that the work you add brings value to others.
What experiences and past roles have led you to where you are today?
I lived in China teaching English in my 20’s and then that opened my eyes to many different ways of experiencing the world. I then went on to get my doctorate in cultural identity and education, was a professor for 20 years and a DEI consultant and now on a global team.
What is the biggest career challenge you’ve had to overcome?
Being a woman, I’ve encountered a lot of discrimination from my very first job at 15 at an ice cream shop. I was fired for not kissing the boss and going out with him. I moved into academia where I watched the male professors achieve tenure quickly with relatively no pushback. At a public institution like a university you can see salaries and observed the vast difference between mine and my male colleagues.
What are you reading or listening to?
I listen to a lot of podcasts, mostly on current events, self-improvement and women’s issues.
Do you have any hobbies?
I’m taking piano lessons again and voice lessons. I also love to go to Austin FC games, hiking, paddleboarding and traveling all over the world.
Who is someone who’s made a big impact on your life? Why?
My mom- she’s not afraid of anything and she lives her life on her own terms. She taught me fearlessness, going after what you want and resilience.
What excites you right now?
Traveling and celebrating my 50th birthday in May.
A recent movie you watched that blew you away?
A show called “The Power” about women with electrical powers.
Anything else you would like us to know?
I wrote a book on Women supporting women in the workplace.