Meet Northern Joy
A feature by Shoutout DFW
“We had the good fortune of connecting with Northern Joy and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Northern, what do you attribute your success to?
My success in both my personal and professional endeavors has grown in tandem with my willingness to be an authentic, honest, and imperfect human. Instinctively we all want to protect ourselves and our vulnerabilities. We used to aspire to become the best, most perfect version of ourselves, or at least make sure that’s all anyone saw in public. Big box retail brands and perfectly airbrushed celebrities aren’t revered like they once were years ago. Now with the internet flooded with personalities, what people gravitate towards is what they can relate to on a personal level.
I used to be afraid that my honesty and “my brand of weird” would push people away, but it’s in fact done the opposite by deepening my relationships. The more comfortable I’ve become with myself and my flaws and the more open I’ve been in sharing them, the more trust I’ve earned with my friends and my coworkers.
The people who aren’t rooting for you when you’re being true to yourself are people you don’t want in your corner anyway.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I currently operate two sides to my professional life: my daytime “bill-payer” job and my passion projects. I thrive most in operations and marketing functions, whether for my day job or my hobbies. And any time I can be dancing, singing, or generally entertaining I’m a happy girl.
For over a decade my day job was also most of my passion. I absolutely loved what I did for my employers, I felt valued, and I was committed to the improvement of myself and my teams. That commitment changed during a giant life upheaval during the pandemic. I involuntarily took my first break from a full time job in 20 years. During those months of unemployment I managed the unexpected death of my father, took online classes, and helped friends with their projects that never had time for before. I was working just as hard as when I had a full time job and I was loving it more than I could have imagined! But I enjoy the stability of a steady paycheck and excellent health insurance, so I was back to a day job as soon as possible. I have less time for my passion projects, but I have a whole new perspective on how I value my time and energy.
I think lots of people can relate to the struggle of finding that balance between doing what’s comfortable and doing what you love. Maybe some day I will bring both stability and my passions into the same functions, and that’s my current goal. My favorite job right now is as ring announcer for pro independent wrestling group Lucha Brutál. Does work get any cooler than that?!
And I’m absolutely thrilled to be co-running a new variety show group called Uptown Revue. We’re a group of talented singers, dancers, actors, and comedians currently looking for opportunities to use our talents to bring light-hearted fun across DFW. After a bleak two years, we could all benefit from more smiling and laughing, and that’s what we want to do for people.”
