Felicia Joy

The Person Behind the Mission

Felicia Joy has spent her career at the intersection of human development, strategic communications, and organizational change — building the kind of expertise that doesn't exist in one place. She is a Harvard-educated behavioral scientist, a doctoral candidate in Organizational Behavior at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a former SVP and EVP at one of the world's largest communications firms, and a founder who has been quietly laying the groundwork for Gary's renaissance for years.

She understands — from lived experience and from the academic literature — what it takes to help people build economic self-sufficiency. As a former Georgia Department of Family and Children Services analyst, she was instrumental in passing legislation to fund college and vocational training for youth aging out of the foster care system. As a counselor for the Posse Foundation, she helped teenagers from underserved communities find their voices and earn their spots at America's most competitive universities. As a mentor and counselor with Usher's New Look Foundation, she worked directly with teens to develop leadership, life skills, and a vision for their futures. As a board member of Dressed for Success Atlanta, she helped women prepare for the workforce with the dignity and readiness that lasting employment demands. Her commitment to youth development extends beyond U.S. borders: as an education and economic development policy advisor to SenEducation — a Senegalese nonprofit dedicated to improving conditions and opportunities for high school students in Senegal — she traveled to Dakar to witness firsthand the transformative impact of sustained investment in young people.

She has taught at Emory University, served as adjunct professor at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications, and currently teaches at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Her research focuses on conversational receptiveness — how the way we talk to each other shapes whether we can actually change minds and move organizations forward.

Felicia founded Gary Renaissance Inc. because she saw a city full of assets that hadn't been connected and a community full of people who hadn't been invested in at the scale they deserve. That changes now.