This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference from our community authored by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.
A Prince George’s County, Maryland, native wants to help people with diabetes to feel good in the skin they are in.
Joy Johnson is the founder and CEO of Joy of Beauty, which sells diabetic-friendly products.
Watching her mother die of metastasized breast cancer when she was 16 caused her to want to work with people from health sensitive communities, she said. Johnson described her mother as “always put together, not vain, but well put together.”
Johnson said she watched the diseases devastate her mother’s body to the point where she could barely apply lip balm because of the scabs on her arms from chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Johnson has been in the beauty industry for 15 years. The beauty educator, licensed esthetician and nail technician said she noticed parallels in how skin changes for people with cancer and for people with diabetes.
Chronic conditions like diabetes can cause dry, itchy skin.
She decided to focus her products on people with diabetes because African Americans suffer disproportionately from the disease. According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health, the rate at which Black adults receive diabetes diagnoses is 60% higher than that of white people.
Johnson is also a former spa owner who has been recognized for offering free beauty services to people battling cancer. She said she wanted others to experience the joys of feeling beautiful, or at least to feel like they didn’t have a terminal illness, similarly to how her mother would feel periodically when she got services while undergoing treatment.
When she decided to enter the beauty field, she said, “I didn’t just want to just be another beauty professional. I wanted to be someone that was educating people on how to be their best selves, I wanted to debunk myths. I wanted to also provide solutions for people who needed some sort of help, assistance or guidance.”
What makes her product different?
The product innovator said in creating her products she wanted to use only quality ingredients. They use lightly fragranced essential oils, no artificial fragrances or perfumes, and they’re vegan, cruelty-free and toxin-free.
She says the company uses “skin loving oils,” that can penetrate the skin easily and stay on the skin longer.
To find out more about the products, visit the brand’s website.
