JOY LINDSAY

Joy Lindsay is a Ph.D. Student at the Yale School of Public Health and the Founder and CEO of Butterfly Dreamz, Inc. Based in Newark, New Jersey, and Gary, Indiana, Butterfly Dreamz is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that equips girls to be confident leaders and supports them in achieving their dreams through holistic leadership development, mentorship, and intergenerational community action. 

Joy founded Butterfly Dreamz in 2013 after losing her younger sister, Kimberly Anyce Lindsay, to gun violence. Butterfly Dreamz honors the bold and courageous life of Kimberly, along with the beautiful memory of Joy's late daughter, Evelyn Anyce LeBron. Butterfly Dreamz is sustained and guided by the love and prayers of many Black mothers, aunties, and grandmothers. 

Joy's love for storytelling and creative writing has led to her authoring, co-authoring, and publishing several young adult books, mostly in collaboration with Butterfly Dreamz youth authors. Prior to founding Butterfly Dreamz, Joy worked in consulting, finance, and public education management.

Joy is a 2023 Harvard University Cheng Fellow, an AMEX 100 for 100 Founder of Change, an Echoing Green Social Innovation Challenge Awardee, and the recipient of the Impact100 Essex County, NJ Impact Award and the BMe Vanguard Award. Joy is a proud member of the North Jersey Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is passionate about education, social entrepreneurship, and sustainable community development.  

Joy's academic journey is a testament to her versatility and adaptability. She holds a BBA in Finance from Howard University, an MPA in Public & Nonprofit Management & Policy from NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and an Ed.M. in Human Development & Education, with a concentration in Identity, Power, and Justice in Education, from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This diverse background equips her with a unique perspective in her research and professional endeavors—one rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and empathy.

While at Harvard, Joy served as an Identity Project Fellow with Dr. Adriana Umaña-Taylor’s AERID Lab, researching adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity development and culturally sustaining pedagogy. She also worked as a research assistant with The Project on Workforce at Harvard, helping to understand the role of community colleges in supporting regional economic development.

In her current doctoral studies, Joy conducts interdisciplinary community-based participatory research (CBPR) to advance health equity for women and girls from poor and working families, especially women and girls of African descent. 

"Care more than others think is wise, Risk more than others think is safe, Dream more than others think is practical and Expect more than others think is possible." ~African Proverb

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Through her research and practice, Joy continues the legacy of her late mentor, Rev. Dr. Cathy Bristow (aka 'God's girl'), who was/is a living example of NACW's motto: "lifting as we climb."