Founder’s Award
Joy Thomas Moore is a Peabody Award winner and President and CEO of JWS Media Consulting. Prior to starting her consulting business full time, Moore worked for 15 years with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private philanthropy dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children and families in the United States.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Joy was a freelance writer and field producer in the New York City area, where she contributed to numerous local and nationally syndicated television programs, including ESSENCE: The Television Program, where for five years she was the senior writer for the weekly program.
Before television, Moore served in a variety of editorial positions at WMAL-AM radio, the ABC-owned and operated station in Washington, D.C. Among other accolades for her work in radio, the George Foster Peabody Award for Public Service for the 1972 documentary was awarded for “Suffer the Little Children,” a multi-part series on sexually abused children. For three years she also served as an adjunct professor in the Journalism Department at Howard University.
Joy Moore is the author of The Power of Presence: Be a Voice in Your Child’s Ear Even When You’re Not with Them. A book edited especially for single parents, working parents and caregivers who are concerned about the time they spend away from their parents.
Moore serves on numerous nonprofit boards, including Maryland Public Television and as board chair of the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative. A national organization based in Baltimore, GHHI addresses the social determinants of health and racial equity through the creation of healthy, safe, and energy efficient housing.
Thomas Moore earned both her B.A. in Urban Communications and a M.A. in Broadcast Journalism at the American University in Washington, D.C. The proud grandmother of two, has three grown children. Daughters Nikki, an event planner, and Shani an attorney and screenwriter. Her son Wes, is the bestselling author of The Other Wes Moore and is Governor of Maryland, notably the first Black governor of Maryland and only the third in the U.S.
Joy Thomas Moore was born in Trelawney, Jamaica of a Cuban mother and Jamaican father.
