Joy Carter Minor was raised on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi during a transformative time in American history. Joy navigated systemic marginalization to become a Black woman engineer and oceanographer. She has supported the Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon on the Air-Sea Battle concept and transitioned technologies to the warfighter in response to urgent needs in maritime irregular warfare. She has provided systems engineering support to the US Navy, Coast Guard, Missile Defense Agency, Non-Lethal Weapons Program, and the Department of Homeland Security.
Joy received the Armed Forces Civilian Service Medal for her contributions surveying the Albanian Sea following the Bosnian War. She was the Naval Oceanographic Office Federal Women’s Program Mentor of the Year, was competitively selected to attend the Royal Navy Hydrographic Long Course at HMS Drake in Plymouth, UK, and is certified by the International Hydrographic Organization as a Class A hydrographer.
Joy has a B.S. in Chemistry from Mississippi University for Women, a Master of Science degree in Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Divinity from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. She is currently a doctoral student in International Development at the University of Southern Mississippi, majoring in security studies and social cultural studies.
COMMUNITY AND PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
• Associate Minister, St. John Baptist Church, Woodford, VA
• Caroline County Public Schools Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
• Former Member, Board of Directors, Homeland Security Foundation of America
• Past President, Caroline County Sunday School Union
• Chair, Religious Affairs Committee Caroline Branch NAACP
• Former Big Sister, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond
• Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers
• Member, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Forward From the Sea 