Born and raised in Detroit (pre-Whole Foods), Joya McCrory is the product of a highly religious mom and a once-famous boxer dad, which means although she’s never been trick-or-treating, she also has never had to deal with bullies. Joya graduated from the University of Michigan with an English degree, a Hopwood Fiction Award and four years of culture shock from dealing with being one of the few Black students on campus.

Joya studied screenwriting at UCLA and was a mentee in Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Mentorship Program. When not attending concerts, hanging at breweries or going down various rabbit holes on the internet, Joya writes sneakily heartfelt stories, full of pop culture and random millennial humor about identity, self-discovery and bringing people together.

Following the Workshop, Joya was staffed on Abbott Elementary(ABC).