“Keep God first because he will never steer you wrong,” advised Joi Simpson. “Just follow the direction of the Lord and keep Him in your heart.”
Joi Simpson is kind hearted and loves to be there for others. Although she grew up in another state, she has always considered Clarke County to be her second home.
“I was born in Waynesboro, grew up in Wisconsin, and moved back here about 14 years ago. My mother’s hometown is Quitman, so I came here to help her take care of my grandmother who was in her 90s at the time. She was 102 when she passed a couple years ago, but I was co-caregiver with my mother. Now, my mom is with me, and I’m her caregiver,” recalled Joi. “I lived in Wisconsin until I was about 23. Coming to Quitman was home, though, because we’d be here at Christmas, the whole summer break, Easter, Thanksgiving, and all. It was always my second home. I’m half Wisconsin half Mississippi. My mom taught school, so that’s why we could go back and forth like that since she was off at those times.”
She always loved coming back to Clarke County when growing up and made some great memories each time she came.
“I used to visit my Uncle Sherman in the Rocky community. He used to own the cleaners there, and going out to visit him out in the country are some of my fondest memories,” Joi reminisced. “We would shoot fireworks, play games, and ride mopeds. We would do it all. We would just do all kinds of stuff, and I was the tomboy because I had four brothers. I was doing everything the boys were doing.”
Joi loves her family and being able to spend time with them doing what they love.
“I’m married to Slater Simpson and have one son. He’s in basketball, band, and FBLA. My husband works at EMEPA. I have four brothers and one sister, so I’m the youngest of six even though they act like I’m the oldest,” expressed Joi. “I do love my family. I like to get them gathered at my house. Everyone meets at my housed for everything. We like to cook. My husband barbeques and I like to do the seafood boils or whatever I need to do. Everybody comes to my house, and they want something good to eat.”
Spending time with her family isn’t the only thing that Joi enjoys. She has always loved being able to help others and has known since she was a little girl exactly what career she wanted to have one day to help her accomplish that.
“I’ve been in the healthcare field for 21 years. It’ll be 22 years this August. I’m an RN and work at Rush,” explained Joi. “I wanted to be a nurse when I was a little girl. I knew then that I had a passion for caring for people, loving on people, and making them feel better. I just knew as a child that I was going to be a nurse. I’m glad I did that because I could help my family out in situations.”
Now, she has decided to further her education in the medical field. Her dedication and display of excellence in her field has allowed her to be invited to join a prestigious honor society.
“I’m in the BSN program at the Mississippi University for Women. I’ll finish up there in August,” informed Joi. “They just nominated me for a national honor society, the National Society of Leadership and Success, at the Mississippi University for Women. They nominated me for that for the spring semester 2022.”
Her desire to help others isn’t limited to healthcare only. She has future goals to be able to help the community she loves in other ways as well.
“I plan to give more back to the community. Right now, I’m more focused on my educational goals, but in the future I’d like to give more back to the community and help out,” proclaimed Joi. “I would like to do something like food give aways and clothing drives for the community. To get started with that, I’d have to do some research. Sometimes it’s hard for people to ask for help with something, and you never know what the feedback is going to be, so it sometimes makes people hold back from doing anything. I’d just like to give back to the community as I get older and maybe help the youth out.”
No matter what she does each day, Joi is always thinking of others. She has an optimistic spirit that allows her to bring happiness to her patients and everyone she meets. Her vibrant smile will continue to brighten the days of all those around her.
If you would like to nominate someone for Person of the Week, contact Brittney Mangum at 601-776-3726.
