Born in New Orleans, Joy Grisoli is a lifelong resident of Louisiana. She is a graduate of St. Mary's Dominican High School and the LSU School of Dentistry in Allied Health, where she trained as a dental hygienist. She practiced for 5 years in a multispecialty practice that included caring for head and neck cancer patients. After moving to Hammond, Louisiana, in the early 1980's, she was a stay-at-home mother to her two children for twelve years. During this time, she was an active member of the Junior Auxiliary, where she directed the Reading is Fundamental (RIF) program for Tangipahoa Parish. This experience sparked her love for children's books and highlighted the importance of giving underprivileged children the chance to own their own books. In 1998, Grisoli returned to the healthcare field in a business partnership with her husband. Their ongoing business is in its' 27th year, 18 of which were in Destin, Florida. Now semi-retired and living in Mandeville, Louisiana, she now has the time to pursue her own interests. She never expected to write a children's book, but as she states "God gave our family a dog with a story that just had to be told".