Joy was born in Seoul , Korea . Born into a family of musicians, she was taught piano by her aunt from age four. Her interests and passion in piano and singing were inseparable in her life starting from an early age.

Her professional and competitive piano playing began when her family moved to Toronto in 1992. Joy is a graduate of University of Toronto for her Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Piano Performance, where she studied under Prof. Marietta Orlov. She is a winner of many competitions held in Toronto , including Kiwanis, Yip’s, Markham , as well as s Provincial finalist in Canadian Music Competition. She is a recipient of Alberto Guerro Scholarship, U of T Open Fellowship, and Alexander and Carolyn Drummond Fellowship in Piano from the University of Toronto and Percy Nightingale Scholarship from the Kiwanis Music Competition.

Her passion for opera and collaborating with other artists has grown over the years. Joy pursued her second Master’s Degree in Collaborative Piano from 2003-05 at the University of Michigan , under worldly renowned Collaborative Pianist, Professor Martin Katz.

Joy was invited to Festivals such as Pine Mountain Music Festival and Bay View as an Apprentice Coach and an Assistant Conductor. During 2005-06, Joy worked as one of the Piano Faculty members and an accompanist at Albion College , and at the University of Michigan as well.