Starting college at 25 years old, alumna Joy Cox’s journey has always been defined by perseverance.
As a nontraditional student, Cox (BA Communication Studies, 2012) found a home in the Department of Communication Studies.
“There were a lot of things that I didn't know. WVU’s where I got my start, my exposure to a lot of the things that I’m doing now that I don't think that I would’ve ever found without WVU,” Cox said. “I was grateful for people to take me under their wing. There were a lot of people who inspired me and reassured me. There was never someone saying you're not going to get this; you're not going to make it. There was always faculty encouraging me and showing me different ways to use my skillset to develop into a better scholar.”
Professor and Chair Scott Myers introduced Cox to the possibilities of research, and Melanie Booth-Butterfield was her mentor when she became a McNair Scholar in 2011.
“Dr. Myers mentored me in data analysis and the research process. I used to have this issue with not believing I could do math well. He showed me I could believe in myself,” Cox said. “Through Dr. Myers’ guidance as an undergraduate, I started to think I might just be on to something with research.”
Since completing her graduate studies at the University of Missouri and Rutgers University, Cox researches organizational communication and its effects on marginalized groups.
“I credit WVU with starting me in communication studies,” Cox said. “Finding that passion early helped to set the foundation for what I wanted to do moving forward.”
Studying identity and identification and how that affects individuals’ lived experiences, Cox’s work examines intersectionality of race, body size, accessibility and health within the context of body acceptance and fat liberation.
“I’m most interested in stigmatized identities. I wanted to hear from the people who actually do experience stigma as opposed to the majority speaking on their behalf,” Cox said. “Within that realm I study weight stigma and the lived experiences of people who live in larger bodies. I consider how those stigmas influence how people move through life, the impact they have on the aspiration to their goals and the barriers they face.”
As a program development analyst at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Cox assists by lending her expertise on weight stigma to its health equity and social justice curriculum and works to acclimate incoming students to the underserved population of Newark, New Jersey, through community engaged service learning.
“I help to connect students with the community in Newark so that they can become familiar with the population that they'll be working with,” Cox said. “There is still this thread of the importance identity and understanding identification that runs through community service learning, what it means to serve underserved populations and how you can better understand your patients as you build relationship and community with them.”
But research wasn’t enough for Cox. She also aspired to implement solutions in response to the findings in her studies.
“I consider myself a social justice advocate as I use my skillset in research to foster social change through the promotion of diversity and inclusion initiatives,” Cox said. “I was sitting with all of these answers, and people are telling me the things that they need and the things they wish that they had. That shifted me into a space of implementation and thinking about what I can do to help fill gaps. Within the realm of weight stigma and its intersections, I am someone who lives in a larger body. I identify as a fat, Black cis-gender woman. So, I know what it's like to have that that lived experience.”
That led her to publish her first book, “Fat Girls in Black Bodies.” It explores the stigmatized identity around what it means to be a larger Black woman in today's society, particularly within the United States.
“The book is an ode to Black womanhood and what it means to live in a larger body. I structured the book around the ideas of acceptance, resistance and belonging,” Cox said. “I focus on creating community and how we can draw on the strength of one another while highlighting the very real inequities people in larger bodies experience without sugarcoating the facts.”
Cox emphasizes that it is not a self-help book.
“The biggest takeaway is the way that stigma affects the lived experiences of people who live in larger bodies,” Cox said. “It's also a book designed to educate, bring awareness to the lived experiences of fat Black women and uplift those who live in larger bodies about being able to survive because in a lot of ways that's what many of us are doing.”
Instead, it’s intended to advocate for women and overcome these stigmas.
“It was something written for us, by us, because even within marginalized communities, you find that there is further marginalization. Fat Black women are often further pushed to the margins of society despite having a commonality of identity in fatness with their peers. Erasure and silencing happen across the board when we get into this type of work that centers a type of oppression that many people with a diversity of identities are impacted by,” Cox said. “For example, when you think about women's rights, we don't really talk about the nuances. It’s like we're all women, but we're all not being afforded access to the same things. The book was a way to talk about this within the realm of weight stigma that often gets overlooked.”
Cox also expanded on interviews from her podcast, Fresh Out the Cocoon, in the book. Recent interviews include Jai Mobley, the owner of the fashion line Fat Mermaids, and Adrienne Ray, the owner of Curve Conscious, Philadelphia’s only consignment shop offering predominantly plus-size clothing.
“Getting their take on how their lives have changed throughout the years was interesting to me and very familiar. You start to notice that people’s stories are uncannily similar. Your family did this to you to as a child. You really started to notice by your teenage years that there weren’t any clothes for you to wear. That helped me to connect the dots,” Cox said. “As a qualitative researcher, I'm drawing those connections and painting those big pictures, but the podcast was really a launching pad. I hate to call myself a brand – I don't see myself that way. But the podcast helped put my name out there as somebody who studies and shares the lived experiences of fat Black women.”
Cox describes writing the book and developing the podcast as both empowering and healing.
“We've all been through the same thing. We are creating our own lanes. The people that I interview are entrepreneurs and business owners. They are doing their own things. In that space, I can say I’m doing my own thing. I'm speaking truth to power as it relates to my lived experiences and the experiences of others,” Cox said. “I'm creating these platforms for others. As I heal, I can extend a hand to someone else and help lift them to where they want to go. You can find strength in community to do that.”
In March 2021, Cox teamed up with her friend, Bunmi Alo, to launch the inclusive fitness app Jabbie. It includes workouts, trainers, a calendar and a discussion board.
“Our goal was to create a community you can take in your pocket. We have inclusive trainers – trainers who are accustomed to working with people with different abilities, different body sizes. You can talk with the community about any questions, like which brand of shoes is best, what is a good treadmill, do I really need to get the Peloton bike or do I just need the app?” Cox said. “I wanted to create a space that allows people to talk about body movements and fitness without talk geared toward weight loss and dieting. It’s for people who like to move their bodies and want to do it in a safe space. Here's a community for you to do it.”
“WVU took a chance on me as a student. I’m just grateful for the resources that were made available to me while I was there. Never in a million years did I think I would get a master's degree, and if that was in a million years, I guess a trillion years would have been a PhD. I don't think that I would have been able to accomplish those things had it not been for the things in place at WVU. I am grateful for the WVU faculty and staff who showed up for me and helped to guide me in the process of getting to where I am today.”
– Joy Cox
Cox credits WVU for kickstarting her journey.
“WVU took a chance on me as a student. I’m just grateful for the resources that were made available to me while I was there. Never in a million years did I think I would get a master's degree, and if that was in a million years, I guess a trillion years would have been a PhD,” Cox said. “I don't think that I would have been able to accomplish those things had it not been for the things in place at WVU. I am grateful for the WVU faculty and staff who showed up for me and helped to guide me in the process of getting to where I am today.”
Learn more about Cox’s work at DrJoyCox.com.