We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joy Morales a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Joy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Hi! My name is Joy Morales, I am 26 years old and am from Baltimore, MD.
I currently create fashion and lifestyle content on Instagram @joymmorales.
My creative journey started about 4 or 5 years ago by taking the huge risk of dropping out of college to pursue a career in tattooing. I was 22, living alone, and craving a different lifestyle than your typical college student. I started a formal tattoo apprenticeship in late 2021, and became fully licensed to tattoo in 2022. I started my own brand/business called InkdCreativeStudio in the summer of 2023, with the goal to change my own artistic paradigm, with the hopes of encouraging self expression and individuality through the medium of tattoos.

This was a huge shift from what I thought my life would look like as an early young adult. Overall I loved to tattoo but ultimately I was burnt out and realized it wasn’t the lifestyle that God wanted for me. I quit tattooing and closed my doors in the summer of 2024 and started to focus on branded marketing and ad creation on Instagram, focusing on what I knew best, that being fashion. The Lord has blessed my faith and obedience and has given me the ability to work with brands and companies all around the world. Content creation has also connected me with other likeminded individuals who desire to share their experiences and stories like me. I’m thankful for the roadblocks and journey everyday.

Joy , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

When I started creating content on Instagram I originally thought of it only as a means for entertainment. I had no idea that it could lead to brand partnerships and monetary leads. I currently work in what’s called ‘UGC’, which is “User Generated Content”. I specialize in short form video production with the emphasis primarily being fashion styling and aesthetic curation. When working with clients, my job ultimately is to showcase their products in a user friendly way.

I believe what sets me apart from others would be having God intertwined into my content, and my desire to put Him first in my life. I believe by putting Him first everything else falls into place. Personally I’m most proud of my growth characteristically as a person, and the tenacity I have to accomplish big things with the Lord by my side. A piece of advice to future creatives/followers would be to never put yourself in a box. All throughout your life especially your early 20’s you’ll try new things and sometimes fail miserably. But failure doesn’t define you, giving up on yourself does.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media presence is a huge part of owning a business, and it’s one of the most challenging parts of gaining traction and engagement to stay on you and not somebody else. One of the things that I’ve learned that’s helped me the most would be understanding your audience, and being authentic. I try to focus on genuine interaction with my following and refining that everyday. My advice to growing an online presence would be consistency, understanding your niche, and gaining a sense of relevancy.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Ultimately I desire for content creation to eventually become a full time source of income! Currently working on Instagram is my side hustle and I work in graphic design full time.
Key milestones in my journey would be getting paid from my first brand deal! Ultimately you can generate a definite source of income full time from content creation. My goal is to one day be able to work remote and only work on social media.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @joymmorales

Image Credits

@joymmorales