The first born child to Arnold and Hyemi Park, Joy was their princess and beautiful bundle of joy. The couple met at NYU, Arnold studying psychology while Hyemi was studying Music. How would their paths have crossed with such different interests? The story a little funny, but the two actually hated each other to the bone at first. Long story short, Hyemi somehow managed to break Arnold's side view mirror while riding her bike. He was grumpy and she had no money to pay it now, and he was a pretty lonely guy so instead of money, she offered friendship. Of course their conflict of interest got in the way as he was quite unwilling to learn anything about music or take it seriously, but not letting it get to her, Hyemi convinced him to listen to her play the numerous instruments she was good at. In exchange for listening, she would listen to him give small motivational speeches he had written since he loved making others feel better through psychology. The funniest part of this was that they never expected romance to blossom, they hadn't even thought about it. One day, Arnold leaned in for that kiss, and the rest was history.
So when did baby Joy come in to play? Well it was quite a few years after they had graduated. The couple married when Arnold was 27 and Hyemi was 25, and then they didn't have Joy until they were 30 and 28. Oddly enough, despite all the pain and irritation pregnancy had put on Hyemi, she wanted to name her first baby girl Joy due to how happy she was for this to be happening. The entire family was so happy about Joy that they immediately began suggesting Korean names for her, so she could use one when communicating with her family back in Seoul. Sooyoung was decided in the end as that was Hyemi's childhood friend's name that she dearly missed. At this point, Arnold and Hyemi were married, happy, settled in their careers and the baby topped everything off for them. From a young age, music was being implemented into Joy's life. The family would attend musicals with her starting around the time she was 4 and they figured she could handle them. But soon after this began, Joy would have a little sister on the way.
Being a big sister was actually a very exciting thing for Joy, she would get to teach her all of the things she learned, and eventually she would have a buddy to go to the musicals with, right? This one was named Jane, her Korean name Yooyoung. These two would be really close throughout childhood, always having each others' backs and forming a tight bond. Well that's how it's supposed to go, but Joy and Jane had a sister on the way by the time Joy was 6 and Jane was 2. This baby was named Jennifer, Jooyoung her Korean name. Because all of the sisters were fairly close in age, they did really have a close bond, the two younger ones the closest of course since they would always be in school together, whereas Joy and Jennifer would actually never be in school with one another. When their parents were busy working, Joy would cook for the girls, make sure they'd brushed their teeth and were in bed before 8:30 so they would have no problem waiting up the next day. The responsibility seemed like a lot, but Joy did these things with a smile no matter what.
Like every young girl who went through the trials and tribulations of puberty, Joy found herself being selfish sometimes, grumpy at others and wanting to be left alone more often than not. Her sisters weren't going through it, so they didn't understand it one little bit, but they weren't too mad at her. Their mother sat them down, explained to them what was going on with Joy's body and the fact that it would happen to them eventually as well, so they somewhat got a better idea of it all. This pulled a hilarious reaction out of them though, because they would bust into their sister's room and jump on the bed so they could massage her stomach and give her massages to the scalp. "We're here to save you from the Period!!" They would say loudly, and believe it or not this would actually make her feel better most of the time. Something about how silly they looked and the ridiculous level to what they were doing paired with the fact they just wanted their sister to be happy, it was pretty awesome if you asked her.
Throughout school, Joy managed to get nothing but straight A's, feeling the most responsible as she was the oldest sister of three young girls. This meant her social life was a little wrecked since she spent more time studying than hanging out with her peers. There was one or two good friends she would make sure to see sometimes, but other than that she kept to herself throughout middle school. Though this did actually help her out because she skipped a grade during elementary. High school was when she began to blossom, and figure out a pretty good work-life balance. This actually helped her more with her studies, especially since she had to maintain her grades to be a cheerleader. Graduation came when she was 16 going on 17, a little early due to the skipped grade but she was glad to be done with it. But what now? Well she had a lot of interests, but she figured she could get one thing out of the way within a year, or just a little over a year. So right after high school, Joy went to cosmetology school and did her 13 months, getting her license and working in a shop soon after. This helped her rake in a lot of money to pay some bills at the house. Her parents obviously didn't need the help, but they truly appreciated it.
The decision to go to Yonsei was a tough one for her, because she would be away from her parents, her sisters and all of the friends she currently knew. But, after talking to a few salons in Seoul and finding out that American licenses were well respected in Korea, she figured why not go back to where her parents were from and experience something completely new? She had learned Korean throughout her life, and while there was an accent there whenever she spoke it, she was still completely fluent. Upon arriving in Seoul at the end of 2014, she began working at a salon immediately and then she was accepted for Yonsei the next year, so she would be able to start the Fall semester. Excited, nervous and proud, she knew she would actually love the college experience.