The first week of February marked the beginning of the end (of the book, that is). Over 7 months later, it was complete by mid-February! The portion of my job that fell under “editor” had lapsed by this point, and I was proud to complete my first book! A lot has happened in these 7 months. I learned so much about bookmaking, but mostly about the life-changing work of New Hope Girls. I’m so honored to be a part of the team of encouragers and helpers who made this book come to life and find its audience.

The trickiness here was how scrappy it was in the beginning. Joy wrote many of these untitled documents to process and not forget major events from her 20+ years in the DR doing this life-giving work of rescue and education. Many of the stories were written as a potential blog post. Little did Joy know the lifespan of these short documentations and how they would ultimately grow into chapters for her book.

Everything changed last year when Joy said she felt the Lord nudge her to dedicate 2024 to writing and painting. In February 2024, she set aside the month to write and collect these journals and untitled documents into digital files. This was her first draft.

When we began in July, Joy and I dug through the untitled pages in her Apple account. Eagerly reading through documents titled “untitled 67,” “SOLLLLLLL,” and “scabie cream,” we eventually organized her files into different parts and converted them to Google Docs so we could organize them into sections. We began with 7 sections with various titles, and over 80,000 words of raw material to work with.

After organizing it, I spent the next week reading the manuscript while onboarding as Joy’s assistant as well. Within the week, I met over 30 girls involved in the organization, moved into a home with 4 of them, was onboarded as Joy’s assistant, and was handed 80,000 words of raw material that I was tasked to transform into a real-life book, bound and ready to sell to thousands of people for New Hope Girls conference series partnership with Extraordinary Women Ministries. This six-city tour would double as Joy’s book tour.

All in 9 months. No pressure!

In July and August, my job was focused on all of these 30 little girls I met. The other interns organized games, pool parties, birthdays, and more. I attended when I wasn’t assisting Joy in Santiago. In this time, I applied my first round of edits to the manuscript.

New Hope was changing, and Joy was in meeting after meeting trying to find the right people to carry with her into this new season. Over these two months, it became obvious that Joy needed to 1) launch a personal brand as a speaker and author, 2) hire a US director in the States, and 3) hire a production director in the DR.

By September, all positions were filled, and Joy hired Derek to serve as the publishing, production, and marketing consultant to lead Joy’s team [me (editorial/executive assistant and proofreader), Helina (events, marketing, social media), Isaac (creator of the docuseries and head of media), Jeri (US Director)]. He brought it all together!

Every work day, I reported to Derek and Joy. Together, and with his guidance, we successfully developed an editing system. Derek edited first, then Joy, then me. Every week during our meeting, I served as the ‘scribe’ of sorts and we worked through the book, chapter by chapter. We did two rounds of this for the developmental stage (before Christmas) and the copyediting stage (after Christmas).

This was my favorite process! I loved the homework each week to read and edit the book, and as a bonus, during our weekly production meetings, I saw glimpses of what our media and marketing team members did to set the scene for the book to thrive by our publication date on March 8, 2025. By February 1, it was my time to proofread the book. Throughout the copyediting process, I collected and cataloged name changes, release form information, endorsements, style decisions, common misspellings, etc. This was my proofreading guidebook, which I applied in my last weeks as an editor of I Am Joy by Joy M. Reyes. Now, it’s in the hands of hundreds of people.

I feel very proud of all that a book can contextualize. Without the book, there’s no solid ground for Joy’s platform to stand on. She’s a spokesperson, a liaison between the dark reality of all those left unrescued and the bright future for those girls if others join in the fight. Over the years, Joy has been so modest about all she has accomplished in the name of rescue. She’s doing the Lord’s work:

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35).

This is “life that is truly life” (2 Timothy 6:19).

Thank you Joy sharing your story, thank you to you and your family for dedicating their lives to rescuing girls.