Episode 197: How can you find joy?

Summary

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Smart Communications Podcast – Episode 197: “How Can You Find Joy?”

Host: Farrah Trumpeter (A)
Guest: Alandria Ayoka Jackson Charles (C), Founder and Chief Joy Officer, Ayoka Partners
Date: October 15, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the transformative power of joy—both as a personal practice and a professional imperative—for nonprofit leaders, particularly Black women. Host Farrah Trumpeter welcomes Alandria Ayoka Jackson Charles, a champion of sabbatical care and advocate for intentional joy, to explore practical strategies for integrating joy and rest into daily life and leadership.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Meaning of Joy and “Ayoka”

• Personal Connection:
  • Ayoka means “one who brings joy to all” in Swahili ([02:10]).
  • Alandria shares her realization: “In order for me to [make joy accessible], though, I had to make sure that I have my own practices for joy.” ([02:22])
• What Brings Joy:
  • Emphasizes small “micro moments” over big gestures.
  • Example: Discovering a lavender flower during a quiet morning reset brought her genuine joy—“I think it is about the micro moments of appreciating and noticing the beauty and the spectacular things that are all around us.” ([03:40])

2. Founding Ayoka Partners and Supporting Black Women Leaders

• Origin Story:
  • Created Ayoka Partners for her “old version” on the brink of burnout, and for today’s self aiming to show up as a whole person ([04:51]).
• Who She Serves:
  • Focus on high-achieving Black women who feel exhausted and disconnected from their own needs and brilliance.
• Core Offerings:
  • Provides sabbatical care (extended breaks and daily “sabbatical moments”) to help leaders reconnect and access joy consistently ([05:31]).

3. The Urgency of Joy

• Making Joy Urgent:
  • Joy is a “currency of life”—essential, inalienable, and self-generated ([07:19]).
  • Notably, “If you haven’t noticed, in 2025, you can’t rely on anything around you to fill your cup. So what are you doing within yourself…?” ([07:35])
• Health Imperative:
  • Connects the stress and pressure faced by Black women leaders to increased health risks—“50,000 Black women die from cardiovascular disease every single year. So you want to talk about urgency—it’s urgent.” ([07:54])

4. Practical Joy Practices and Creating “Sabbatical Moments”

• Personal Toolkit:
  • Segmenting life into domains (spiritual, physical, mental, financial).
  • Example practices: meditation, prayer, 20 minutes of daily physical movement—“Having almost like a menu of options where you are aware on the front end of what I can go to, what I can draw on when I need to access joy.” ([09:07])
• Finding Joy at Work:
  • Encourages small, consistent moments even during workdays, not just during “vacations or weekends” ([09:54]).
• On Sabbatical Moments:
  • Two Types:
    1. Natural Pauses already in your day (e.g., the moment upon waking, between meetings, transitions).
    2. Created Pauses through changing environment or intentional breaks.
  • Practical Example:
    • Morning Question: “What is the best fuel for your dreams today?”—a daily prompt for reflection and intention ([11:05]).
    • Box Breathing: After Zoom calls or stressful moments, “reset your nervous system and you’re off to the next thing.” ([12:07])
    • Changing physical environment—even moving away from the desk for lunch ([12:54]).
    • “Listening to this podcast was a sabbatical moment.” ([13:24])

5. Rest and the Role of Sabbaticals

• Rest as Joy:
  • The value of naps, not over-booking vacations, and building in true downtime ([13:31]).
• Redefining Sabbatical:
  • Not just a luxury, but “intentional time away from the usual”—which can mean “2 minutes, 20 minutes, [or] 2 months” ([14:51]).
  • Connection: “It is really, really hard to access joy when you are tired, when you are teetering on the brink of burnout and chronically fatigued.” ([15:13])
  • Rest allows clarity: “Slowing everything down so that you can hear your heart and listen to what it is telling you will bring you joy.” ([15:40])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Micro Moments of Joy:
  “When I think about joy, I think it is about the micro moments of appreciating and noticing the beauty and the spectacular things that are all around us.”
  —Alandria Ayoka Jackson Charles ([03:40])

• On the Urgency of Joy:
  “Joy is the currency of life. Joy is the thing that we own and that we have and that it cannot be taken away.”
  —Alandria Ayoka Jackson Charles ([07:20])

• On Practical Application:
  “What is the best fuel for your dreams today? Since December of 2024, I have opened my eyes every single day and asked myself that question. And it has been game changing.”
  —Alandria Ayoka Jackson Charles ([11:05])

• On the Accessibility of Joy:
  “Start small. Stop thinking about accessing joy as this big, large, unwieldy thing. It is very accessible and can happen in the most micro ways and will make huge difference.”
  —Alandria Ayoka Jackson Charles ([16:29])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:16 – Introduction to guest and topic
• 02:10 – What does “Ayoka” mean and what is joy?
• 03:40 – Joy in micro moments
• 04:51 – Ayoka Partners: Mission and story
• 07:19 – The urgency of joy and its health implications
• 09:07 – Building a joy toolkit
• 10:58 – Creating daily sabbatical moments
• 11:05 – The daily morning question (“What is the best fuel for your dreams today?”)
• 12:00 – Using box breathing to pause between transitions
• 12:54 – Changing physical environment and making agency over your time
• 13:24 – Listening to podcasts as a sabbatical moment
• 14:49 – Redefining sabbaticals and connecting rest with joy
• 16:29 – Final advice: Start small; joy is accessible

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Final Takeaway

This episode encourages nonprofit leaders and listeners to see joy as a daily necessity—not an indulgence—and to proactively weave micro-moments of rest, reflection, and delight into one’s routine. Start small. Notice beauty. Prioritize rest. Joy is urgent, and it is yours.

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Transcript

[A]

This is the Smart Communications Smart Communications Smart Communications Podcast.

[B]

Developing the Voices Voices Developing the voices of determined nonprofits brought to you by Big Duck.

[A]

Welcome to the Smart Communications Podcast. This is Farah, trumpeter, co director and worker owner at Big Duck. So I met today's guest at a workshop several years ago, and then we had the chance, the organization Big Doc and her organization Blue Engine to work together when she was the Chief development and Communications Officer several years ago. She also was on the podcast before back on episode 117. How does branding make things easier? And for today's conversation, we're going to pivot from talking about the work to how we do the work. And we're going to ask the question, how can you find joy? And of course, I've had the joy of spending a lot of time with today's guest, both on Zoom Calls and in person. So I am delighted to be joined by Alandria Ayoka Jackson. Charles Alandria is the founder and Chief joy Officer of Ayoka Partners, where she champions the clarity and joy of Black women leaders through sabbatical care. Supporting both extended time away and sabbatical moments woven into daily life, she helps leaders reconnect with themselves, creating ripple effects that transform how they live, lead and love. Alandria earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MPA from NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Alandria, welcome back to the show.

[C]

Thanks for having me. This feels like a full circle moment. I'm so happy to be here, Farrah.

[A]

And I am so happy to have you here. Well, as we prepared for today's conversation, one of the things that you said to me that I really took note of was quote, unquote, joy is my thing. And you also taught me that ayoka means one who brings joy to all in Swahili. So what does joy and ayoka mean to you and what's bringing you joy these days?

[C]

Yes, let's talk about it. So ioka was my original middle name, and as you mentioned, it's waheeli for one who brings joy to all. And what I realized is that in my business, I actually want to make joy accessible to others. In order for me to do that, though, I had to make sure that I have my own practices for joy. And so a part of my journey has been building a toolkit of what does it mean to actually access joy? What is the rest that's required? What is the intention that's required? What are the tools that allow you to constantly, on a regular basis, access joy. And so in my business, that's exactly what I'm doing, is creating the space and providing tools for the women that I work with to access joy in all areas of their life. What's bringing me joy these days is so much. It's so much. And I'll be honest with you, it could be easy for me to start with the big things, right? Like the trip that I took to Santa Fe or to Jamaica or even my two young kids. But you know what? I actually think joy is about small micro moments and being present and appreciating and noticing. So I'm going to give you an example of something that brought me joy just yesterday. So I gotten up 6:00 in the morning, got my kids ready, took them to school, came back home, and I was like, you know what? I need to reset. I do not want to start my day right now based on how it currently started. And I actually want to start over. So I made a cup of coffee. I sat on the front porch, and as I was sipping the coffee, it was raining. And I looked to my left and I saw this super bright, vivid lavender colored flower. And truly, in that moment, I felt joy. I looked at the flower that I hadn't noticed before. It's certainly been in our yard for a few months now. And I thought, that is just beautiful. And so when I think about joy, I think it is about the micro moments of appreciating and noticing the beauty and the spectacular things that are all around us.

[A]

Wow. And if the color purple doesn't bring you joy, something is wrong with you.

[C]

You know a little something about that, don't you?

[A]

That's right. You know, I love the purple. In fact, just another podcast we recorded, we were talking about Alice Walker, the Color Purple, the book, the movie, all of it.

[C]

Awesome.

[A]

Yeah. Well, let's flip it for a second from the personal to the professional. And I'd love you to talk a little bit about your company. What led you to start IOKA Partners? And can you talk a little bit about what you do there and who you work with?

[C]

Sure. So I started our yoga Partners for me. I started it for the old version of me, who was on the brink of burnout, who was experiencing chronic fatigue, who didn't feel like she belonged, who couldn't access her brilliance. And then I started for the me of today to be the wife and the mother and the friend and the daughter and the big sister that I want to be. And so the women that I work with are high achieving, they are brilliant, they are spectacular in their own right. But they are tired. They are tired. And what I've learned is in my time working with women and coaching them is we show up to do the work. But I am looking at a shell of a person, someone who is so exhausted that she can't access the questions or even the answers that are already inside of herself. And so through my business, I provide space under the umbrella of sabbatical care for women to come home to themselves. And so what I mean by that is we're going to pause, you're going to have space to process, to think, to remember. And then I'm going to provide you some tools for you to constantly be able to consistently, I should say, be able to practice joy. And so within the sabbatical care, I have actual coverage. Like when a leader is deciding to take extended time away. I will support her and her team before, during, and after her time away. And then sabbatical moments, which is the part of my work where I actually am. I'm a guide, and I'm helping women understand how day to day, there are small things that you can do to bring you joy. You don't have to wait to the three month sabbatical that's not even possible for a lot of people. And so sabbatical moments is about taking and accessing the time that you do have to pour into your own joy.

[A]

Great. And we're going to come back to the sabbatical moments idea in just a minute. I want to stick with the joy part of it though. And obviously they're intrinsically connected and we'll keep exploring that connection. But I know that you've actually led workshops about the urgency of joy, which I love, that idea of making joy urgent. And so how is that showing up for you? What makes joy urgent for you? And why do you feel like it's imperative that people learn to prioritize pursuing joy?

[C]

You know, I think joy is the currency of life. Joy is the thing that we own and that we have and that it cannot be taken away. And so I think it's so urgent to practice it, because if you haven't noticed, in 2025, you can't rely on anything around you to fill your cup. And so what are you doing within yourself to make sure that you are cultivating this idea of wonder and awe and appreciation and joy? When I think about black women in particular, I know that 50,000 black women die from cardiovascular disease every single year. So you want to talk about urgency it's urgent. People are dying because of the stress and the pressure and the deprioritization of yourself for the sake of others and without taking the time to stop and to pause and to be still and really honor the what you need in order to better serve others. In the worst case scenario, it can lead to death. But what I'm seeing on a regular basis is people just being a shell of themselves and not able to show up in their brilliance and their purpose.

[A]

Well, that is definitely imperative. So thank you for breaking that down. Now let's get a little practical for a moment. What are some things that people can do to practice joy as part of their work lives and not just something that happens at night or on the weekends or on vac. And beyond that, again, I know you've moved into helping leaders make time to lead with joy via sabbaticals. So what are some ways people can start creating, quote, unquote, those sabbatical moments in their daily lives as well as prioritizing taking meaningful time off?

[C]

So, you know, I'm going to start by talking a little bit about my own toolkit. What I realized is accessing joy is so much easier when you have almost like a menu of options where you are aware on the front end of what I can go to, what I can draw on when I need to access joy. So some examples for me. So when I think about my spiritual health, that looks like meditation, that looks like prayer. When I think about my physical health, that means moving for 20 minutes every day. So on a Monday it could be taking a walk around the neighborhood. On a Wednesday it could be on the Pilates, Matt. On a Friday it could be a run. But making sure that I am physically moving in some way. And so when I think about the people that I work with and those who are looking to access joy, I think a really good place to start is to do a survey of different areas of your life. Think about your mental health, think about your physical health, think about your financial health, think about where you need more joy, and then come up with very practical ways that you can consider consistently pour into those areas.

[A]

That was really helpful. I'm starting to make a list of all the places in my life I need to think about finding joy? And I'm just going to get back into the second part of the question, which is what are some ways people can start creating those sabbatical moments in their daily lives as well as prioritizing taking meaningful time off? I know for me, you know, when I years ago, there Was a time when I was at Big Duck where not only were they like, you have to take two weeks off, but we're locking you out of your email. You can't access it right. And I really appreciate it. That was act of love at the time to make sure I was getting that joy and the real meaning of taking time out. So what are some ways people can find that sabbatical moment? Not everyone might be able to take several months off. So how do we find those moments in our everyday lives?

[C]

Yes, great question. So I like to think about sabbatical moments in two ways. The first are natural pauses, natural opportunities that are already built into your day that we are not accessing, that we are overlooking, that we are not taking stock of. And then the second bucket is creating the pauses. The first one that comes to mind for me is when you wake up in the morning the minute you open your eyes. I got this question through a rest practice led by Octavia Faith Rahim, who is a speaker, an author, a rest coach, and the question is this. What is the best fuel for your dreams today? What is the best fuel for your dreams today? Since December of 2024, I have opened my eyes every single day and asked myself that question. And it has been game changing. So that's like a natural moment that you can seize and use it more intentionally. Another example is, you know, we're constantly transitioning throughout the day, whether it's from meeting to meeting, interaction to interaction, and I don't think we're breathing enough. And so think about ways that you can incorporate breathing. I really, really do like box breathing, where you say that zoom call ended box breathing and then move to the next thing. And so box breathing, if you're not familiar, is counting four counts up, holding your breath four counts, exhale four counts, pause four counts, do that three or four times, it resets your nervous system and you're off to the next thing. Okay, so those are examples of sort of existing built in, natural pauses. Others where you create. I think changing your physical environment is huge. I remember when I was working for an organization, I would literally sit at my desk at 9am and not get up until 5. Even eating my lunch at my desk. And shame on us because we have agency and there's actually like time that we own that we are giving away. Go for a walk, 15 minutes, go eat your lunch somewhere else. You can do that. So I think changing your physical environment is another way to just build in a pause. I also, I listen to podcasts. I actually find that as a way to broaden my perspective and in some ways build community. So I bet you didn't know that listening to this podcast was a sabbatical moment.

[A]

Check. There we go. You've done something today. Keep listen. Taking more sabbatical moments. Love it. That's great. Well, before we go, I want to touch on something else that I know brings us both joy, and that is rest. You were talking a little bit about it. Personally, I love a good nap on the weekends. I've sometimes taken a nap at the end of the workday when I have been on those back to back zooms and just feel exhausted even though I haven't left my apartment. I've also learned not to book my evenings, you know, back to back, or have my vacations packed solid with plans and endless things to do. Just pick a few things I want to make sure happen. But don't book myself nine to five or nine to nine on a vacation. So I've learned a lot for myself and trying to bring myself joy through rest as well. And I know that part of your work involves coaching leaders to take and get the most out of work rest or sabbaticals. So what's the connection between sabbaticals and joy for you? And maybe you can even start by offering a definition of sabbaticals, because again, I think many people think a sabbatical might be unattainable or it's really long, they maybe not be able to afford that or get as much time off. So maybe you could talk a little bit about how you define sabbaticals and then the connection between sabbaticals and joy.

[C]

Sure. So when I think about sabbatical, I think of intentional time. Intentional time away from the usual. And so when I say time, we could be talking about 2 minutes, 20 minutes, 2 months. Okay. And so this is just intentionally stepping away from your normal, regularly scheduled program. Now, the connection for me between joy and sabbaticals is the heart of it is it is really, really hard to access joy when you are tired, when you are teetering on the brink of burnout and chronically fatigue, you can't think straight. It's hard to know what you want because you're so dysregulated. And so I think that one of the ways to access joy is through rest. And so the sabbatical is the intentional time away, the intentional pause, the intentional stopping and listening and noticing, slowing everything down so that you can hear, so that you can hear your heart and listen to what it is telling you. Will bring you joy so that you can then start putting those practices into place.

[A]

That's great. Well, I hope this podcast has sparked some joy for everyone who's been listening or reading the [e-mail] insights if you'd like to learn more about alandria's work at Ioka Partners, be sure to check out iokapartners.com or connect with her on LinkedIn. Alandria, before we go, any other words of wisdom or joy you'd like to share? Anything else we didn't get into or something that sparked joy for you recently you want to share with us?

[C]

You know, my last words are start small. Stop thinking about accessing joy as this big, large, unwieldy thing. It is very accessible and can happen in the most micro ways and will make huge difference.

[A]

I love it and I love that idea of waking up every day asking questions, holding that space. So thank you for everything you share with us and everyone out there. I hope you have some joy coming your way.

[C]

Thank you Farrah.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Are you a fan of this podcast or Big Duck's other resources on nonprofit communications? If you are, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us a line by writing to helloigduck.com to tell us what you're working on and what topics you need help with. We also welcome getting your feedback via reviews. You can review this podcast wherever you listen. We'd love to hear from you.

[A]

This is the Smart Communications Podcast, Developing the Voices of Determined Nonprofits, brought to you by Big Duck.

[B]

Big Duck is an agency that puts smart communications in the hands of nonprofits. We help our nonprofit clients develop smart, strong brands, strong campaigns, and strong teams that advance their missions and achieve their goals.

[A]

Connect with [e-mail].