About
Restoration for the women who carry so much.
The Joyful Woman Project is a Houston-based 501(c)(3) public charity creating pathways to restoration, connection and renewal for women navigating sustained emotional and practical demands.
Mission
The Joyful Woman Project creates restorative spaces, educational experiences and community-centered support that help women reconnect with their well-being, identity, joy and capacity to live with greater wholeness.
Vision
We envision communities where women have access to intentional spaces for renewal and meaningful support, and where their restoration strengthens families, relationships and future generations.
Our belief
Women do not need another place that demands more from them. They need places where they are not required to perform, produce, explain or hold everything together. We believe that when a woman is given space to reconnect with herself, the benefits naturally extend to the children, partners, families and communities connected to her.
Our origin story
The Joyful Woman Project began with founder Josie Smith’s own experience of grief, caregiving and coming home to herself. In 2019, Josie lost her mother to colon cancer. Soon afterward, she returned home to support her father through his own colon cancer diagnosis while continuing to carry the demands of work and daily life.
That season revealed something she had seen in women everywhere: the people who hold families and communities together are often the last to receive care themselves. Through her own healing, Josie became committed to creating spaces where women can lay down responsibility, reconnect with their authentic selves and receive restoration without guilt.
That calling became The Joyful Woman Project, a public mission built from lived experience, professional leadership, healing practice and the belief that restoring women creates a generational ripple effect.
Core values
- Restoration
- We honor rest, renewal and care as essential, not something women must earn.
- Authenticity
- Women are welcome without having to appear polished, positive or prepared.
- Connection
- Healing is strengthened through safe, intentional and honest community.
- Sovereignty
- We support women in reconnecting with their voice, agency and inner knowing.
- Stewardship
- We treat every contribution, relationship and resource with responsibility.
- Generational impact
- We recognize that supporting a woman can strengthen everyone connected to her.
Organizational status
- Legal name
- The Joyful Woman Project
- Entity type
- Texas nonprofit corporation
- Federal status
- IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) public charity
- Public charity classification
- Internal Revenue Code Section 509(a)(2)
- Effective date of exemption
- July 8, 2026
- EIN
- 42-3329190
- Accounting year end
- December 31
- Governance
- Board-governed; no voting members