For Camille Joy, motherhood did not unfold the way she imagined it would. Instead, it invited her into a deeper reliance on faith, a slower understanding of joy, and a kind of love shaped by unexpected challenges. In her book Moments of Joy, Joy writes to parents who are learning how to hold gratitude and grief in the same hands. Through honest storytelling and gospel-centered hope, she reminds readers that God is present not only in answered prayers, but also in the daily, unseen moments where endurance is formed and joy quietly takes root. The full audio interview is below with written excerpts edited for clarity and length below.
MAINA
Where did the book come from? When did you know it was time to write it?
CAMILLE JOY
I knew it was time to write it in 2021. It took a long time to get to that place. Writing a book is very scary. Being published is even scarier. And once you get to the edits, that’s even more scary.
I knew it was time in 2021 when I began to encourage people online. I realized there were other parents like me who needed this kind of encouragement — not just kind words, but understanding that even in this diagnosis, God is still with us. That your child is still beautifully and wonderfully made.
MAINA
I have to admit, when I was reading it, I felt like it could be a book for all parents. Even though it’s inspired by parenting a child with disabilities, I kept thinking, every parent needs this.
How did you know to write it specifically for parents who have a child like Mason — especially since you have other children?
CAMILLE JOY
I do — I have four other children. Mason is my fifth.
Everyone had different needs. Even my youngest son before Mason, who is still eight years older than Mason, his needs are ever evolving as a sibling of a child with a disability. Those children often become the center of the family because of the complexity of their health and neurological needs.
Mason became the center, but I had to remember that everyone still needed me. My oldest is about to be 25, and they still need their mother forever. I need mine.
With Mason, I had to crumble up everything I thought I knew about parenting. I knew motherhood. I knew structure. But then here came a child with special needs who had sensory restrictions even around food. I found myself cooking one meal for my family and then chicken nuggets for him. That was a complete shift for me.
And within the body of Christ, these parents are often rejected. Their children are demonized. People mean well, but they say things like, “You’re not praying hard enough.” That hurt deeply. I remember Mason was in my womb. The doctor said he’s going to be born with congenital heart disease. He told us he would need several surgeries. The doctor asked, “do you want to keep this baby or not?” And of course, my husband and I were like, “What? Of course we’re going to have our child. We’re going to accept everything.” But immediately when he was born, I began to face those people who would say you need to say this scripture. You need to pray. You’re not praying hard enough. It just hit me in my heart. I think people mean well, but those things that are [hurtful] with the parent. I began to feel rejected. I knew I could pray. I knew I was an intercessor. I knew that. But what do I do when here on earth, my baby is still not healed? Now what? You know? And God is still good. He’s still faithful.
God taught me how to pray differently. He taught me compassion for parents who are isolated and often misunderstood.
MAINA
Tell me about Mason.
CAMILLE JOY
Mason is eight years old. He loves music — gospel music especially. He wants one praise song “Anthem of Praise” by the late Richard Smallwood on repeat all day. He taps us and says, “I want music.”
He also loves straws. One straw. That’s his thing. He fidgets with it constantly. That’s just how his mind works.
MAINA
On page 33, you write: “Life often throws us unexpected curveballs.”
You include this affirmation: “I embrace the unexpected with grace, knowing that each detour is an opportunity to love my child.”
Can you explain that?
CAMILLE JOY
With Mason, it has been diagnosis after diagnosis; congenital heart disease, autism, intellectual disability, ADHD. If you don’t anchor yourself in Christ, it can overwhelm you.
The first thought is often negative. It takes effort to hold on to joy. But every unexpected thing becomes an opportunity to love your child deeper and learn them better.
I allow myself a moment to feel it and then I wipe my tears and keep going.
MAINA
How do you become grateful over circumstances as a parent of a child with special needs?
CAMILLE JOY
I take the seat of gratitude. Jeremiah 29:11 has anchored me through everything.
God has a plan for our future. Mason is His child before he is mine. That is his child. That is his baby. He has a great plan. There I can just take the seat of gratitude over any circumstance. Like you said, as a parent, it doesn’t matter even with special needs or not, there are many things that are going to happen, and you take the seat of gratitude over your circumstance. My mom used to say, we had you and we thought “we can write a book on parenting. This is easy.” And she said, then we had your sister and we said to ourselves, no, that’s not a good idea. It’s kind of one of those things where each child always brings this like – “Oh, yes,” with [raising them].
MAINA
What would you say to people who want to support friends raising children with special needs but don’t know how?
CAMILLE JOY
First, have compassion. Do not give unsolicited advice. Because although we think we know it all, this is a path you have not walked. This path, you have no idea what it takes to raise a child with special needs. When you have a friend and they have a child with special needs, you may say they make it look easy. But you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors.
If someone comes to mind, send them a Starbucks card. Send a text. Let them know they’re seen. Many parents don’t know they have community. Some feel alone. They feel isolated. And they won’t let you know. But when you say, you know, I see you…[it matters]. My sister watched my son recently. And when I went to pick him up, her husband said, “Camille, I don’t know how you guys do it.” He was like, “we only had him for eight hours.” But he saw our strength. See their strength without having to take care of the child. See their strength, even if you don’t understand their journey.
MAINA
When you hit send on the book, did you feel like you said everything you needed to say?
CAMILLE JOY
No. There’s always more to say. There’s always more encouragement to give.
These are excerpts from an interview transcribed and edited for clarity and length from Jamaal Bernard’s Offscript Podcast submitted by UF contributor Maina Mwaura. Jamaal interviews acclaimed actor Courtney B. Vance about his new audible reading of W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919 by David Levering-Lewis now available on audible. The full interview can be watched or listened to anywhere you find podcasts.
Jamaal Bernard
I’m so excited I’m here. A new episode of Offscript with a special guest, a friend, a friend for years. You see me grow up and Courtney B. Vance. You’re doing a piece for an amazing man, a man who is such a great individual, great inspiration, a great legacy within the community of people of color. And I love this because we have the young individuals, the further I think we get away from certain time points and period in history, the least amount of effect it has on generations, right? And what you’re doing here with this project is an amazing, amazing thing. So thank you so much for that, for my kids’ kids. Tell me a little bit about this project. –
Courtney B. Vance
You know, you talk about what we, you know, the further away you get from, you know, I’m a history buff, I love big biographies. And I didn’t know anything about W.E.B. Du Bois. If you go in black people’s homes, you know, post 1963, up to, you know, 2000 or so, they have a picture of Jesus and a picture of MLK on the wall. Prior to ’63, that was Jesus and W.E.B. Du Bois. That’s how big he was. And I didn’t know that. [It’s amazing] how quickly and how easily we forget and erase people. When he died in Ghana, the president of Ghana gave him a state funeral, on the same day that MLK was delivering his I’ve a Dream speech. The [most prominent] man pre MLK was leaving and MLK was ascending. And they were both at [living] at the same time. They were leaving and ascending at the same time. And for us not to know who he was, that’s how things can repeat. That’s how we lose a sense of who we are, because we don’t continually revisit. We say never forget. And in the information age, we say that and it’s scary. And then that’s why I love history.
Jamaal Bernard
So, [you read] this story, and then putting it on audible, genius idea, right? God used you, inspired you to act. How does your faith, you know, help you navigate the arena? Because you’re an actor, right? You are on big screen, you’re on the stage, now you’re doing audio books and whatnot, and this probably won’t be your last audio book. So how does your faith help you navigate this arena?
Courtney B. Vance
It’s all about my faith. It’s all about our faith. That allows me to stay calm when I don’t know what’s next or what’s happening, or is this the right choice to make? Is this the right timing? Is the timing right to actually ask, can we go in this direction? I don’t panic. As when the disciples were rowing across the, and they were on the one side, and Jesus said, you know, I’ll see you on the other side. He just didn’t tell them that they were gonna go into the storm. But if he says, I’ll see you on the other side, you know that despite the storm, you’re gonna get to the other side. Storms of life happen to all of us. We’re in a storm now, but we will get to the other side of it. Just like, and that’s why I read biographies to actually see how people dealt with the storms in their lives.
Jamaal Bernard
I was gonna ask, can you correlate your experience with something that you, with this project, with W.E.B. Du Bois, and the storm that he’s going through?
Courtney B. Vance
The storm he went through was…he was born a generation removed from slavery. And people at the time were, white and black, were figuring out, is it W.E.B. Du Bois’ way, or is it Booker T. Washington’s way? You know, which is the agrarian, do the trades, and it’s a combination. But white folks at that time were, scared. ‘Cause bottom line, it’s all about the vote. We don’t wanna educate them too much so that they start to come into our areas and impact our lives in terms of making sure that white folks always have what they need, and that they don’t have to answer to black people. So, [they] don’t want them to be engaged, but [they] don’t want to seem like we’re trying to keep them down. So, they were, as our director Christina said, they were figuring it out as they went along. The country was trying to figure out what direction it’s going. It’s fresh out of the Civil War, [W.E.B.] came into his own, into college. [It’s around] 1885, that was a generation removed from the Civil War. So, [white Americans are] trying to get there, but are [they] really helping black people? Are you just helping yourself? Are you only giving money, these rich philanthropists to causes that keep black people down? Or are you giving them to causes that help bring black folks into the mainstream? That was the dilemma.
Tamika Mallory was raised in activism as her parents worked with Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. She was also raised in the church, taking seriously the role that her faith community played in advocating for justice and shaping people’s lives. She is known for her activism for black women in a world where civil rights are being threatened more every day. Her memoir: I Lived to Tell The Story shares her story in a moment where her story is more important than ever. UrbanFaith contributor Maina Mwaura sat down with Tamika to talk about her memoir and what she sees in the world today.
Ms. Julieanna Richardson went from broadcast and television executive to the founder of an organization dedicated to preserving Black History. She now runs one of the largest organizations dedicated to the location and preservation of African American historical archives, stories, and history: The History Makers. UrbanFaith contributor Maina Mwaura sat down with her to learn about the Historymakers and get her insight on our world and history today.
A photo of the many hands involved in the making of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, including George Green, the son of Uncle Nearest, circa 1904. (Photo provided/Newfields)
The following interview is with Fawn Weaver, Founder of Uncle Nearest and UrbanFaith Contributor Maina Mwaura, about her new book Love & Whiskey. The views expressed here are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of UrbanFaith.
Maina: Why did you decide to write the book?
Fawn: The book is the reason I came to Lynchburg, Tennessee, in the first place. The story of Nearest Green and Jack Daniel is one of the greatest American stories the world needs to know, and it’s my great honor to have been able to tell it.
Maina: What did you learn that you didn’t already know about Nearest Green?
Fawn: When I first encountered this story, like most people, I knew absolutely nothing about Nearest Green. However, through my research, I’ve since discovered that he is the world’s first known African American master distiller, the teacher and mentor of Jack Daniel, and the only known master distiller for Jack Daniel Distillery No. 7.
Maina: What was the bond between Nearest Green and Jack Daniel?
Fawn: Jack was a young, white orphan who was mentored by and grew up learning from Nearest Green. When Jack was old enough to own his own business, he asked his mentor to be his first master distiller. I believe this to be one of the earliest examples of business allyship in America, a bond that continued for generations between the descendants of Nearest and Jack. Genuine backstories drive the American whiskey business, and it’s always about heritage.
Maina: Why do you think Uncle Nearest has resonated with its customers?
Fawn: Uncle Nearest was the first truly inclusive bourbon brand. Until our debut in 2017, bourbon marketing typically focused on one or two demographic groups. But we decided to tap into the ties that bind all humans: love, honor, and respect. When you look at our marketing and hear our team speak about our brand, those three words come up repeatedly. It turns out that if you bring together a marketing team that represents the full diversity of America and then market to all of America, it resonates. And, of course, we have the best story the bourbon world has ever known.
Maina: What one thing do you think will surprise readers about the book?
Fawn: Readers may be surprised by how openly I share about building Uncle Nearest and how my background and upbringing equipped me to face the onslaught of challenges in this industry. I’m very transparent about what it has taken to become who I am today and to build the company I’m known for now.
Maina: How did the book-writing process make you a better leader?
Fawn: I can’t say the book-writing process made me a better leader. What has made me a better leader is learning what my team needs and leaning into that as much as possible. However, the book has greatly inspired our team overall and serves as a constant reminder of our “why” today and moving forward.
Maina: What was Nearest Green’s spiritual background?
Fawn: We don’t know for certain. That said, his children and grandchildren attended Christian churches, so if they inherited their faith from Nearest, we can assume he was also Christian.
Maina: Did you say everything you wanted to in the book?
Fawn: Yes, I put everything into Love & Whiskey, so nothing remains untold. Anything new that I’ve learned since its publication will be included in an extended paperback version down the road.
Fawn Weaver 2021 – Photo Credit – Eric Ryan Anderson
For Camille Joy, motherhood did not unfold the way she imagined it would. Instead, it invited her into a deeper reliance on faith, a slower understanding of joy, and a kind of love shaped by unexpected challenges. In her book Moments of Joy, Joy writes to parents who are learning how to hold gratitude and grief in the same hands. Through honest storytelling and gospel-centered hope, she reminds readers that God is present not only in answered prayers, but also in the daily, unseen moments where endurance is formed and joy quietly takes root. The full audio interview is below with written excerpts edited for clarity and length below.
CAMILLE JOY
