Felicia Joy

Biography

Felicia Joy co-teaches Culture as a Competitive Business Advantage and Culture: A Competitive Business Asset or Risk.

Additionally, she is an Executive Vice President of Business Transformation in Edelman’s Corporate Advisory practice and the company’s U.S. Head of Behavioral Science. Her 15 years of professional experience include qualitative and quantitative research, behavior change strategy, transformation communications for all audiences, crisis and reputation management, corporate purpose and social impact strategy, DEI advisory, multichannel marketing, as well as brand development, expansion and repositioning for M&A. 

She advises clients from diverse industries who are navigating complex business problems, executive transitions, new ventures, realignments, turnarounds and recoveries. She founded Edelman’s Behavioral Science practice, which helps companies design and scale behavior change programs that drive measurable culture, revenue and brand transformations.

Felicia has also led some of Edelman's most acclaimed and influential pro-bono work such as the "Silence Isn't Treatment" campaign for Taraji P. Henson's Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, which boosted by 520% the number of Black men signing up for mental health counseling through the foundation. Moreover, she set the vision and directed a team to develop the strategy and creative content for the "Unspoken Curriculum" campaign, which boosted awareness of the harmful stigma Black students in the education system face; the campaign raised more than $500,000 in contributions for the foundation's work to provide programming and services to impacted youth. 

Prior to Edelman, Felicia was the head of communications at one of Marriott’s largest hotel development and management partners. Previously, she led communications as chief spokesperson and public relations manager for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the world’s busiest airport. She also served as director of corporate communications for Mirant, an international energy company acquired by NRG.

While at Hartsfield-Jackson, she developed and implemented a strategic plan to protect the $30 billion airport from privatization. At Mirant, she led a multi-disciplinary team in recovering $10 million of quarterly revenue through an integrated strategy that resolved a host of business challenges, spanning environmental, regulatory, government and community affairs.

Felicia previously taught as an adjunct professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She earned a master’s in Behavioral Science from Harvard and undergraduate degrees in Journalism and Political Science from the University of Georgia. She is co-author of the forthcoming book I Don't Just Work Here: The New Purpose of Workplace Culture.

Academic Areas

• Strategy and Leadership