Her debut CD, "Feelin' Good" features Giovanni Mazzarino (p), Nello Toscano (b), Mimmo Cafiero (d) and Oracio Maugeri (sax). The CD was first released in 1995, on Tireno Records in Milan, then released in the U.S. on Joan's label, I AM Records in 1998.

This Sagittarian from New York City has a B.A. in Communications and Music from LaSalle University, (Philadelphia) and a Master’s in Communications from Florida Atlantic University. Joan studied ballet and modern dance with Bernice Johnson and Lavern Porter, and African dance with Dinizulu. She studied piano, composition and theory with pianist Gerald Price, and harp with Caliope Proios.

She performs weekly at ELLINGTON'S JAZZ CABARET in Florida, and in Europe, during the summer. She is the recipient of a SEAS Grant for her presentation of WOMEN IN JAZZ at schools in Broward County, Florida. Her research paper, The Sign of The Blues, was published in the 1993 IAJE Research Papers Journal. She offers lectures around the country and at Broward Community College (FL) on:

1. Women in Jazz
2. Jazzmen
3. The Sign of The Blues
4. Jazz: The Unmasked Rhetoric
5. The Cultural Politics of Commercial Jazz
6. The Business of Music: So, You Want To Be A Singer?

Her interviews for Entertainment News & Views, include Dr. Billy Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Lonnie Liston Smith and Sun Ra. She interviewed Quincy Jones and Abby Lincoln for her Master's thesis, The Cultural Politics of Commercial Jazz.

Joan's original music is published by Fuzz Goodbuddy Publications (BMI).

Joan produced the First Annual Gaiafest, "A celebration of Mother Earth with Women in Jazz", in March 1998, featuring legendary vocalists Dakota Staton and Ruth “Silky” Waters, and the Gaia All-Stars with Kim Clark (b), Bertha Hope (p), Bernice Brooks (d) and Pamela Williams (sax). In September 1998 and 1999, it was produced in the Bronx, New York. Gaiafest also will be held in New York, in 2000. Ultimately, Gaiafest will travel around the world.

In her column Inside. . . in Travel & Style Magazine, the nation’s premier magazine for travelers of color Joan has covered Italy, Switzerland, England, Germany and Barcelona. She's written numerous articles for The Westside Gazette, IN FOCUS MAGAZINE and Pick Up & GO!, an environmental newsletter, and her company, FYI Communications, Inc., is a clearinghouse for these publications and for fine art.

In 1998, Joan co-produced and co-hosted the cable show, Let’s Get Serious, with Ruth “Silky” Waters. This Miami talk show presents 36 positive role models for youth from all walks of life including politics, education, the arts and business.