Meet LGMSD

​As Meet LGMSD draws to a close and you have met all of the amazing folks working hard to make lovely La Grande even lovelier, it is time to unmask the intrepid reporter behind About Town and all of the blogs and posts highlighting our wonderful Partners.

Joyce Coulson was born in Battle Creek, Michigan and raised in a wooded idyl about 30 miles from the nearest town, where she went to grammar and secondary school.  Of course, the minute she could, Joyce moved to Detroit to prepare herself for attending the University of Michigan.  It was the summer of 1967 and the Detroit riots started three blocks from her apartment, so she changed her major from English to journalism.

After her stint at Michigan, adding several more majors onto her journalism studies (political science and natural resources), Joyce ended up moving to Eugene, Oregon.  Not being able to find a journalism job that didn’t involve fashion or cooking, she evolved into a medical transcriptionist.  She did that for several years, and then decided to move to New York City.  Joyce lived in NYC for almost a decade, working as a hospital planner at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.  During that time, she did freelance and ghost writing as well.
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Joyce then moved back to Eugene and started her own transcription business. With small transcription services being bought out, she started her journey of working for various large transcription conglomerates until the pandemic hit and she was laid off. In the interim, Joyce had moved to La Grande to be closer to her sister. 

So, it was unemployment time and, after her unemployment benefits ran out, the employment specialist thought Joyce would be a perfect candidate for the Easter Seals/Goodwill SCSEP Program and that is how she came to La Grande Main Street Downtown.

Aside from learning new skills and stretching her writing legs, the thing that Joyce likes best about working with LGMSD is having the opportunity to meet and work with people she never would have encountered prior to LGMSD.  In particular, working with Monica and Mary Ann has been a joy!

In her non-LGMSD time, Joyce is editing and re-writing her contemporary rom-com series that will eventually be self-published thanks to the skills learned at LGMSD. In her non-writing hours, Joyce enjoys keeping up with British archeological finds and studying history, as well as going to local festivals and restaurants with her sister.  She also is the pet parent to her rather large cat family and the plant mom to a motley collection of geraniums and Pablo, the Ecuadorian rubber tree.