Press Kit

Jodi Cowles grew up acquainted with grief — and with a faith full of contradictions she wasn't allowed to question. She found her escape in purpose: documenting the work of global organizations serving the world's most marginalized people, pouring herself into others' suffering so she wouldn't have to look at her own.

It almost worked.

Across dangerous assignments in forgotten corners of the world, the walls she'd built around her heart began to crack — and everything she'd locked away came flooding back. What followed was a reckoning: with her past, with her faith, with her own capacity to love and be loved. And then, in a foreign country tangled in corruption and heartbreak and bureaucratic chaos, came Joy.

Her memoir, Then Came Joy, chronicles that journey. It has been called "profound and deep, but also comical at times," "a must read for those who have been disillusioned by mainstream evangelical church culture," and "a RUN don't walk situation" for readers who love honest, page-turning memoir.

Jodi spent eight years living in Istanbul, Turkey — an experience that shaped her worldview, her writing, and her family. She has lived and worked in seven countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Armed with an endless supply of culture-clashing mishaps, inappropriate marriage proposals, and language barrier misfires, her writing gets to the heart of the matter: the human connection present in every country and culture.

She is the author of multiple works of faith-based fiction, including the spiritual allegory Thirst (10th Anniversary Edition), the political novel The Minor Protection Act (20th Anniversary Edition), and the international thriller Some Wandered in the Desert. Her novel Cold Turkey chronicles the chaos and color of expat life in Istanbul. She also contributed to the Advent devotional Heaven & Nature Sing.

She is co-founder and COO of Blue Hat Pub & Print, part of the core team behind WellTold Studio, and the creator of Joy's World — a bilingual children's book brand and subscription resource for families raising children in two languages. She writes two Substacks: Come & See (author essays) and Sketching Faith (weekly faith-based poetry).