Anderson Hospitality Group
Story by Kayla Fugate • Photography by Brian Packard

Joy Jolly is the Area Director of Sales for the Anderson Hospitality Group. “I was born in Bowling Green on Hospital Hill,” she says. She has lived in Bowling Green since she was five-years old; she graduated from Warren East High School and earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree from WKU. “I love to watch my TOPS play football and basketball,” she says.

She is the treasurer of the Bowling Green Area Lodging Association, and she has participated in every one of the fundraisers for local charities such as The Foundry, the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, BG/WC Humane Society, Boys and Girls Club, Alzheimer’s Association, Room at the Inn, and BRASS to name a few. “Our hotels work with BGFD to provide linens for fire victims, toiletries for the homeless, and food for Hotel, Inc.,” she says. When she’s not working or volunteering, she enjoys spending time with her friends and family.

Joy’s first job was as a cashier at Houchens on Fairview Avenue. “Like most teenagers, I didn’t want a job. My grandfather handed me the keys to a red 1989 Cutlass Supreme right after my 17th birthday and told me that if I wanted another tank of gas, I would have to get a job and earn it,” she says. “I was so upset because none of my other friends had jobs, but I look back on that conversation with my grandfather in the parking lot of the Medial Center, and I am so grateful that he said that to me.”

As for her own advice to young women just starting out, she says to have the confidence to take risks early in your career. “You may stumble and struggle, but you will learn so much more from taking the risk than from taking the easy road or doing just enough to get by.”