Crystal Good grew up in St. Albans, West Virginia and now calls Princeton, West Virginia home. A poet and publisher, Crystal founded Black by God: The West Virginian – the state’s only Black-owned news outlet.

“The folklorist in me adores, values, and treasures these types of projects,” she said. For Crystal, Black Joy is “a practice and a discipline of centering things that make you feel good, rather than things that make you feel bad afterward. The people involved in this project are Black Joy thinkers, and I will take every opportunity to be in community with people who center Black Joy.”

In the midst of the intertwined crises of foster care and the opioid epidemic in West Virginia, Crystal finds hope in entrepreneurship. “Resourcing Black business and agriculture is the key that unlocks so much. It creates third spaces and builds community.”