Today we’d like to introduce you to Joanna Fox.
Hi Joanna, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in small, rural town in Vermont. A town that likely had more cows than people. Only had one stoplight. I was the oldest of 5 children and we are all very close. Close in age, and close in our relationship. My parents had 5 kids in 4.5 years – my brother and I are the same age for a few weeks, but I like to say I’m years ahead in wisdom. I loved growing up in a small community where everyone knew your name, but I decided in high school that this wasn’t going to be my “forever home.” I packed in extra courses and graduated a year early from high school to get a jump start on my first year of university. I was teetering a 2 drastically different career paths — linguistics or dental hygiene. I had a love for languages and learning so to be able to communicate with anyone. And an equal passion for teeth – I mean a smile is a universal “hello” in every language.
I decided that I was going to pursue dental hygiene. It was an associate’s degree and graduating at 20 would still leave me plenty of time if I did decided I wanted to keep the door open for other opportunities. I started working with a dental staffing agency soon after graduation. This agency created avenues to network and build relationships with other dental professionals. I soon took a permanent position and grew to hate my profession day by day. Or so I thought. After 9 months of working with a dentist, I worked up the gumption to give my notice. She didn’t take it lightly, but I returned to temping with the agency that had already helped me so much. I realized I did actually love my profession, but the work environment of that particular dental office was not a great fit. I think we’ve all been there, unfortunately. Sunday blues set in when you realize the Monday scaries are around the corner.
I was happy & back to loving my career and decided that I’d want to further my education in it. I crushed my interview at NYU and started full-time with hybrid courses. By this time, I had also landed another permanent gig – but back in my home state, Vermont. So, I was back and forth between rural mountain ranges and the concrete jungle of NYC. It was the best of both worlds, tiresome, but fulfilling. I was in the middle of my first semester at NYU when I found out I was having a sweet baby boy. I decided that I was going to have to push the throttle and get all my more intense classes behind me so I could finish my degree after having my son.
I also decided that if I were going to raise this beautiful boy, it wasn’t going to be in the chilly northeast. I had endured 22 years of Vermont winters and that was my quota. As I finished my first year at NYU in the Spring of 2011, I decided to declare new part of the country my home. But where? I decided to look how far away my dental hygiene license would take me. To become a dental hygienist, you take region-specific boards. Only certain states will permit certain boards. South Carolina was the furthest south I could go at the time, not North Carolina, not Georgia. Hey, they had palm trees, so why not?
I took a leap of faith; bought a house I had only seen online on a beautiful Monday in July. Later that week, I gave birth to a bouncing baby boy — it was a busy week! Six weeks later I was starting my last year of online classes at NYU and moving to a new state I had never even visited. This kind of felt overwhelming — brand new single mom, finishing out full-time classes, starting a new full-time job, and moving to a new state almost 1000 miles from comfort. Oh and also moving into a house that I never stepped foot in. Luckily my amazing mom came with me and was my cheerleader along the way.
Fast forward, I finished out my Bachelor’s degree and graduated with High Honors from New York University. I was loving my profession but wanted more. I wanted to make more of an impact on the dental community. So, I applied to become a dental hygiene instructor and help train up the future dental assistants and hygienists. I was extremely green in the teaching realm, but having 10 years of dental experience was the foundation I needed to excel. Nearing my the end of my first year as an instructor I started to become consistently ill.
With only a few weeks left of the semester, I was directed to go to the emergency room and be admitted for insufficient white blood cells. If you’re not familiar with white blood cells, they are your immune system. So, with no immune system in place, a common cold could land you six feet under. I spent almost a week in the hospital with no answers. My sweet son, who was in kindergarten, would visit and watch over his mom.
After being discharged, I followed up with the hemotologist who would eventually diagnose we with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. I was diagnosed on a Friday and started intense chemotherapy on the following Monday. This completely stopped everything I had going on. I completed 2 rounds of chemo; each round was a grueling 4 weeks. I found out I needed a bone marrow transplant early on, and each of my four siblings were eager to get tested to see if they were a potential match. Unfortunately, no one in my immediate or extended family was a full match. So, my medical team went to the global registry of potential donors. Luckily, one selfless stranger from rural Europe was a full match and was willing to donate his bone marrow. So, as Lucas was heading into the first grade, I was starting a long road of recovery from a bone marrow transplant.
I was a year out from my initial diagnosis when I was healthy enough to start to think about my future. For a while, I was consumed by the fight for my life with the chemo, radiation, medications, doctors’ appointments, infusions, bioposies, spinal taps, etc. But as I started to feel a little bit more like myself, I wasn’t sure where that left my career. My oncologist said that my immune system wasn’t strong enough to be working clinically. So, I had to start getting creative if I wasn’t allowed to have my fingers back in people’s mouths.
I was starting over, but still starting from experience. I was drawn back to the days when I was first graduated from dental hygiene school, and all the great opportunities I had while being a guest team member. I decided with my knowledge and experience, I could try to break through and create a market in South Carolina. The concept had been tested and tried in other areas of the country and had been wildly successful, so why not give it a try here?
Plus, if I’m being honest, going through a gritty near-death experience really crushed a lot of the inhibitions and fears I had. Failure was always still something that could happen, but I looked at it like at least I still had the option. No matter what, nothing was going to “as bad” as what I had already crawled my way out of.
So, in Spring of 2018, I decided to spend any energy I did have on researching the business and how to create the entity. With recovery, I was still very sick at times and would have to pause my planning to regain my strength. But I did it. I registered for an EIN, created a cute little logo and started to post ads.
Business was slow at first, but it was a welcomed momentum with my health. I was hospitalized for blood infections a few different times. Just as we started to pick up at the end of 2019, we came to a screeching halt in March 2020. With quarantine, it became unclear how the business would look at the end of the mandates. Several thousands of dental professionals never returned to their jobs post-pandemic. The silver lining in this big, dark COVID cloud for the business was the dental practices that were starting to open back up – they needed new team members. And of course, I was happy to help.
In 2021, we logged over 2000 temporary assignments around the beautiful state of South Carolina. We helped over 3 dozen new residents find permanent positions. With the growth that we’ve seen we are projected to provide over 1.2 million dollars in staffing services. I couldn’t be more excited and humbled with this amazing journey God has lead me on.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Beyond my personal struggles, which were pretty extensive, I would say trying to carve out a niche was the biggest obstacle. There wasn’t a dental staffing agency in the state of South Carolina when I started back in 2018. So, to get hesitant “old school” dentists on board with the concept very foreign to them was a big hurdle. Now, we have new graduates and a new generation of dentists that are familiar with the ritual of having a temporary team member join in for a specific time. Also, the post-pandemic hiring drought has pushed the demand for assistance.
We’ve been impressed with Fox Dental Staffing, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
With Fox Dental Staffing, we value you, your time and want to help you make a difference in the community. We provide staffing services that can help dental professionals network, build their skills in different dental settings, and creates more opportunities for personal and career growth. There are now a few other dental staffing agencies in South Carolina, but I believe we are the only agency that hosts social events, volunteer opportunities, and continuing education courses. When you are a part of this staffing agency, we want to help you become the best version of you and reach the goals you want to attain — all while making an impact in our surrounding communities. We’ve hosted a Be the Match event to help build the potential donor registry. We have CPR classes and networking events. We now have an app that can bring more dental professionals together. The agency is always looking to grow and improve to help better serve the team we have.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
God and my family. I am truly blessed to be able to live this crazy life. I’ve already been a wild ride for 33 years. I’ve been a single mom since I was 23 years old. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when I was 26 years old and had to have surgery and treatment. The treatment for the thyroid cancer is what caused the acute leukemia at 28. I’ve been through a lot, but just being grateful to be on this earth and watch my son grow up to be a charming, handsome boy is priceless. I know life can change instantly, so I stay humbled in God’s grace and take one day at time. As a dental hygienist, I was so happy to help people with their smile. Now as a business owner, I am able to help people attain their career and life goals. This is a huge honor and the great impact makes me beyond happy. It’s truly amazing.
Contact Info:
- Email: joanna@foxdentalstaffing.com
- Website: foxdentalstaffing.com
- Instagram: foxdentalstaffing
- Facebook: Facebook.com/foxdentalstaffing
