Joanna lives in Cardiff with her husband, Steven. She was bought up in Gorslas, armarthenshire, attending Maesyryfa Bilingual School before winning the Evan Morgan Scholarship at Aberystwyth University where she studied Creative Writing under Mihangel Morgan and John Rowlands. She then studied for an MPhil in Film andTV Comedy before working for ten years as a TV Producer for ITV1 Wales, S4C and BBC Wales where she wrote and produced several drama documentaries. She now works as Head of Communications for the University of Wales.