Joya Elmore works at the Wellington School in Columbus, Ohio, as the Director of Nature-Based Learning. She teaches students in grades preschool through 12th by growing food in the gardens and connecting them to their food source, helping them become environmental stewards of our natural world, and exploring sustainable practices to ensure a better future for tomorrow's world. 

Before coming to Ohio in 2016, Joya taught in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She worked in the Honors College at the University of Alabama, taught in public elementary schools around Tuscaloosa, and served as the Education Coordinator for the Schoolyard Roots nonprofit (formerly known as the Druid City Garden Project). Before that, Joya started her career as an educator in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she taught at a private elementary school and established a schoolyard garden.