Joie Partners with the JLH Fund and One Happy Mama to Sponsor a Full Cohort of New Orleans Mothers and Celebrate Them at the Create Your Joyful Life Event
How a partnership between Joie, the JLH Fund, and One Happy Mama turned a day of dreaming into a moment of real investment
New Orleans, LA, May 21st, 2026 — In a room full of young mothers in New Orleans, something quite extraordinary happened. Dreams that had only existed on vision boards became real, and the women who had been working toward them finally learned what had been true all along: people had already been investing in their futures.
That is the spirit behind the Create Your Joyful Life event, brought to life through a partnership between Joie, the JLH Fund, and One Happy Mama.
The afternoon unfolded at Son of a Saint, a New Orleans nonprofit dedicated to mentoring fatherless young men and a Grantee of the JLH Fund, where mothers enrolled in One Happy Mama's cohort gathered for an afternoon of vision boarding, mentorship, and connection. Every detail of the afternoon was intentional. The food came from Viola's Heritage Breads, another JLH Fund Grantee, turning the space itself into a quiet but powerful statement: this was not just an event held in a community. It was built by it.
What the mothers did not know when they walked in was that Joie had already been there all year.
Through a partnership with Lauren Holiday and the JLH Fund, Joie sponsored One Happy Mama's full 9-month-long cohort of 25 mothers, providing the financial foundation that kept the program running and the women in it supported. At the event, mothers created vision boards, laying out the lives they were actively building. Then the room shifted. Many of the baby gear items they had placed on those boards were already waiting for them as gifts. Joie team members stayed in the room to walk each mother through how to properly and safely set up and use her newly received items, because showing up for the moment was never the whole point. Showing up for the journey was.
“There’s something incredibly powerful about watching a mom feel seen, supported, and truly believed in. These women show up for their families every day, and through this partnership, we wanted to show up for them—not just with products, but with encouragement, belief, and care,” said Jerry Ingraham, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Joie Children’s Products. “What Lauren Holiday and the JLH Fund have built is a beautiful example of what it looks like to invest in people with intention and heart, and we’re honored to stand alongside JLH and One Happy Mama in supporting these mothers on their journey.”
One Happy Mama Executive Director Janitza Vasquez has spent years holding space for mothers in New Orleans to feel supported, seen, and celebrated. For her, the afternoon was personal.
"The mothers in our cohort work incredibly hard. They show up for their children, for this program, and for each other every single day,” said Janitza. “To have Joie and the JLH Fund see that and invest in it, not just for one afternoon but for the whole year, that is what real support feels like. Watching these mothers open gifts they had only dreamed about was something I will never forget."
Lauren Holiday, President of the JLH Fund and the event’s host, knows something about finding joy on the other side of difficulty. After surviving a brain tumor diagnosis, she rebuilt her life around purpose, her family, and the belief that the communities we love deserve the same kind of long-term commitment we give the people closest to us. She brought that belief into the room.
"When you love your community like family, you do not just write a check and walk away. You invest in the people and institutions that know how to support others the way families do, with trust, patience, and long-term commitment,” said Lauren. “That is what One Happy Mama does every day, and it is exactly why the JLH Fund is proud to stand behind organizations like theirs, and partners like Joie who understand that real investment means showing up for the whole journey."
The Create Your Joyful Life event is one expression of a broader partnership between Joie and the JLH Fund, rooted in a shared conviction that motherhood flourishes when it is held in community. For One Happy Mama, a JLH Fund Grantee, that conviction is not a tagline. It is the work.
JLH Fund Media Contact: Urina Harrell | Urina@voxpopbranding.com | (562) 213-9886
One Happy Mama Media Contact: Janitza Vasquez | info@onehappymama.org
Joie Media Contact: joie@kaplow.com
About the JLH Fund
Founded by Jrue and Lauren Holiday, the JLH Fund provides grants, growth capital, and technical assistance to founders, nonprofit leaders, and community builders. The fund focuses on building equitable opportunities for underserved founders to foster community resilience and economic growth. For more information, visit jlhfund.com.
About One Happy Mama
One Happy Mama is a New Orleans-based organization dedicated to supporting young mothers through programming, mentorship, and community. Founded by Janitza Vasquez, the organization operates on the belief that when mothers are held and celebrated, entire families thrive. For more information, visit www.onehappymama.org.
About Joie
Launched in 2011, Joie is one of the world’s fastest-growing baby brands, dedicated to designing products that make life with small children more fun and less work. Family-owned and operated, Joie creates thoughtfully engineered car seats, strollers, travel systems, highchairs, and nursery essentials that combine safety, style, and everyday ease. Today, Joie products are distributed in more than 80 countries, supported by nine global offices, and trusted by families around the world. With a growing presence in the U.S., Joie remains committed to delivering high-quality, worry-free baby gear that helps families enjoy the journey from day one. For more information, visit joiebaby.com or joiebaby.com/us.
