Goffney, Joya: - Joya Goffney grew up in New Waverly, a small town in East Texas.
With a passion for Black social psychology, she moved out of the countryside to attend the University of Texas in Austin, where she still resides..
In high school, she challenged herself with to-do lists full of risk-taking items like hug a random boy and eat a cricket, which inspired her debut novel, Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry .
Goffney, Joya: - Joya Goffney grew up in New Waverly, a small town in East Texas