After leaving school, Joanna worked with IofC for 15 years before getting married, going to university in her thirties and having a daughter at 40. It took her until she was 50 to discover her real vocation, as a teacher. She taught in the state sector to start with, ending up as Head of Religious Studies in the biggest Catholic independent school in the UK. Since retiring she has worked as a volunteer in prisons in the UK and France, teaching victim awareness and restorative justice, in between working on her allotment.