Rediscover Your Spark. Redesign What’s Next.

A creative reset to help you move from uncertainty to renewal — reignite your energy, confidence, and joy.

Join the Journey

Step Inside Joy Studio — a design lab for your next chapter.

A 4-Week Road Trip Back to Your Real Self

When life changes — a job ends, a role shifts, or the path ahead blurs — it can shake your sense of identity. The routines, the purpose, the forward motion… suddenly gone. And beneath the surface, something deeper begins to stir:

Who am I when I’m not producing, performing, or proving myself?

That question can feel disorienting — but it can also become the start of something new.

Joy Studio is a four-week design lab for renewal — a guided journey through the emotional side of change. Using tools developed specifically for Joy Studio, you’ll learn to recognize your patterns, regulate your energy, and rediscover your inner spark.

You were made to feel joy more often and more consistently. Let’s help you remember how.

Meet Your Guide

I’m Justine Bassett — a strategist, designer, and innovation leader with extensive experience helping organizations and individuals turn uncertainty into opportunity. I’ve led large-scale transformation projects for the Smithsonian, a global university, and a tech start-up, and founded a children’s design business featured in Pottery Barn Kids.

What I’ve learned is that the hardest part of innovation isn’t technology — it’s navigating the human transitions beneath it. Joy by Design was born from this insight: a practical framework blending design thinking, behavioral science, and emotional intelligence to move people from burnout to bold possibility.

Through Joy Studio, I bring this work directly to individuals, combining strategic discipline with empathetic coaching to help you design your next chapter with clarity, confidence, and joy.

I hold degrees from Wellesley College and Georgetown University, and was honored as one of Maine Magazine’s Mainers of the Year for inspiring change through design.

Our Trip Plan

A Practical, Innovative Journey Through the Emotional Side of Change

Think of Joy Studio as a virtual road trip through the inner terrain of change — the part rarely named but essential for lasting growth.

Across four 75-minute evening sessions, you’ll learn practical, evidence-informed tools to steady your mindset, work with difficult emotions, and make clear, intentional choices about what comes next. Between sessions, a concise workbook and short home practices help you apply these tools in real time.

This isn’t a workshop about résumés or strategy, and it isn’t a support group. It’s a creative lab for renewal — a space where you’ll travel alongside fellow seekers on an expert-guided path, building the emotional infrastructure and design habits that make future change easier, not harder.

  • When? Four Wednesdays: Jan 21, Jan 28, Feb 4, Feb 11, 7-8:15pm (75 min)

    Where? On Zoom

    Cost? Varies (see below)

    Seats? Small group format. We welcome a diversity of genders, ages, and backgrounds.

    FAQs and sign-up at the bottom of this page.

  • Your Dashboard, Your Map, Your Purpose

    You experience hundreds of emotional signals each day: subtle shifts, strong waves, inner pulls. Without a way to see where you are, it’s easy to feel like life is happening to you.

    This week, you’ll get a dashboard.

    Using the Energy Gauge, you’ll learn to locate yourself through three simple lenses—energy, emotion, and story. Once you know where you are, you can move with intention, clarity, and self-trust.

    Joy isn’t a reward. It’s a direction.
    And now you’ve got a tool to help you steer toward it.

  • Shame, Shutdown, and the Courage to Restart

    Sometimes life feels heavy before you even get going. We’ve all been there—you stall, spin out, or get stuck in old patterns of self-criticism.

    This week, you’ll learn to meet those moments with compassion, not judgment, and how to restart gently when you’ve lost momentum.

    You’ll be introduced to the Roadmap for Resilient Optimism, a framework for shifting out of shutdown and back into motion. Because every journey has rough terrain—and knowing how to navigate it changes everything.

  • From Reaction to Flow, Control to Creativity

    Here’s where the energy builds. You’ll explore the middle zones of the Energy Gauge—where motivation returns but still runs hot.

    You’ll learn to notice when your drive is fueled by urgency or pride, and how to transform that energy into flow.

    This week is about recognizing the turning point—when you stop reacting and start responding.
    Joy starts to feel achievable, and creativity comes back online.

  • Living the Life You Actually Want

    Joy isn’t something you wait for. It’s something you design.

    In our final session, you’ll align your attention, energy, and choices with what truly matters—shifting from reaction to design, and from doing to allowing.

    You’ll integrate the tools, share insights with the group, and sketch a next-step plan for your life after the studio.

    We’ll close with a glimpse of what’s possible beyond this first trip: higher states of calm, expansion, and connection.

What You’ll Gain

  • A renewed sense of direction and calm confidence

  • Tools to regulate your energy and recover momentum

  • Visual frameworks you can return to whenever life shifts

  • Small daily practices to shift from reaction to design

  • A community that reminds you you’re not alone

    Along the way, you’ll work with Joy by Design’s signature tools — including the Energy Gauge and Roadmap for Resilient Optimism.

    They’re visual frameworks you can use long after the workshop ends to steady your energy, recover your optimism, and design what’s next with intention.

Who This Is For

We intentionally welcome people from all backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Emotional intelligence is for everyone — and the tools we use are practical, meaningful, and easy to apply in real life.

If you’re curious but unsure whether this is “your thing,” it probably is. You don’t have to overshare or step outside your comfort zone. All that’s needed is an open mind, a sense of humor, and a willingness to explore new ways of building inner strength — together.

Begin Your Journey

Joy Studio runs like a guided road trip — simple, structured, and supportive. Each week builds on the last as you learn tools to steady your energy, recover your optimism, and design what’s next with intention. This work is just better in community!

Road to Joy 
Every journey begins with one small step toward yourself.

What’s Included

🌿 Four live 75-minute sessions
🪞 Workbook + reflection prompts
🧭 Weekly follow-up guides
💡 Access to Joy Studio tools

🗓️ Wednesdays, 7–8:15 pm (Jan 21 & 28, Feb 4 & 11)
📍 Online via Zoom (small group)
⏳ Limited seats | 4-week journey

Registration and Pricing

Joy Studio uses a sliding-scale model to make this work accessible and sustainable.
Choose the rate that fits your current circumstances — no forms, no proof, just trust and alignment.

For those in transition or building from change. Honors where you are while supporting your next step.

$125

$295

Foundation Rate

Sustain Rate

Reflects the real cost of the program and sustains Joy Studio’s ability to offer this work.

For those with financial ease who wish to expand access for others and help this work grow.

$395

Amplify Rate 

Energy is reciprocal. Every choice sustains the ecosystem of Joy Studio — allowing this work to reach more people who need it.
SIGN ME UP!

The next year will come and go.
The question is: how do you want to feel?

Joy Studio is for the curious, the courageous, and the joy-seekers.

Spots are limited.
If this resonates, take the next step.

Sign Me UP!

You’ve designed for everyone else. Now, design this next chapter for you.

FAQs

  • No problem. Life happens — and we’ve designed Joy Studio with flexibility in mind.
    All sessions are recorded, so you can catch up or revisit key ideas anytime.

    Even if you miss a week, you’ll still receive the workbook, home practices, and tools to stay connected to the journey. Each session stands on its own, and everything builds toward greater clarity, confidence, and joy.

  • That’s completely okay. Joy Studio is designed for reflection and learning — not oversharing. You’re always invited to participate at your own comfort level.

    Many people find that simply listening, journaling, or practicing the tools privately creates powerful shifts. You’ll never be asked to share more than you want to.

  • Yes. All sessions will be recorded, so you can revisit the material or catch up if you need to miss a week. Recordings will be available for 30 days after the program ends.

    That said, Joy Studio is designed to be experiential and interactive — you’ll get the most out of it by being there live, connecting with others, and practicing in real time.

  • Yes. You can request a full refund up to one week before the first session—since we’ll be mailing a physical welcome package to help you begin your journey.

    After that, your spot (and your materials) will be considered confirmed. But life happens—and joy includes flexibility. If something unexpected comes up, reach out. We’ll always do our best to help you find a solution.