Jhazzy Joiner is a PhD student in Communication Studies at Georgia State University, but her heart keeps pulling her back to the world of aging. Not in the way you might expect, though. She works as a graduate research assistant for a scholar in aging and communication, keeping one foot in each realm, bridging two fields that rarely speak the same language.
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Her path into this work began at the Gerontology Institute at Georgia State, then wound through several organizations dedicated to aging services. She worked with Second Wind Dreams, the Area Agency on Aging at the Atlanta Regional Commission, and the Division of Aging Services. In these roles, she focused on outreach and communication, helping older adults navigate resources and access what they needed. It was practical work, the kind that teaches you how much can go wrong when information doesn't reach the people who need it most.
Second Wind Dreams was her first full-time position in the field, and it changed how she thought about aging entirely. The organization helps make dreams come true for older adults, a mission that might sound sentimental until you witness it. Joiner saw what happens when someone in their eighties or nineties gets to do something they thought time had stolen from them. "That journey reaffirmed my purpose," she says. "It helped to remember that we are never too old to dream or make our dreams come true, as we never stop dreaming, hoping, and wanting for ourselves."
This realization, simple as it sounds, sits at the core of everything she does now. The idea that desire doesn't age, that wanting persists regardless of how many birthdays pass, runs counter to how we typically talk about older adults. We speak of them as if they exist in some static state, their stories already written, their futures small and predictable. Joiner knows better.
Now, as a communication scholar with a gerontology background, she thinks constantly about language. In a recent class project, she examined media framing of aging and found what anyone paying attention already suspects: our language is ageist. The way we talk about getting older carries buried assumptions about decline, irrelevance, and withdrawal from life. Joiner wants to change that, not through policy alone but through something more fundamental. She wants to change the words we use.
"My hope for the future of healthcare as a communication scholar with a gerontology background is that we reframe the language used to talk about aging so that it's less ageist and more positive," she explains, "as we will all get older, should we be so fortunate!" The phrase "should we be so fortunate" does quiet work here. It reminds us that aging is not a problem to solve but a privilege to earn.
Her advice to those entering gerontology reflects this spirit of openness. "Stay curious," she says. "Be open to learning and unlearning certain thought patterns or behaviors as it relates to the study of aging and share what you learn with others." The unlearning part matters as much as the learning. We all carry inherited ideas about what it means to grow old, stories we absorbed without noticing, metaphors that shape how we see older people and how we imagine our own futures.
For those considering communication studies, she offers a different challenge. Communication touches everything, including gerontology, so entering the field with an aging lens opens new questions. "In what ways can we communicate aging better to the general public? What ways can we change perceptions of what it means to grow older?" These aren't abstract academic puzzles. They are questions with real consequences for how older adults are treated, what resources they can access, and whether they feel seen.
When Joiner describes what it means to be a healthcare professional, she defines it broadly. "To me, being a healthcare professional means contributing to the well-being and dignity of individuals and communities, whether through direct care, advocacy, or support roles that improve access to information and services." Her experiences taught her that healthcare extends beyond clinical settings. It includes communication, outreach, and policy efforts that help people navigate resources. "It is ultimately about supporting quality of life and ensuring people feel seen, informed, and cared for."
That word, "seen," appears often in conversations about aging. Older adults frequently describe feeling invisible, as if society has decided they no longer matter. Joiner's work, both past and present, pushes against that invisibility. Through better communication, clearer access to resources, and language that honors rather than diminishes, she believes this generation can shift how we all think about aging.
"This generation can make that happen," she says, "through learning more about aging, sharing the information with one another, debunking myths, and using better language to discuss getting older."
Joiner is writing, researching, thinking about how to help people dream at eighty the way they dreamed at eight. The work continues, one conversation at a time, one older adult at a time who deserves to be seen not as a person still reaching for something just beyond their grasp.