Meet the Author

J Boykin Baker grew up in the small town of Wilson, North Carolina. She knew from the age of seven, after seeing the old movie “Pillow Talk,” that the only career for her was interior design. After college, marriage, and babies, her dream of being an interior designer came true with the start of her own design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. As timing would have it, she just happened to be in the right place - at the right time - with the right look and ended up designing hospitals, corporate offices, and high-end residential projects across the nation. 

During her years as President of Baker Interiors, Inc. she had the privilege of working with countless women. Due to a caring nature, she was led to mentor young women through familiar struggles of a reoccurring nature. Eventually, she carried her love for women and children even further when she founded a non-profit, Widow’s Mite Experience, Inc, to provide emergency water relief for families in the United States and around the world. With the help of hundreds of women volunteers, this ministry is now active in 32 countries. 

Her writing career began with a series of children’s books illustrating the unusual travels of a doll named Mary Margaret. She has written two pilots about antics of Southern women and how to design with the mystique of Southern comfort, and has had various interiors and commentaries published in slick-cover magazines from coast to coast. Under duress, she has even written two professional manuals. She has now published 3 books in the By Design trilogy that she hopes will have cross-over appeal to women of all ages who are experiencing, or remembering, the intensity of a new love.

With humor, tears, and professional insight, she enjoys sharing her wide-ranging experiences on national television, radio interviews, and speaking internationally. She was recently named one of North Carolina’s Women of Achievement by the GFWC-NC. In a nutshell, this author continues to thoroughly enjoy a full and adventurous life!