For entrepreneurs, the real magic happens when you find your Ikigai. It’s the Japanese concept of finding your true purpose based on (1) what you love, (2) what you are good at, (3) what the world needs, and (4) what you can get paid for.
Toy Demmings, a corporate banker with more than 20 years of experience, spent two years wrestling with her own Ikigai after losing her first husband to cancer in his 30s. “I realized that life is short and you want to spend your time doing something you’re incredibly passionate about,” she said. Balancing a demanding global banking career, single motherhood, and family caregiving, Toy toiled to become a certified relationship coach and board-certified health and wellness coach. “That board exam was the hardest exam I’ve ever taken in my life, and I have an MBA,” she laughed.
Her business, LoveJoy Relationship & Wellness, is the combination of her love of relationship building with her passion in health and wellness. While she checked the first three Ikigai boxes, she was now faced with the classic entrepreneurial dilemma: how to scale a business and turn it into a sustainable model.
Toy’s path shifted dramatically when she learned about an opportunity through Operation HOPE. While listening to a podcast preparing for InvestFest 2025, she heard that Operation HOPE Chairman John Hope Bryant was offering a scholarship that included live, real-time business coaching on stage at the event.
“When I found out about the Operation HOPE scholarship at InvestFest, something in me knew I should apply. But something else in me started listing all the reasons not to … ‘what if I put myself out there and it’s not enough?'”
After all that she had been through to get here, she gave herself a stern talking-to. “These are the kinds of thoughts that feel like wisdom but are really just fear dressed up in logic,” she scolded herself. So, she felt the fear and did it anyway.
Toy was thrilled to learn she was one of the top four finalists! Soon after, she was stepping onto a stage in front of nearly 20,000 people to receive real-time coaching from Chairman Bryant. She explained her core dilemma: she was trying to scale her coaching model while maintaining her demanding career as a corporate banker. The strategic advice she received changed the entire trajectory of her business.
“The coaching that John Hope Bryant gave me on stage was, ‘Take your business wider—sell it to corporations. Offer relationship and wellness services to companies and have them pay you to support their staff.’ I had never thought of it before and it was really brilliant.”
To capitalize on her momentum and the invaluable advice, Toy secured a booth at the 2025 HOPE Global Forums. She realized that one-on-one coaching wouldn’t work with the high volume of attendees and therefore created a service called The Joy Bar, which has now become her flagship offering.
Designed as a momentary oasis for high-energy conference or workplace environments, the Joy Bar allows individuals to select a micro-wellness experience from a custom menu, guiding them through a rapid, two-to-five-minute grounding exercise. It was a massive hit, drawing immediate interest from organizations in attendance.
As a part of the scholarship, Toy was paired with Operation HOPE Small Business Coach Linden Jackson, who is also a 1 Million Black Business (1MBB) Coach. Meeting once or twice a month, Linden has served as Toy’s trusted thought partner.
“In corporate banking, there’s a ‘top-down’ approach to making decisions, so I’ve spent 20 years taking direction from a company and now I’m setting my own. It was the biggest thing to have Linden as a partner to help think through ideas and strategize,” Toy shared. Linden has suggested a number of ways to generate leads, how to pitch the Joy Bar directly to major corporations, and also provides monthly lists of business grants with tips for applying.
“I think that the biggest thing about Linden is he is just real,” she said. “He approached me as if we were friends, peers. And I think that created the space to just be vulnerable and say, ‘this is what I’m struggling with.’ I didn’t feel like I had to hold it all together.”
“I’m so proud to watch Toy’s progress over the past year,” said Linden. “She is fully focused and knows how to navigate on the Superhighway of Success! Even when faced with challenges, Toy has shown her substance and I applaud her for being a REAL WINNER.”
Her most recent “win” was an Operation HOPE consulting session to walk the whole organization through her JOY Guide so they feel better equipped to continue supporting the financial wellness of their clients. “Seeing the work that Operation HOPE does day in and day out, and the profound impact it has on business owners, I am deeply honored to be both a client and a consultant to the organization,” said Toy.
Today, Toy is deeply optimistic about her future. She met a wonderful man, has a blended family of five, and is currently in talks with a major organization to bring the Joy Bar on a corporate employee roadshow. It’s safe to say Toy is fully rooted in her Ikigai.
For more information: OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.