Joi Mayo, west Charlotte’s new council member, wants the city to ‘fix things’
The first thing Joi Mayo tackled as the president of Kings Creek Homeowners Association was the trash.
Her neighborhood had a problem keeping its streets clean, she said. So she rented a giant bin to place at the end of their dead-end road and gave everybody two months to straighten up.
“And people did it,” Mayo said. “You want to give people the opportunity to fix things and make it right.”
That’s the mentality Mayo said she’ll bring to Charlotte City Council as one of three new members who took office on Monday. She represents District 3 in west and southwest Charlotte. Mayo takes the seat of outgoing councilwoman Tiawana Brown, who she beat in the September primary with nearly twice as many votes before cruising through the general election.
A longtime educator and community activist, Mayo said it’s her nature to empower folks to solve problems without doing all the work for them.
“At the end of the day, I’m not going to be around forever. How do we create systems so that they can improve their communities and their neighborhoods?” Mayo said.
The making of a change agent
Mayo was a fighter from day one. She was born three months ahead of schedule, weighing just over 2 pounds, her mom, Stephanie Mayo, recalled.
Her daughter grew up speaking her mind — “even to me, for better or worse” — and was never one to shy away from uncomfortable situations.
In one defining moment, Stephanie Mayo said a rowdy fan at a high school basketball game shouted inappropriate names at one of the players. His words went unaddressed by others in the crowd. Not by Joi Mayo, though. Her mom knew she was destined to be a change maker.
“When I saw her get up, stand up, and turn around and say, ‘You’re wrong,’ that showed me a lot about her character,” Stephanie Mayo said. “Wow. What a powerful woman.”
Joi Mayo considers herself a blend of both parents. Her mom was a teacher and a librarian. Her dad was a realtor and member of the Richmond Planning Commission in Virginia.
“My mom always says, ‘You get it from your dad,’ but, ah, I don’t know. You know how moms are,” the new Charlotte City Council member said. “It seems to be, probably, a bit of my personality. To see things and, like, ‘huh. Why is it like that?’ And then to want to help fix it, but to work with people on the fixing.”
She landed her first real job through Teach for America, a nonprofit organization that places educators in underserved communities. She taught middle school math in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains; math was never her strong suit.
Her friends and family laughed at the idea, she said. But just as she worked to maintain strong grades as a student, the young teacher studied rigorously before each lesson.
“That’s why I think I was such a good math teacher. I knew where the kids were going to mess up because that’s how I messed up,” Joi Mayo said. “I think sometimes people take it for granted when they’re just good at something. You don’t know how to break it down.”
Joi Mayo wants ‘smart growth’ for Charlotte neighborhoods
A job with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools landed her in Charlotte in 2012. She settled in the Nations Ford area in the southwest part of the city.
“When she moved into her neighborhood, she said, ‘I’m gonna make this neighborhood better,’” Stephanie Mayo said. “If you want better, you gotta do better. You gotta make a change, and it starts right at home. That’s where she started.”
Joi Mayo became president of her HOA in 2015. Among her achievements, Mayo said she created a pathway to affordable homeownership by limiting corporate landowners’ grip. She enforced a strict cap on the percentage of homes that could be rented to ensure more occupants, especially first-time homeowners, could afford to buy their own place.
Kings Creek now has a waitlist for approved rentals. Though Mayo isn’t the president anymore, she still receives a Google alert any time a house goes on the market. She likes to keep watch, just in case a rental tries to sneak in.
She stepped down in 2024 to found Transforming Nations Ford, a community development nonprofit that moved beyond her neighborhood to promote “smart growth” in the entire Nations Ford area.
Anna Hernandez, a volunteer Joi Mayo is eyeing as her successor at the nonprofit, described the new council member as a thoughtful leader and mentor to young people looking for civic engagement.
“She created this to support our community and for people to take lead,” Hernandez said. “As she steps into City Council, she wants to make sure that people who want to get involved have connections or resources, and feel like they can also create change.”
Mayo can walk to her local mechanic and grocery store. She’s a 10-minute drive from her office. She has everything she needs in a short commute, and that’s what she wants for every Charlotte resident, she said.
Development is inevitable in a fast-growing city, she said, and perhaps a little scary for some residents.
Her priority on City Council will be working with developers to ensure projects benefit legacy residents, too, and not just new arrivals. People should be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor and tax dollars without being priced out, she said.
“I think people can get kind of set in their ways. ‘Oh, our neighborhood has always looked like this.’ That doesn’t mean that it’s ok,” Mayo said. “You know, change isn’t bad.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2025 at 9:00 AM.
