GOOD HOUSEKEEPING INTERVIEWS HSN JOY MANGANO

Joy Mangano

NEW YORK, NY — Who would you want to star in the movie of your life? That’s a question single mom Joy Mangano never thought she’d be asked. But when Jennifer Lawrence was tapped to play her in the new film Joy, she couldn’t have been more pleased. It’s the perfect meeting of superpowers: shopping- TV’s star moneymaker (Joy can clean up $1 million an hour on HSN) and Hollywood’s It girl. The truly dynamic duo joined forces to tell Joy’s inspiring rags-to-riches story of how some serious elbow grease, ingenious thinking and pure grit helped the nice girl finish first. Joy opens up to Good Housekeeping on her story in the February issue, on newsstands January 19. You’re going to love her!

Joy on meeting Jennifer Lawrence—it was love at first site: “You know how you are meeting somebody and all of a sudden you’re finishing each other’s sentences? It was like that.”

On the importance of being courageous and independent: “You can’t truly be [complete] until you know yourself. You have to trust your instincts in life. There are so many times I’ll be talking to executives who are afraid to say the right thing – and I will be the one who says, ‘Hey, listen! You know what…?’ It’s paid off every time to be courageous and not sit in the background.”

Joy’s biggest advice: “Multitudes of people tried to get in the way of my dream. If you can't go around a rock, go over or under it."

On her focus on making everyday women’s lives a little bit easier: “When I wake up, I think, What can I do to help others? I think we all owe the world something. That’s the way I am when I’m designing a product."

On the Miracle Mop and her ‘Aha’ moment: “People I told were like, ‘Who cares?’ The aha moment for me was that people didn’t even realize they’d care about [the Miracle Mop]. [I’ve been told] I think about things we need and want before we even know we need and want them.”

On having the courage to believe in yourself—a theme that runs through every aspect of Joy’s life: “I would love to see every woman feel that she knows who she is and how she wants to lead. Every part of me is passionate about having the ability to do what I never could when I was young. But if some amazing guy plots out of the sky, that’s OK, too!”