This is the fierce Joa Gamelin. Hear her roar—and perform—all the way through menopause.
At first glance, it may seem as though the most vibrant thing about Joa Gamelin is her fabulously eccentric wardrobe.
“It’s about being confident about who you are,” says Joa, adorned with a chic gray dress hugging her tiny figure and fabulous opal cluster earrings.
With a background in design and a passion for being creative, Joa was born and raised in Cornwall and set out into the world at the young age of 20. She landed in Toronto where her talents merged with the big city where she soon she exploded onto the entertainment scene. Over the course of almost three decades in Toronto, she made a name for herself in the worlds of film and design, building a hefty resume of credentials in set designing, art directing and acting.
Her big break came when she was asked to design the set of the Tragically Hip’s 1992 music video Locked in the Trunk of a Car; it went on to win Best Video of the Year at the MuchMusic Video Awards and was also nominated for a Juno Award. It was a golden time in her life.
“From the Hip, I went back into acting, did feature films and tons of commercials.” She played the part of a wedding gown designer in the film Mrs. Winterbourne, starring Shirley MacLaine, and was featured in several commercials including ones for Bell Canada, Canada Trust, and Sears.
But acting wasn’t everything, she says.
“[It] was okay but it was a hard road,” she explains as she describes her successful Toronto-based comedy, The Judy Jet Show (1996-99).
It’s been almost a decade since Joa returned to Cornwall and she created Menopause and the Drive-Thru this past summer, a one-woman comedy show detailing the triumphs of going through the change of life.
Making people laugh was one of her goals but she also wanted to create a real and open dialogue around women’s bodies. The uplifting cabaret-style piece celebrated women and poignantly addressed the freedom that comes with, what Joa describes as, “the stage when women become equal to men”.
While it sounds like a messy subject, Joa kept her audiences engaged and in stitches—men included—using humour to explain the often-stigmatized taboo of menopause while shining a new light on this mostly hidden part of a woman’s life. Originally, she had planned on playing just one show but it sold out in just four days and received widespread acclaim across the city. She scheduled a second. That one sold out as well.
“My dream is to be the Madonna of Menopause,” Joa announces confidently as she describes her goals of taking the show nationwide. She understands how her life’s many conquests led her to this point. And she can’t wait for the future.
“This is what I was meant to do. It took menopause to get here”.
-Joa gamelin
All photos: Jason McNamara/Framed Photography
