Meet Our Founder & Executive Director
Christy Vogel
At the age of 11, Christy Vogel was told two things: She was hard of hearing (probably since birth) and she taught herself how to read lips without realizing it. As a child, because she had to put sound and facial expressions together with what she saw while lipreading to figure out what people were saying, she would sometimes respond slowly. People thought she was slow or “stupid.” As she grew into her teens (still without hearing aids because her parents couldn’t afford them), she decided they must be right. It wasn’t until Christy was already succeeding in the business world in her 20’s, despite her hearing loss, that she was able to afford her first pair of hearing aids. It changed her world. Finally able to participate and contribute to her full potential, Christy’s career took off.
Christy came to the realization in 2021 that she was supposed to be born with hearing loss and unable to afford hearing aids so she could be passionate enough to help others get hearing aids. In March of 2021, she started a nonprofit, Sounding Joy, that provides hearing aids to children whose families can’t afford them. Through Sounding Joy’s preferred providers including Tampa Children’s ENT, USF Audiology and Johns Hopkins All Children’s, they have helped more than 100 children in the extended Tampa Bay area.
