Our Other Black Belts

Normita Joven 1st Dan

When Ms. Joven moved to Texas from California years ago, she was still in high school and lacked friends or social activities. Grandmaster Royce Young and Texins Karate welcomed her and have been there to encourage her throughout the different stages of her life. Her admiration and respect for Grandmaster Royce Young’s patient, enduring, uplifting, and humble character combined with his unique, flexible teaching methods has kept her with Texins Karate for many years. Although there have been times she left for periods at a time because of family, school, or career obligations, she never quit Texins Karate. Ms. Joven has learned to apply all the persistence, discipline, patience, honor, respect, she has acquired from Texins Karate to other areas of her life.

Balancing multiple careers, family, and teaching at Texins Karate has developed Ms Joven’s strong character and has helped shape her life. Ms. Joven currently runs her own promotional marketing company in the special events industry. She has managed national programs for such clients as E-Bay, Dr Pepper, Lancome cosmetics, Cingular Wireless, Coca Cola, Dannon, Sony, Ford, Lowe’s, Camel cigarettes, Pepsi, Web-TV, Procter and Gamble, NASCAR, Esquire magazine, Remy Martin cogniac, Absolut vodka, Heineken beer, and many others. Ms. Joven also manages public relation teams whose enthusiasm and performance have achieved critical acclaim and national recognition. Most recently she ran a street team promoting the famous band “Collective Soul” for the Fusion Flash concert series, and decided to throw an after party for Collective Soul and VIPs at Drama Room’s VIP Lounge in Dallas. Ms Joven also runs lifestyle, entertainment, fashion, and nightlife programs full-time for New York City based Strategic Group.

Dedicated to giving back to the community and creating a unique opportunity, Ms. Joven has founded, written, produced and directed a Hispanic beauty pageant in 1999, called “Ms. North Texas Hispanic Scholarship Pageant.” The pageant received national sponsorship such as Latina magazine, all pageant contestants received dresses from Whatchamacalit Fashions in Dallas, and the pageant was televised by Channel 52 KFWD Telemundo. The mission of this at-risk youth project is to promote education, cultural awareness, and to provide role models for today’s youth.

Ms Joven is a cum laude graduate and academic scholarship recipient in Broadcast Journalism and Women’s Studies from Southern Methodist University (SMU), and has completed an internship program with broadcast reporting, writing, and editing at Channel 8 WFAA-TV ABC network. She is currently also a reporter for Beauty Fashion magazine, an international beauty magazine located in New York City catering to the consumers within the high profile cosmetics industry. Readers subscribe to the magazine or they can read a copy of Beauty Fashion from almost any high end department store’s make up counter around the world. Recently Ms. Joven was asked by a public relations company in New York City to be their PR consultant and broadcast beauty expert/editor on some of the Dallas TV morning shows.

Diversity in portraying multiethnic roles has played a major role in Ms. Joven’s life. This local actress has portrayed such ethnic roles as a Japanese singer for an IBM industrial, a Hispanic hairdresser for the TV pilot “Climbing Changes,” and a southern black slave for the professional theatrical production of “Women of the West.” Represented by Linda McAlister Talent in Dallas, Ms Joven has appeared in over 100 films, commercials, industrials, stage productions, and print work. In 1998, she worked full-time on the crew of “Walker Texas Ranger” as a stand-in, and on the set of “Son’s of Thunder” as a karate student. Both television dramas star the legendary film actor and martial artist Chuck Norris.

Ms Joven has been ranked “top ten” in 16; 17 year old Boys; Girls forms (kata) and fighting (kumite) divisions by the Southern Organization of Competitive Karate (SOCK); and during her freshman year of college was been ranked number 2 in the state of Texas in both forms (kata) and fighting (kumite) by the Texas Amateur Organization of Karate (AOK). Ms. Joven has achieved over a hundred trophies, medals, plaques, and awards. She has participated in helping teach women’s self-defense demonstrations in high schools, colleges, corporations, and boxing tournaments. Ms Joven is a member of the American Karate Black Belt Association, and finally earned her black belt on May 19, 2005. Normita thanks the Board of Texins Karate Club for believing in her throughout her training. She said that achieving her black belt was something she has wanted her entire life.