Joel Livingston was born in Kansas City, Missouri to Marian and George Livingston. He was raised in Dallas, Texas. After graduating from Stephen F. Austin in 2001, He then went into teaching and coaching. Joel has been teaching for twenty years as well as coaching for nineteen years; all in public education. He spent two years in middle school and eighteen years on the high school level. His passion is teaching and mentoring young people to pursue their dreams.

 

 Joel started as a writer indirectly. He mentions, "I was going through so much pain and drama in my life until one day someone suggested that I started a journal as a way of therapeutic writing." He wrote every day. Anything that happened, Joel wrote it down until he had a book. He wrote angry, He wrote with tears, He wrote happy. Every emotion he had he wrote until the book came alive. An author was born and since then, he loves writing and making things come alive in his spirit and in his life. He states, "Your greatest blessings are birthed out of pain." Now a published author, Joel wrote and published “Don’t Look Back”.​Joel's personal approach to writing is through pain, passion and personal. The best writing comes out of experiences. He wants to be able to relate to the reader.