She Has a Specialty Practice, a TV Show, a Business, and Two Kids. Here Is How Dr. Joya Griffin Actually Does It.
Living Well with Dr. Jessica Turner sits down with one of the most recognizable veterinarians on the planet and she does not hold back.
There is a version of success that looks effortless from the outside. The thriving specialty practice. The television show. The brand. The family. The social following. And then there is the version that actually exists, the one with the early mornings and the difficult decisions and the moments where you wonder if you are doing any of it well enough.
Dr. Joya Griffin lives in that second version. She will tell you so herself.
One of the most recognized veterinary dermatologists in the country, Dr. Griffin has built a career that most veterinarians would not even dare to dream up. She runs her own practice, has earned a reputation as one of the best in her specialty, and became a household name through her show Pop Goes the Vet on Nat Geo Wild. She is also a mom. And a business owner. And a woman who has had to figure out, largely without a roadmap, what it means to be very publicly successful in a profession that has not always made space for that.
In this episode of Living Well with Dr. Jessica Turner, she pulls back the curtain on all of it.
What the Camera Does Not Show You
Pop Goes the Vet brought Dr. Griffin's work to an audience that extends well beyond the veterinary community. For many viewers, she was the first veterinary dermatologist they had ever heard of, let alone watched in action. The show humanized a specialty that most pet owners did not know existed, and it gave Dr. Griffin a platform that very few veterinarians ever access.
But visibility comes with weight. The more recognizable you become, the less room there is for imperfection — or at least that is how it can feel. Dr. Griffin talks in this episode about what it is actually like to operate in the public eye, the pressure that comes with being watched and judged by people who do not know the full picture, and the deliberate choices she has made about what she shares and what she protects.
"I had to get very intentional about my boundaries," she says. "Not just with my time — with my energy and with what I let in."
That intentionality, it turns out, is the foundation that everything else is built on.
Running a Business While Raising a Family
Dr. Griffin is not just a practitioner with a TV credit. She runs a business. That means she carries the clinical demands of a specialty practice alongside the operational, financial, and leadership responsibilities that come with ownership — all while being present for her kids in the way she wants to be.
She is honest in this conversation about the fact that there is no formula that makes it easy. What there is, she says, is clarity. Being clear about what matters most on any given day. Being clear about where she is needed and where she can delegate. Being clear about the fact that doing everything perfectly is not the goal — showing up consistently is.
That is a harder thing to practice than it is to say, and Dr. Griffin does not pretend otherwise. But it is also, she believes, the only approach that is actually sustainable.
Listen to this episode of Living Well with Dr. Jessica Turner on Vet Candy Radio. Find it at myvetcandy.com and wherever you listen to podcasts.
Watch Dr. Joya Griffin on Pop Goes the Vet on Nat Geo Wild.
Living Well with Dr. Jessica Turner is a Vet Candy original podcast. New episodes available on Vet Candy Radio and at myvetcandy.com.