Joanne began her career in the 1980s at the Theatre Royal Stratford, where she became the first ever black Principle Boy in pantomime. She went on to appear at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry and was a founder member of the BiBi Crew, the first company made up entirely of black actresses. As a part of the BiBi Crew, she co-wrote, produced and toured several theatre shows including 'On A Level' and 'But Stop, We've Got Work to Do'. Her television work included "Parents and Teenagers" for the Open University; Live from Pebble Mill: Night Kids (1983); The All Electric Amusement Arcade (1983); Dramarama: Que Sera (1984); "Copperfield Comedy and Co."; Chalkface (1991); Birds of a Feather (1989) and The Bill (1984). She also starred in two comedy series - Me and My Girl (1984) and Us Girls (1992). She had just finished filming her latest series, UGetMe (2003), when she died suddenly of deep vein thrombosis.