MERGE iMAGAZINE Exclusive: Featuring Jo Garner
Serving Others Through Music, Ministry, and Mortgage Lending
Music | Marketing | Mortgage
By Sherri D. Motes Jones, Senior Editor, MERGE
Purpose With a Lasting Reach
Jo Garner has built a life in which service is not separate from success. It is the foundation beneath it.
As a mortgage loan officer, Jo is dedicated to helping homebuyers and people who want to refinance their mortgages. She uses her time and experience to assist clients through mortgage lending and refinancing.
Jo is also an author, radio host, community leader, musician, and successful networking strategist. Her career reflects solidarity, integrity, and longevity, while her work reveals a genuine commitment to serving others.
She is the founder and primary sponsor of Talk Shoppe, a networking group based out of Memphis, Tennessee, focused on free education, professional networking, and marketing for its sponsors. Through Talk Shoppe, Jo has created a respected platform where knowledge is shared, relationships are cultivated, and professionals are encouraged to grow.
Equip. Engage. Empower.
Jo understands ministry in the marketplace. She does not present ministry as another profession. Instead, its principles are evident in the way she works, serves, leads, and honors the gifts God has placed in her life.
Her journey reflects the heart of MERGE:
Music. Ministry. Marketplace. Merging Power With Purpose.
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)
MERGE: What is the power of knowing your “Why”?
JO GARNER: Simon Sinek wrote a book that challenges us to discover the underlying “Why” that motivates us to push through any obstacle to achieve the life we strive for and the accomplishments we dream of achieving.
If we have a big enough “Why,” we can push through life’s roadblocks. If we have a clear vision of what we want for our life, we can laser-focus our destination.
MERGE: Where did service begin for you?
JO GARNER: My story started with my mother getting our family to church every Sunday. Throughout the Bible stories, there was a recurring theme. God works best through servants. God took normal, everyday people in humble positions and, when they trusted and obeyed God’s guidance, bondages broke and freedom burst forth.
Purpose in the Rhythm
Before the books, business relationships, and radio microphone, there were drums.
Music gave Jo an early place to recognize the power within her gift. Behind the drum set, she experienced the importance of rhythm and the joy of contributing her sound while supporting the musicians and singers around her.
MERGE: What did the drums awaken in you?
JO GARNER: In the early years, catching and carrying rhythm on the drums energized me. Laying down a cool groove on the drum set that supported the sound of the other guitar, keyboard players, and singers felt exhilarating; like being on a fair ride. During those magical moments, melding my rhythm with the music coming from the other singers, guitar and keyboard players, I sensed my God-given purpose; that nothing was impossible.
MERGE: What has collaboration taught you?
JO GARNER: Life is so much richer when you can do that life with other people who share a similar vision, principles, and purpose. Just like playing music with my bandmates, when you are aligned and serve with the right people, the magic and music you can make in your profession and other service is unstoppable.
Jo’s belief in collaboration is also part of her written legacy. She is a contributing author to The Power of Collaboration in Business by Sherri D. Motes Jones, published in 2013 by Business Over Coffee International.
Her contribution reflects a principle already evident throughout her journey: shared vision, aligned purpose, and service can create something stronger than one person can produce alone.
When Rhythm Became a Professional Principle
The lessons Jo discovered through faith and music became part of the way she approached her career.
The rhythm was different, but the principles remained familiar: preparation, knowledge, consistency, and working with others toward a shared result.
MERGE: How did those lessons shape your career?
JO GARNER: Over the last 30+ years, the same principles I learned from studying the Bible and performing solid rhythms and solos on the drums also applied to the mortgage business.
Joining with the best mortgage team members, and using our knowledge to help our clients find just the right mortgage product and a better life, continues giving me that satisfying feeling like exhilaration from being on a fair ride.
The Strategy Behind the Connection
Jo’s ability to cultivate professional relationships became especially visible through Talk Shoppe.
As its founder and primary sponsor, she has sustained a platform rooted in networking, education, and sponsor marketing. Her work as a successful networking strategist is not simply about making introductions. It is about recognizing the value of consistency, credibility, visibility, and meaningful professional relationships.
MERGE: How did Talk Shoppe begin?
JO GARNER: Easter weekend in 2003, Talk Shoppe was born. Talk Shoppe is a networking group offering free education and networking to our local business, real estate, and health and wellness community.
Joining with other business people who were called to serve to create and build Talk Shoppe lined up with my “Why”, and the scriptures God had planted inside about the importance of serving.
God has used the Talk Shoppe network and marketing group to further enrich my life with meaningful friendships, mortgage referrals, and connections. Those connections have also given me a voice as an author, radio talk show host, and mentor.
A Voice With Reach
Jo hosts the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe radio show, airing on The Mighty 990 AM, 107.9 FM, and streaming through the KWAM app. Her podcasts and show notes are published on JoGarner.com.
Her Real Estate & Mortgage Market Reports are also heard throughout the week over the airwaves and streamed on more than 130 radio stations across the United States.
Jo is the author of Choosing the Best Mortgage—The Quickest Way to the Life You Want. The book reached the Top 10 on Amazon for new releases in the finance category in 2021 and is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Radio and writing have expanded Jo’s ability to educate and serve while allowing her professional voice to reach audiences globally.
MERGE: What scripture shapes your decisions?
JO GARNER: This Bible scripture is another one that has shaped my life decisions.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to us.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
MERGE: What wisdom would you share?
JO GARNER: Here is some advice from me, even though I have made mistakes and experienced failure as well as some great successes too.
Meditate on God’s Word in the Bible and don’t be afraid to surrender to live a life loving and serving with others. God knows you, your greatest desires and talents, and can lead you to a life of joyful purpose.
The MERGE Perspective
Jo Garner’s journey reveals the lasting influence of a life grounded in inherent values.
Her faith shaped her foundation. Music helped her recognize her purpose. Her career gave her opportunities to apply what she had learned, while Talk Shoppe, radio, and writing expanded the reach of her work.
Jo understands that ministry in the marketplace is not defined by a title. It can be demonstrated through integrity, consistency, and servant leadership .
She has used music, marketing, and mortgage lending as distinct parts of one purposeful journey.
Through every season, her “Why” remains connected to building strong relationships, and making a difference together in music, ministry, and the marketplace simultaneously.
This is How I MERGE!
Image Notice: Photographs provided by Jo Garner and published by MERGE with permission. Jo Garner confirms authorization for their use and responsibility for any required credits.