Senator Joy A. San Buenaventura of District 2, Puna-East Ka‘ū is a product of the Hawaii public school system. She attended Lunalilo Elementary School, Washington Middle School and graduated from McKinley High School. After graduating from high school, Senator San Buenaventura and her family moved to Las Vegas where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, she worked at the Environmental Protection Agency as a computer programmer and with Reynolds Electrical Engineering as a law clerk. Senator San Buenaventura went on to receive her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
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The Senator was a lecturer of business law at the University of Hawaii at Hilo; and in 1991, she was appointed Per Diem District Court Judge, making her the youngest judge in Hawaii at the age of 32. In one of her earlier court-appointed cases, she represented the first geothermal protesters opposing the proposed geothermal well at Wao Kele O Puna. In 1992 she was the first attorney to prosecute and settle a breast implant case in the State of Hawaii. In 2013-2014 she was honored to have taken three of her clients' cases to the highest court in the State of Hawaii, the Hawaii Supreme Court; and have won all three petitions for writ of certiorari. Senator San Buenaventura volunteers her time helping the public to access to the courts through the Self-Help Center.
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Senator San Buenaventura was first elected to office as the Hawaii State Representative of District 4 in 2014. She was then elected to the Hawaii State Senate, District 2 seat in 2020. She has been a 30-year resident of Hawaii Island and currently lives in a photo-voltaic powered home in Hawaiian Paradise Park with her husband, "Weldin" Sheldon Lehman.