Life is pretty sweet for Jasmine Joyce these days.
Not too long ago, she was a frustrated personal trainer. More recently, a bored supermarket worker. She has always been an exceptionally gifted athlete, but one who was never sure that rugby would ever be anything more than a hobby for her.
Today, however, she is a history maker. A role model for an ever-growing fanbase. A bride-to-be. Her infectious smile rarely goes unseen as she plays the most fearless rugby of her career, safe in the knowledge she no longer has to compromise after becoming one of Wales' first ever professional female players.
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Since that historic day last January when Joyce and 11 others were awarded full-time professional contracts by the Welsh Rugby Union, the women's game in Wales is healthier than ever. The number of pros has doubled and there have been record attendances at games, while a strong Six Nations secured them their highest-ever world ranking afer a quarter-final finish at last year's World Cup. Although chaos has ensued around them for much of these last six months, Wales Women are in a good place right now.
And that's why it was so hard for Joyce to walk away from it all.
In November, the 27-year-old wing, together with teammate Kayleigh Powell, confirmed she was leaving the WRU's full-time 15s programme having been called up to represent Team GB in the Sevens World Series and help them qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
It was no surprise that her talent had been requested on the Sevens stage. From knowing next-to-nothing about the sport as a student, Joyce has become one of GB's most pivotal players after making her debut in 2015, turning out for them at two Olympics while also representing Wales at the Commonwealth Games.
The lure of becoming a three-time Olympian ultimately proved too much, but that's not to say it was a straightfoward decision.
"It was really, really tough," she admitted. "Especially with the way everything is at the moment. I had loved every minute of the World Cup and was pleased with how we performed out there, while I finally had the full-time contract I had always wanted. It was dream come true kind of stuff.
"So much progress has been made in the last two or three years and I know there will be more to come, so staying for that or leaving to represent GB was a hugely difficult choice to make.
"But I knew my bigger goal was to go to another Olympics," she added. "And for me to achieve that, I knew I had to take a full-time Sevens contract. As much as I loved playing for Wales, unfortunately there wasn't an opportunity to be able to do both."
Joyce isn't just saying that either. It has always been abundantly clear that she loves representing Wales, swelling with pride as she sings the national anthem in front of a home crowd before delivering for her country on the field, with her devastating pace and try-scoring prowess proving a handful for opponents.
But the open space that sevens provides certainly plays to her strengths, with the St Davids-born star racking up an impressive return of 21 tries from 30 games during the most recent World Series.
And as she prepares to take to the field with Team GB at the European Games in Krakow this weekend - a competition that could secure them OIympic qualification - Joyce knows she doesn't have any regrets over her decision.
"I absolutely love Sevens," she said, unprompted. "I've dreamt of playing on the circuit since I started playing it so to finally be able to do that full-time this season is something really, really special for me. As hard as it was to leave, it was the right thing to do."
There's always a but.
"But, God, playing 15s, I miss it every day. I know I still get to come here and do this every day, but during a Six Nations or a World Cup, it's such a special feeling that you just can't beat. You're standing out there singing the anthem and you get such a massive feeling of occasion. It's something that you never forget.
"Sadly, you just don't get that with Sevens. Sometimes we just go completely unseen and people don't know where we are or what we're doing. The atmosphere just doesn't compare at the moment."
The fond memories Joyce carries of representing Wales' 15s side does not just extend to the buzz of the matchdays, however. It's clear that the entire culture around the women's game, solidified by those pro contracts and a growing appetite for the game, is better than its ever been, with players and staff alike contributing to the positive environment.
It's a positivity that has been reflected on the pitch this year too, with Wales delivering their best Six Nations performance since 2009 with wins over Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Not only did their third-place finish move them to their highest-ever ranking of sixth in the world, it also reserved their spot in Tier One of World Rugby's new global tournament, WXV, which launches this autumn.
Participating only as a spectator this time around, Joyce will admit to having a little FOMO as she watched on from the stands or on TV with her fiancee and former teammate Alisha Butchers - but this was trumped by the sheer pride she felt seeing some of her closest friends realise their dreams.
"I was so proud of them," she said. "Unfortunately I only managed to get down to one game which was the England game where they didn't do too well - but the performances they put in against all the other teams were fantastic. I was like a little fan girl in the crowd!
"They truly deserve to be doing so well and to now be going into that top tier and playing in the WXV this year, against the best teams in the world, it's going to be just what the girls need."
"I go down to the Vale sometimes to watch them train and I get to catch up with them then, which is really nice," she continued. "They all speak so positively about the entire environment there, we've taken such a huge step forwards - so of course I'm going to miss it."
Joyce can't complain too much, however, with her new gig taking her around the world from Dubai and Hong Kong to Vancouver and Los Angeles, while it has also put her on the verge of a third Olympics with GB having already starred for them at the Rio and Tokyo Games.
While the decision to leave Wales 15s behind was admittedly a tough one then, there was a time not so long ago where she doubted she would ever have the luxury of making it.
After finishing university, she took a personal training job at the Celtic Manor, but knew almost instantly that wasn't what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. A four-month journey around Australia after quitting her job reminded her that rugby was her future - but without a professional contract, making it an achievable career seemed impossible.
"Having to balance rugby with a full time job and a busy life, it felt like I was playing it as a hobby more than anything," she said. "But it was a hobby that demanded full-time hours. There were days where I'd be getting up at 4am for work and then going straight from there to training and only getting home again at 10pm.
"There were points where I felt like giving up, where I felt totally drained and just wasn't enjoying playing. We were losing all the time and we were all struggling to sustain a life."
Keeping busy is Joyce's thing - as well as her stint as a personal trainer, she now works as a supply teacher in a primary school, while she even helped out at her local Tesco after being placed on furlough during lockdown. "I only did three shifts," she explains. "I quite liked it but then they tried to get me in at like 2am and I thought I can't do this anymore!
But her struggles were felt by each and every one of her teammates and their honest accounts of life as a female international rugby player led the WRU to implement significant changes in the women's game as it evolved into professionalism.
Life is different for Joyce now. It's better.
"I can put 100 percent of my effort into rugby," she said, with that trademark smile now at full beam. "I can go to every gym session and really focus on the analysis and pack in extra skills, extra passing drills and things like that. When you're working full time, you're 50/50 all the time, you would go to train and you'd be so fatigued that you'd basically be getting nothing out of it. There's none of that now.
"I've got a real sense of freedom now. I'm free to just enjoy my rugby and life is so much less stressful. Rather than juggling everything, I have one career and I'm focused on giving it everything I've got."
That focus will be essential at the European Games, with the Team GB Sevens kicking off their pool stage games against Norway on Sunday, before facing Italy and Czechia. The event in Krakow will see around 177 British athletes compete across 18 Olympic sports, with qualification on the line in 10 of them, including Sevens.
Joyce and co. will need to win gold in Poland in order to secure that spot, but the speedster is confident of her side's chances having prepared for the competition all year.
"We've played against some of the best teams in the world this year and got some good experience under our belts," she said. "There are a few sides we don't know too much about, but we're ready from them and we're all just chasing that Olympic qualification."
Before what she hopes will be a trip to France next summer, however, there is the small matter of her wedding to Alisha. While she doesn't want to go into too much detail about the ceremony in December, she coyly admits she's got "a class six months or so coming up".
"It's going to be amazing," she said. "It's the next chapter of our lives and it's hugely exciting, neither of us can wait."
When it comes to honeymoon destinations, you could do a lot worse than Paris.
"Being at an Olympics is something you dream about when you're a little girl, so for me to make it to a third one would be absolutely amazing. Last time in Tokyo it was during COVID so we didn't get the full experience, but the whole buzz around a Games is absolutely crazy. I would go home to St David's and everyone would be like, "Oh my god, it's Jaz!"
"It's a different level of competition this time around, the standard is very high - but after finishing fourth at the last two Olympics we want nothing more than to come away with a medal."
But while what will happen next summer remains to be seen, there is one thing that Joyce is sure of - she's not done with 15s or her beloved Wales just yet.
"Who knows?," she said with a grin, "Obviously there's a World Cup after the Olympics and that could potentially be the next stage for me, but then again I could still be enjoying playing on the Sevens circuit. Maybe I'll still be enjoying the travelling, maybe I'll want to stay at home a bit more. I have no idea.
"But what I can say is I'm definitely not hanging up my boots from Welsh rugby just yet. I'll be back."
