Josephine grew up in Northern Uganda and studied through primary 7.  Then her parents separated and her father moved to Kampala and stopped contributing financially to the family.  When she was 13 years old, no longer in school, and with the war raging around her, she moved to the Acholi Quarter to live with her step-mother.

In Kampala, Josephine met and married her husband.  They have six children together.  He works as a security guard at a nearby university.  Josephine makes paper bead jewelry and also studied tailoring, which provides additional income.  In search of a more reliable income, she saved up money and bought a grinding machine.  She buys sim sim and gnuts in bulk and grinds them into a paste.  Both are staples in the Acholi diet and sell nearly as quickly as she can grind it.

With more money, Josephine would buy bulk quantities of sim sim and gnuts directly from Northern Uganda where it is cheaper.  In this way, her profits would greatly increase.