About me
For the first 18 years of my life, I was a small town girl on the Northern California coast. I spent my teenage years running cross country amongst giant oaks, wondering about life with friends as we gazed up at the stars from rooftops, and finding solace in the ocean waves.
When I first moved to Berkeley to study at the University of California, I was overwhelmed by how big and loud and fast everything felt. In time, I began to find beauty in the way nature and city interacted and fell in love with my vibrant Berkeley community. I received my BA in both English and Education and went on to get a Masters and Teaching Credential at Mills College in Oakland.
I then poured all my heart into teaching second and third graders at Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley for the next 8 years. By far and away my favorite time of the day was reading gorgeous books aloud to my students and reflecting with them on what these stories meant for our lives and our own writing practices. A seed was planted in me at this time…maybe, just maybe, I’d try to write a book that could inspire kids like this someday.
Then I wandered into my thirties and became a mother to three incredible children. I stepped away from the classroom during these early years of mothering and worked as a teacher coach, leading groups of teachers in collaborative inquiry to reflect on their craft. My days at home were steeped in children’s literature from morning to night, as I read aloud every board book and picture book our library had to offer. It was then that my idea to write children’s literature rose to the surface and suddenly I felt charged with inspiration.
The ideas began flowing, the manuscripts poured out, and I found a critique group that became some of my dearest friends. In the spring of 2022, I signed with the agent of my dreams and my writing bloomed!
Julia is represented by Saba Sulaiman at Talcott Notch Literary.
