Julia has been involved in the arts and education her entire life. She spent the first part of her career in museum education working for the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Denver Art Museum before starting a business in arts education, World Art Explorers.

She then shifted to Elementary Education spending 23 years in Denver Public Schools (DPS) as a visual arts techer, a gifted education specialist, a regional Arts Specialist, and 14 years as a principal. As the principal at Cory Eleemntary she helped to open the first Early Childhood Education Center for DPS, the Stephen Knight Center for Early Education.

In 2010, Julia worked with a community design team to create Creativity Challenge Community (C3), a new K-5 innovation school for DPS. C3 opened in the fall of 2012 with Julia as the founding principal. As part of her work with C3 she was also involved in the creation of the Luminary Learning Network (LLN) with a group of innovation schools forming the first innovation zone for DPS.

In 2020, she became the Executive Director to help create the Beehive Early Childhood Education Center for the Guild Education, working with infants through preschool students in a unique downtown site. She is currently semi retired and stays connected to educational and arts communities as a substitute teacher and volunteer at some of her favorite places.

​She has two grown daughters whose education in Denver from preschool through high school exposed her to the variety of options in the city which have influenced her work.

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Being involved in the arts and education has been my passion and my career. As a child growing up outside Chicago I was introduced to the Art Institute of Chicago by my grandmother and worked there my first job out of college. After I started kindergarten, I created a kinder classroom for my younger sister. I continued that passion by getting my teaching license in college.

I have had a good fortune in my career to use that passion to create programs for museums and schools, and to open new schools in the Denver area. In March 2025, I was part of a study group in Reggio Emilia, Italy experiencing the rich history of Reggio play based learning.

My work with early childhood education in these last years has brought me to Paddington and the amazing work being done. I am honored to be able to bring my lifelong passion to the Board of Trustees.