Creative Designer & Hospitality Maven

Julie has been obsessed with the details of things since she was a child growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Observing her best friend’s mother orchestrate multi-coursed French dinners using local ingredients that the family had gathered and preserved over the summer, made a big impression upon her. As did her time with her Grandma Ruth, who led the dynamic life of a homemaker, realtor, and an educated woman of culture, exposing Julie to Seattle’s art, music and food scene, and inspiring her to pursue an arts degree, which began at Cornish and was completed at SOU with honors.

While raising two sons as a single mother in Ashland, Julie worked her way up through the local restaurant industry, often working as many as four different jobs in order to survive. She simultaneously started her own businesses along the way, with two different versions of printmaking studios/galleries over the years, as well as writing an art column, and teaching art classes to people of all ages from children to college level. She has been working in the valley’s finest restaurants for over twenty years.

She takes pride in helping the workplace to be equitable, and in encouraging healthy communication so that staff members are able to operate as a highly functional team with the goal of excelling within a thriving restaurant environment. She cares deeply about helping the restaurant industry to be sustainable and its staff having the benefits of any other professional.

She came to realize that in every position she’s held, it is in the act of noticing little details and preferences, and in taking the time to prioritize them, that we create connections with one another, and that is what matters to her-–connection. She loves seeing the intimacy that takes place between humans over a beautifully curated meal. After all, it is the little things that make up the grand, beautiful picture that is life.