The very first time I met Julia was over a decade ago when she was living with my brother and another roommate. At the time, they were all New College students. We didn’t have the chance, however, to begin to become close until the spring of 2008. I was still teaching & living up in Tampa, but I was coming down to Sarasota on weekends. Andrew had begun Harvest Cycle and I had bought into the idea more so for the potential return to entrepreneurialism than for the actual business concept. In any case, Drew was again living with Julia. It was then that I first had the opportunity to see the depths of this incredible soul.
You begin to feel Julia’s energy before you even enter the same room as her. Nearly 6 feet tall with long, blonde hair, and the gentlest, kindest of natures makes Julia an absolute force of feminine strength & power. A Sagittarian comrade to the core, Julia and I align on many of our shared sign’s general descriptors: Truth-seekers, wanderers, keenly interested in philosophy & religion, generous & just with stamina for our insatiable curiosity about the world. No matter how many irons in the fire she has going (and with Julia, it will be at least 7) you will know that they all will come down to the same motivation – a desire for knowledge & truth and an eagerness to share her explorations & discoveries with others. Julia is a very, VERY bright light!
The following spring, in 2009, my roommate in Sarasota was this guy with whom I worked at the farm. Julia dated him for most of the 5 months we lived together so again, I had opportunities galore to continue to learn about this island-born, bad-ass chick. During this time, Julia influenced me greatly in my growing knowledge of diet, food, and herbs. One of her many areas of skill and interest is in the area of plants and specifically, using their natural healing powers. This side of Julia makes her, in my opinion, a rare personality. She is all Sagittarian fire, yet simultaneously, she emits healing energies, which are inherently calming. It is an insanely intense combination – especially for these times!
Given Julia’s extroverted & extremely social nature, her network is quite vast. And the fact that she is involved in a million different, cross-generational, cross-cultural things no matter where she is living, she has influence spanning many different groups. She is an endless advocate for those who are less fortunate. In fact, she too suffers from always & immediately thinking of the needs of so many outside of her that she often leaves herself not much more than scraps. Choosing Julia as one of my initial investments was also a no-brainer. This is a light we want to be lit. This is one we need to have lit all the time & with the highest voltage.
Her professional life has been similar to mine. She has never really found that one place of work where she could fully utilize ALL of her many, many skills. She has extensive non-profit experience. Recently, she & I were discussing some of the obvious system-created obstacles preventing the non-profit world from even coming close to achieving what it is setting out to do. I was explaining the reasons for my decision to become a for-profit company. She couldn’t have agreed more with the underlying rationalization – acknowledging that the values of the non-profit world have every right to be considered equals in the for-profit world. THAT is the real problem of society. How can we wonder why things are so crazy when everything we claim to value is not deemed to have any in the economic models of our society – anywhere! If we want to see real change in this world we are going to need to make this change happen. And it needs to happen now. Hence, phase 1 of my company and my desire to have Julia right there leading the way with me.
Julia’s spirituality guides her life. She is one of the most connected souls I know. While I already have quite a few new, amazing healer friends in Seattle, Julia will always be my original healer. I was preparing to go head-on with my demons in 2009 when spending all of that time with Julia. Her unconditional love of humanity & her guiding light were integral as I was struggling to find any path to pursue that would finally result in inner peace. Julia strives to be that example of peace & love every day. Anyone & everyone that interacts with her is a beneficiary. I don’t think she is aware of just how much she aided me during this very dark time. As they say, it is always darkest right before dawn. It was Julia that was with me during this extremely pivotal, scary time. This is the absolute least I can do to repay her.
I am excited to see what project she comes up with for the public investment campaign we will have for her. She was the final one notified last Sunday of my initial pay-if-forward gift. And you will soon see how relatively little money in this community feels like millions. This is going to be the best money I’ve ever spent. There is no doubt about it. None. Again, I would trust Julia with my life. I love her to death. I admire & respect her in all that she has done, all that she is, and all she continues to strive to be in her life. She wants nothing but to help all of those that haven’t been blessed with as much knowledge and awareness. Give this woman money & watch what she will do with it and how many lives she will touch in the process! Get ready, Miami! Julia has a budget and we are getting her more!
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