Julia is originally from Portland, Oregon (traditional Chinook, Cowlitz, and Atfalati territories) and relocated to Vancouver on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory to pursue a BSc at UBC as an International Scholar in the Global Resource Systems program. She specialized in ecology, biodiversity, and sustainable food systems, and formerly worked at the UBC Farm conducting biodiversity monitoring surveys and science communication. Julia’s ecological passions span mushrooms, insects, native plants, intertidal organisms, and bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, etc.). In her free time, she loves baking, reading, playing with her cat, listening to podcasts, exploring outdoors, and has recently begun experimenting with felting and embroidery—especially crafting little critters.