Get to Know Us: Julie from Care2
Care2 community, meet Julie! I’m so excited to introduce her as part of our continuing staff spotlight series. Julie is our Manager of Brand Marketing & PR here at Care2. She spends her days helping Care2 activists attract press attention for their petitions and giving interviews to outlets like The Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Tonight, The Hill, and L.A. Weekly. When she’s not in the office, she’s been known to rescue pregnant hummingbirds with her twin sister (! no joke). Our team relies on her to keep us up-to-date on the latest performance trends because, fun fact, Julie also spins poi on the side and is now a hula hooper, too. And if you’re wondering what “spinning poi” means, it’s like a magical display of lights and dancing that can involve fire or its safer LED-based cousin.
But that’s not all there is to know about Julie. Read our Q&A with her below to learn more!
What’s your favorite activist chant ever?
I loved when, at the San Francisco Women’s March, there was a group of men chanting, “Her body, her choice,” and a group of women responding, “My body, my choice.” It was a beautiful moment of solidarity across the gender spectrum.
Favorite part of being at Care2?
Lots of people can only engage in activism on weekends or after work. I love that working at Care2 means I get to focus at least 40 hours per week on it!
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about advocacy, good or bad?
Sometimes, things are more nuanced than can fit on a protest sign or into a petition. Sometimes the correct stance or answer seems obvious, but it’s important to seek out different perspectives to avoid just echoing others or causing harm when you don’t have all the information. Humility, an openness to different perspectives, and balance matter.
How do you keep motivated?
Reading real stories about people who have been personally impacted by an issue or policy always gives me a nice kick in the a** to do something 🙂
Favorite emoji?
It’s a tie between the crystal ball and the spiral of life! 🌀 🔮
When you get stuck on an advocacy problem, what resources do you use to solve it?
I’m in a few private Facebook groups with some super smart political folk. I crowdsource ideas and opinions there. I also have a lawyer friend I’ve hit up once or twice for insight — he’s like a walking encyclopedia of Supreme Court cases!
What’s your favorite Care2 petition or campaign you’ve ever worked on?
This is almost IMPOSSIBLE to answer! There have been so many good ones! I love working with chronic pain and cancer patients on medical marijuana advocacy. I also love working with sex workers, who I think are a very underrepresented and misunderstood group, to change legislation that unfairly targets them.