Her Story
About Julia
I've always known I wanted to be in the design and packaging world. Even in high school, I did an ROTC program learning about being an artist and graphic communications, and I was an early admit into the Cal Poly Graphic Communications program before I even graduated high school. I did 4 years in graphic communications and packaging, and I was hired off the college campus months before I graduated by R.R. Donnelly. I've always defined my own path, which has been important to me. I started with R.R. Donnelly and was there for 17 years, managing almost $30 million of packaging and traveling around the world, including trips to China even when I had young babies. I was really proud of being a mother as well as a working professional. After that, I went to Mill Rock Packaging for a little over a year and a half, and then a recruiter called me for Resource Label Group in the healthcare division, which is a really nice niche of the packaging world. I do labels, cartons, and inserts in commercial print for medical device and pharmaceutical healthcare companies. I like to say I save the world one package at a time. I'm incredibly lucky to mostly work from home with a home office in Sacramento, California, although I have 33 production locations coast-to-coast. I call myself a packaging advisor because I'm not trying to sell something, I'm trying to help people find the right fit for their own programs. Sales is the most flexible career path with pretty much unlimited potential, and I was on 100% commission for probably 16 of my 21 years. You build your own career however you want, which is phenomenal.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Julia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my mother, who has always helped me find my own path. I've always wanted to go in the direction of my desires and not let anything stand in my way. When I was a young girl in high school in 1999, I wanted to be a wrestler, and my high school had never had female wrestling. So a friend of mine and I decided to break that mold, and we became the first high school wrestlers ever at our high school. My senior year, I went varsity. Then in college, I loved Ultimate Frisbee, and there was only a men's team at Cal Poly, and my friend and I said that's not okay, so we created a Women's Ultimate Frisbee team. I am incredibly proud that the team still continues to this day, over 20 years later, and they just made their nationals. My friend and I were the very first captains of the Cal Poly Ultimate Frisbee team. There is no mold in this world. I think everyone can make their own path, and my mom definitely helped me see that. I feel that anything is possible. You always have to recognize the risk and reward, but as long as you make sure there's a safe place to land, go for it.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Have an open mind. I think a lot of people don't realize that there's a career path in sales, in print and packaging, but there's so many opportunities. Whether you want to be an engineer, you want to get into management, you want to be in the administrative side, there's just so much potential. I like the idea of having this influential woman platform to inspire people that there's a lot more. You can have a very successful career-life balance by being a packaging salesperson, and it's not something you typically think about when you graduate high school. But again, break the mold. Anything's possible, and it can be very fulfilling.
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