Julie’s relationship with plants began in childhood in rural Alaska, where she learned how to work with the natural world for survival, resilience, and daily living. Immersed early in wild landscapes, she developed a deep respect for plants not only as resources, but as teachers—an understanding that would shape her life’s work.

That early foundation led Julie into decades of global study and practice. She traveled extensively throughout South America, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, and the United States, studying Western herbalism alongside diverse regional plant traditions. A pivotal chapter unfolded through immersive time in the Amazon and Andes, where working closely with native plants and Indigenous communities profoundly influenced her approach to formulation, stewardship, and relationship with the land.

Julie’s formal training is rooted in Western herbalism, shaped through both structured botanical education and a rare, old-world apprenticeship model—a long-term, private student–teacher relationship spanning more than twenty years. Alongside herbal study, she has devoted herself to spiritual and energetic disciplines including Buddhism, Reiki energy healing, Kriya Yoga, Akashic Records reading, and traditional Buddhist medicine-making practices. These lineages inform not only what she creates, but how she creates—bringing intention, presence, and ritual into every stage of formulation.

Leaf People Skin Care emerged from this convergence of plant science, spiritual practice, and lived experience. Each formula reflects Julie’s reverence for botanical intelligence, blending Western herbal techniques with cross-cultural wisdom and low-temperature extraction methods designed to honor the vitality of the plants.

Based in Aspen, Julie lives and works within the Rocky Mountains—a living botanical pharmacy where medicinal plants grow wild and their energy is woven into the land, air, and seasons. Here, she continues her work as an herbalist, formulator, and entrepreneur, in service to the plants and as a steward of their wisdom—crafting skincare as a daily ritual of connection between people and the natural world.