Julia’s main role at Gaia College is course management and enrolments, ensuring students are able to register and access their respective online classrooms at the beginning of each semester.

Julia came to Gaia College in a roundabout way after completing a BSc in Chemistry and working for some time in both medicinal and inorganic chemistry labs. After completing a term position as a Program Coordinator at Canadian Organic Growers (COG) and being the Administrator at SOUL, Julia joined Gaia College in 2016 to take over management of the website and moodle. Since then her role has expanded to include administrator and registrar duties in addition to IT/IM duties.

Julia holds a MSc. (Environment and Management) from Royal Roads University, is an Accredited Practitioner (SOUL), Certified Chemist (ACPO) and Certified Lab Tech (Soil Food Web).

Julia currently lives in Ottawa with her husband and 3 kids where she maintains a growing worm farm and dabbles in thermal composting while trying to grow enormous amounts of food in a small garden. She is the proprietor of Soils Alive Composting & Consulting, a microscopy lab that focuses on microorganisms in soil and compost and helps people improve their soil health. Julia also sits on the SOUL Board of Directors.

While completing a masters at Royal Roads, her cohort’s mantra for a big project was “be the change”. Being a part of Gaia College, makes Julia feel like she is a part of the change that is helping gardeners and landscapers adapt to more holistic practices. 

Being part of an online college has its challenges as we never see our students. Julia takes the opportunities she can before and throughout a course to connect with students to not only engage, but get to know them. By remembering who they are, whether they are on the diploma path or taking courses at leisure, Julia hopes that connecting with them makes them feel welcomed at Gaia College.