After earning an M.F.A in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Cornell University, she served as the N.E.H. Postdoctoral Fellow in Poetics at the Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry at Emory University. Julie lives in Lexington with her husband, David Toomey, and their son, Aiden, who is currently enrolled in the Pre-Toddler program at Woods Creek.