Julie

For as long as Julie can remember, life has revolved around Spanish. In middle school when Spanish classes weren’t challenging or fast-paced enough, she took to listening to music in Spanish (so much Enrique Iglesias), translating the lyrics, and watching movies in Spanish with subtitles on to feel more immersed and get a better grasp on the language outside vocabulary lists and verb tenses. After traveling to Spain for a study abroad program at the age of sixteen, Julie confirmed that she definitely wanted to pursue Spanish in college and in her career.

Fast-forward a decade, and now Julie has a Master’s in Latin American Studies and Spanish Translation from American University. She has tutored Spanish throughout all of college and graduate school to students in all levels, from beginner up to editing papers for Master’s students in Spanish. In college, she also taught Spanish conversation classes to peers, in which she followed lesson plans, lead classroom discussions to follow what students were learning in their curricula, and conducted oral final exams with students individually. She understands what it’s like to learn Spanish as a second language and can break down any confusion for students to make the language fun, interactive, and exciting.

Julie has studied, volunteered, and worked in Argentina, Peru, Honduras, and Mexico, and has traveled to many more Latin American countries. Julie works full-time at the Organization of American States, researching and translating Latin American drug policies, and tutors in the evenings and on weekends.

In her free time, Julie loves spending time with friends, watching puppy videos and pretending she has one, exploring new parts of D.C. and the world, and reading.