A first class honours graduate of English and Literary Studies from the University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, Julia received her Master’s degree in Development/Area Studies, with emphasis on African American/Afro-Caribbean Studies, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Her diverse and rich professional career spans academia, marketing communications and philanthropy. From 1982-1987, she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in African American and Caribbean literature  in the University of Calabar, and made a career shift in 1987 to work in Advertising. This was a move which segued into private enterprise when in 1990, she along with two partners formed an advertising agency which became a foremost marketing communications agency in Nigeria and is currently known as SO& U Saatchi & Saatchi.

She was the founding Executive Director and Creative Director of the organization from 1990 to 2003. In her time in advertising, Julia was recognized as a leading, groundbreaking copy writer, a strategic thinker, she initiated, designed and operationalised much of the organization’s capacity development programs as well as its corporate social responsibility efforts. More importantly, Julia gave much acclaimed focus and energy to the creative direction of the agency. She served for several years on the training committee of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and ran its acclaimed Creative Training and Writing Courses for five consecutive years.

Between 2003 and 2005, Julia served as Program Officer, Media, Arts and Culture in the West Africa office of the leading international philanthropic organization, The Ford Foundation. In her time at the Foundation, she was responsible for designing the strategic re-focusing of the Media, Arts and Culture portfolio, with emphasis on the stimulation of cultural and creative industries and the growth in the number and professionalism of relevant infrastructure support organizations within that industry.

An alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School (now Pan African University), Julia set up and ran Work-In-Progress, a communication consultancy and capacity building organization that primarily serviced creative enterprises. She was also invited to put in place start operations for Cue Media-a media content development organization. Currently, Julia heads the Corporate Communications Department of Moni Pulo Limited, a leading indigenous oil exploration and production company based in Port Harcourt.

Julia is passionate about developmental matters. She serves as an instructor for one of the foremost enterprise developmental organizations in Nigeria-The Fate Foundation-and mentors many young to mid level managers and start up entrepreneurs. She is an acknowledged authority on creativity in marketing communications and marketing and serves as a resource person for numerous public and closed lectures and workshops on creativity, branding, marketing and marketing communications.

Julia serves on several boards including The Sickle Cell Foundation, Samaritan’s Purse, Newbridge Associates and READ Nigeria. She is also the 2007 Coordinator of the maiden POWER Project activities (POWER-Partnership Opportunities for Women Empowerment Realization; an initiative of the First Lady of Cross River State-Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke).

An avid reader and music lover, Julia is married to Fenibo Jacks and they have one delightful daughter.