Julia trained and worked as a journalist in her native Scotland before switching to a career in public sector communications where she felt she could make a bigger difference for people.  Moving to New Zealand in 2000, she continued to build her talent for making complex matters easier for people to absorb and engage with.

Since volunteering in South America many years ago and experiencing the thrill and bemusement of true culture shock, Julia has been fascinated by what makes people tick.  She honed this interest working in the West of Scotland with some of the most socially excluded communities in the country, and in the Wellington region while engaged with social housing and urban regeneration.

She has brought her skills to bear on a range of tricky problems in other sectors, including complex construction and infrastructure, flood protection, emergency management systems, public and active transport, and health promotion strategy. She has worked extensively in project/programme environments as well as scaled agile systems and she brings the best of these varied disciplines to her work. 

At the heart of Julia's communication practice is that it is all about people, and nothing is 'obvious'.  Compassionate curiosity is an essential foundation if we are to connect with anybody beyond the superficial. 

She lives in Wellington with her partner Matthias and she's the proud mum and step-mum of three amazing young people. As an almost empty-nester she's still getting used to the idea of more free time to explore and learn new skills. Biking, travel, exotic cooking and learning a new language are all on the agenda!

Julia gained a Master of Business Administration after moving to Wellington, and now she's enjoying deep diving into research and reading with Kassy, as part of their focus on human-centred communications at Mitra.
Julia Anderson
