Julie
Soimaud
You won’t offend her if you call her the hat lady—she has worn a few: author, editor, advocate, model, speaker, entrepreneur, philanthropist, event producer, real estate agent, and yes, reigning queen of bad karaoke.
Julie Marie Soimaud, a self-acclaimed perfectionist, brings tenacity, creativity, dedication and a sense of humor to whatever the tasks. Having studied Journalism, Public Relations and Advertising at Temple University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude/Top Scholar, she has an innate appreciation for the power of prose.
That appreciation for words helped fuel Maybe God Was Busy, her memoir recounting an idyllic childhood interrupted by abuse in her native Jamaica. But it’s not a ‘phase’ on which she likes to linger, preferring instead to revel in triumph and in conquering the next hurdle.
These days Julie is discovering, or should we say rediscovering Miami through her latest project, the Biscayne Bay Directory®.
“It’s amazing to be guided by passion—as clichéd as that sounds. Without passion, the Directory might never have been born. But thank goodness it was, giving us the opportunity to help reinvigorate conversations around community and connectedness, especially as fractured as we are right now. The Directory is an amazing tool that has all the elements to satiate this inquisitive mind of mine: architecture, beauty, culture, history, context, relevance.”
Call it relevance—or serendipity, Julie became an inadvertent Miamian, coming here for brief visit that has so far lasted two decades. It was just as serendipitous when she was appointed North Miami’s first Public Information Officer, a position that opened the door to a career in government—eventually taking her to the City of Miami where she was Director of Cultural Arts & Entertainment.
She was the first Black woman to be featured on the cover of Indulge Magazine and was named one of South Florida’s Most Prominent by Success South Florida Magazine (2009), as well as one of Miami’s 25 Most Influential Women by Legacy Magazine (2014).