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We are thrilled to welcome Julia Tombari (she/her) to HealthierHere as our newest Communications Specialist! Learn more about Julia in her welcome interview below.

What are you most looking forward to working with HealthierHere and our partners?

I am most excited to learn more about how to improve health equity on a local scale and tangibly work with my own community. When you are working at a large company with thousands of employees it prevents you from having intimate connections and collaborating with diverse stakeholders. Additionally, I look forward to being able to channel my communications skills for a good cause rather than a for-profit one. I feel it is my responsibility to use what I've learned in my education to help others in my community and am excited to have an outlet to do that at HealthierHere.

What drives your passion for this work?

I am adopted from China, and grappling with my cultural identity has shaped many of my passions, one of them being improving health equity. I had one of my first experiences with health equity when I visited several orphanages in China as a teenager and realized that many babies with cleft palates weren't getting adequate nutrition because they were using standard baby bottles that did not fit the shape of their mouth properly. Additionally, poor orphanage conditions, negligence towards the babies with birth defects, and lack of Chinese government funding created an environment for less-than-optimal nutrition for the babies.  I went back to my high school and several local organizations here in Seattle and helped raise awareness on this issue. Together we raised enough money for 2500 bottles to be sent to orphanages across the country. While I understand that I made a small difference, I recognize this was just one of countless issues that faced the orphanage community in China, and it put into perspective that health equity is a global issue.

What is something about you that others might not know? 

I am a world traveler and an aspiring polyglot. I love learning new languages and have had the opportunity to learn Chinese in school. In addition to Chinese I have picked up some Korean and Italian! I believe languages help you understand other cultures on a deeper level.

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See Julia's full bio and learn more about our staff on the HealthierHere Team page.

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