Julia Johannsen is a bold changemaker who works to leverage her privilege in the service of racial and economic justice. Driven by her belief that white people of privilege have outsized responsibility to activate their influence and affluence to impact positive change, she founded The Impact Collective, an organization that works to activate wealthy individuals to close the racial wealth gap.
Thanks to the combination of her life experience and her background in teaching and counseling, Julia highly values relationship building, authenticity, equity, and inclusion. She strongly supports organizations led by people of color, and has dedicated herself to working alongside these leaders, which has increased her understanding of the challenges they face. She has been effective in her leadership roles because of her ability to engage and motivate multiple stakeholders, build consensus, and facilitate difficult conversations and decisions. With master’s degrees in French and counseling psychology and a lifelong-learning mindset, Julia is unflinching in both leading and learning through frank conversations about the intersections of race, wealth, and power—including her own.