A Chicago native, Julie Benz came to Birmingham in 2012 to pursue an English undergraduate degree. During her senior year, she completed an internship with AOSF where she got to see the impact the scholarship program had on many lives. She joined the AOSF team in 2019 as the Scholarship Program Manager and rose to become the Director of Operations in 2020. Though now working at a different company, Julie remains a strong ally to the AOSF cause. Julie earned her BA in English from Birmingham-Southern College and received her MA in Creative Writing & Publishing from City, University of London.