Producer and host Julie B. Adler Koppenheffer knew what she wanted to do by the age of four.  She wanted to be a lawyer like her father. That didn't exclude her interest in art, books, music, theater, or drama.  She and her brother put together  radio broadcasts for the audience of her parents from the basement of their house. She took drama and directing courses in the summer. At the age of 21 her  dilemma was "to be Portia or to play Portia," that is to be a lawyer, or to be an actress and play one. She decided to become a lawyer and  pursued that passion with direction that defied the convention at the time that the law was no career for a woman, becoming one of 15 women in her law school class of 250, and then the first woman in an established State Street law firm in Boston.

But like many people, achieving one goal  didn't provide the satisfaction that she expected, and after a period of time she looked for new challenges.  Julie took  many different paths as a lawyer. She established a solo practice as the first woman lawyer in a small town in western Massachusetts. She became corporate counsel and eventually General Counsel of a hotel company, and then a partner in a law firm in San Antonio Texas.

It wasn't until she and her husband took a five month sabbatical to Hong Kong that Julie's focus changed from being a lawyer, as she then defined herself, to being a person who loved the law and loved many other things. Julie, who had always written poetry, wrote a travelogue, and then two novels. When she returned to Texas, she became Chairperson of the Austin Writers League Radio Collective, and began to interview writers about the craft of writing for the radio show Writing on the Air.

The  writers she interviewed uniformly loved their chosen careers. During that same period, Julie had a last conversation with her father. He reviewed his life, expressing his satisfaction with his family and his career as a lawyer and judge.  Julie, like many other people she knew, still hadn't found that level of satisfaction, but although she hadn't, her father's life had been an important guide and model for her. She decided to bring stories of diverse, attractive, and passionate people to the attention of the public  to inspire others as she had been.  Life Shapes:Constructing a Life You Love,   was first broadcast on KRTU  in November, 2000. In the summer of 2002 Julie returned to Williamstown, Massachusetts where she recorded interviews for public access television.. Willinet is broadcasting Life Shapes.over  channel 17 in Willliamstown. 

Among the many pleasures of Julie's  current activities is the opportunity to speak with groups about insights gleaned from the focused and talented people she interviews.   In conjunction with other talented women  Julie has organized the Shapen workshop series of Discovery and Joy to assist women in  find fulfillment in their careers, bodies, homes, and relationships.

TO BOOK JULIE FOR A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT WRITE TO HER AT [email protected], or call her at 210 497 4056.