After Julia graduated college, she spent ten months in Tanzania, East Africa where she worked in public health with an educational nonprofit—an experience that would alter the course of her career in the best way. Understanding the value of taking a gap year to reevaluate and recharge, Julia decided to devote her time to grow the gap year option into an accepted cultural norm (especially in the U.S.). In 2008, she founded EnRoute Consulting, a social enterprise dedicated to fueling the gap year movement and developing a generation of compassionate, driven and resourceful global citizens.

The Basics:

Hometown: Toms River, New Jersey
Current city: Stowe, Vermont
Alma mater: Hamilton College
Degree: English Literature
Very first job: Receptionist at my dad’s veterinary clinic
Hustle: Founder and Director, EnRoute Consulting

The Interests:

Babe you admire and why?
Amanda Gorman, because her art and words are the ones we need right now.

How do you spend your ‘free’ time?
I spent a lot of time outdoors enjoying the seasons—snowboarding in the winter and hiking and mountain biking in the summer. For chill time, I love good coffee and a crossword puzzle. 

What would you eat for your very last meal?
French fries and lobster

What would/did your ideal gap year look like?
I spent 10 months volunteering in Tanzania on my gap year and it was an incredibly challenging and meaningful experience; it introduced me to some of my favorite people who I’m still close with years later, and inspired me to start my business. I took a second gap year with my husband when we were engaged—we backpacked around the world for almost a year visiting twenty or so countries. I was able to research gap year programs along the way, so technically it was a write-off...

What tools + resources help you in your day-to-day work?
I work with students, programs and partners all over the world, so Zoom has always been an important tool. Now everyone knows how to use it, so my job is easier! To get all those time zones in order, I use the Time and Date meeting planner a lot.

The Hustle:

Tell us about your hustle.
I’m the founder of EnRoute Consulting, a social enterprise dedicated to fueling the gap year movement and developing a generation of compassionate, driven and resourceful global citizens. A gap year is an intentional period of time one takes to explore themselves and the world around them—typically in-between high school and higher education. A large part of my job is helping my clients (college-aged students) craft and execute a year customized to their personality, goals and budget. I also do a lot of work to help support parents in this process. Because the gap year option is so new in the U.S., another role I play is gap year educator and advocate. I give presentations, network with school counselors and educators, and co-host a podcast called Gap Year Radio to help demystify this educational pathway and help others really understand what it’s all about. I vet gap year programs for ethics, quality and safety, which allows me to travel and connect with people all over the US and world.

What does your typical workday look like?
I’m a sole proprietor, so I wear all the hats! First thing in the morning, I answer emails and sketch out my priorities for the day. I nearly always have individual calls with students on zoom, calls with program partners to check in on how students are doing and marketing work like social posts, webinar planning and such. When everything isn’t virtual, I travel a lot and give in-person presentations. I miss that and can’t wait to get back to it! In the meantime, I like to break out of the office for a walk, cross-country ski or quick hike when it’s nice out. 

What inspired En Route Consulting? What was the most important piece of your vision for it?
After I graduated college, I moved to Tanzania to work in public health with an educational nonprofit. I volunteered for ten months and it was the most challenging, eye-opening and educational experience of my life. Being deployed to a rural village, navigating a new culture with respect, learning a new language and developing the grit to rise to the challenges I faced every day was incredibly powerful for me. When I returned, I would tell friends I had wished I had taken the gap year before starting college. I would have valued my education much more, had much more direction in what I wanted to study and I would have been more mature. I grew more in my ten months in Tanzania than all four years of college. I started EnRoute only a year after I returned, because I wanted to guide others through the experience and increase the acceptance of taking a gap year before college by American society (it’s already quite normal to do this in the UK, Australia and elsewhere). The business has grown into a thriving enterprise, but I have kept it intentionally small to maintain my quality of life. What has grown exponentially since I started is the number of students taking gap time and the gap year industry. That vision—to grow the gap year option into an accepted cultural norm—has guided my business at every step of the way.

What’s your relationship like with your clients? What kind of questions do you ask to ensure you properly understand their goals and aspirations?
One thing that I think is special about how I work with students is that I explicitly tell them that our dynamic will probably be a new one for them. Up until adulthood, most of our relationships are peer or supervisor; most adult relationships feature a power dynamic of some sort. I try to strip that power dynamic away so that it feels more like a partnership. Everything starts with conversations where I get to know them: their hobbies, favorite people in their lives, important and poignant moments thus far. Then we set down goals for their gap time and I work from that to help match them with activities, programs or resources so they can spend their time wisely. 

What types of programs does En Route have in place to provide clients with a memorable gap year?
Every gap year is so different; some students choose to join programs while others self-design their year. If a student self-designs their year, I’m there to help them by being a sounding board as they bring their plans to life. If they are looking to be matched with programs, I connect them with ones I’ve vetted. To vet a program, I interview a founder or director, check references and do an internet check to make sure they meet my standards of quality. It’s a pretty involved process! I sometimes visit programs in-country to meet in-country directors, see gap year programs in-action and experience them myself. And yes, that’s the best part of the job!

How have your past professional and academic experiences and lessons prepared you for the work you do today? How have they not prepared you?
As an English major, I left college a strong writer. That is an undervalued skill for any professional, but especially business owners who need to do their own marketing and pr. Other than that, everything was learned on the job! I had very few professional experiences under my belt when I started EnRoute at 23—I had never even interned! But my liberal arts background and curious spirit made me a quick study when it came to the business side of things. And my experience in Tanzania gave me the courage and confidence to try out something new and a little scary.

What were some of the obstacles you encountered during the early stages of starting En Route?
I work with students, but parents are the ones who typically hire me. For a long time, I was too young to be taken seriously. It took a while for enough people to take a chance on me to eventually build the experience needed to become a true expert. 

What would you say is your biggest career milestone to date and why?
Delivering my TEDx talk in 2019. Not just performing it—which was intense and thrilling—but the process of distilling my message into its strongest form was a very satisfying process for me. 

How has being a woman has impacted your professional experience? What can we do to create more equal, uplifting (and well-paying!) spaces for women in your industry?
I love being a female business owner and joining communities that uplift other women in business. I have learned so much from women business owners groups over the years. For example, I think I undervalued my work for a long time in order to make my services financially accessible to as many people as possible. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become much more comfortable charging what I’m worth and extending other forms of financial assistance to clients who need it. It took talking that over in a women’s business accelerator course to get me to understand that. 

What’s the gender ratio like in your industry?
I work in a very small industry. There are only seven professionally accredited gap year counselors in the US and one of them is male. 

What are some common misconceptions about your job?
The biggest misconceptions I face are about what a gap year is who takes them, and why. I have to debunk a lot of myths on a day-to-day basis! For instance, some people think you need to be rich to take a gap year, but the largest gap year program provider in the US is Americorps, the domestic, government funded national service program. Americorps not only pays you a stipend for your service, but you receive an education award at the end to put towards higher education.

What has been the best financial investment you've made in your business?
An office space! I worked out of my home for nine years and when I finally got a little office of my own it was a game-changer. Also, because it is a stand-alone space, I’ve been able to work from there during most of the pandemic. It’s my little sanctuary that is always clean and well-organized (and I cannot say that about my home!).

What does your approach to work/life balance look like? How do you unplug and unwind?
Like many business owners, I love my work and it’s very hard to turn it off. It’s been especially hard because the pandemic has increased demand for my services while decreasing the amount of childcare I have access to. So, if I’m being honest, unplugging is something I need to work on. But I balance that tendency with carving out time for fun even if it’s on a weekday. Burton, the well-known snowboarding company based here in Vermont, has a famous understanding with their employees called the “powder clause.” It states that if there’s a big snowfall, there’s a delayed office opening, so that everyone can head to the mountain for some runs. While no contract negotiation was necessary, I have my own powder clause. I feel no guilt heading out for a ski during the workweek, or hike if it’s summer, or going for a run with a friend. That flexibility is one of the huge perks of running the show, so why not take advantage? 

Career and/or life advice for other babes?
There is a lot of pressure as an entrepreneur to grow and scale your business. It’s a very American idea: bigger is better! I have kept my business intentionally small, which is the right choice for me having a young family. It makes the financial ups and downs easier to ride and it allows me more freedom in how I spend my time. So, resist the outside pressure to grow, grow, grow. If you love what you're doing, save time for the things that are important to you, and when you can make a living, you’ve arrived.

Connect with Julia:

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

This interview has been condensed and edited.

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