Julie Ann Kodmur is a second-generation Californian who was born in San Francisco and grew up in La Jolla. As an eighth grader she was the runner-up in the state spelling bee. One of her pivotal experiences as a Stanford undergraduate was a junior year in Florence. She lived in New York City for ten years after her graduate work in art history: that time included directing Sotheby Parke Bernet's first U.S. wine auction and working for Frederick Wildman & Sons and Renfield. Next came a decade of working for The Seagram Classics Wine Company, who moved her to northern California, where she has lived since 1988. Today she lives in St. Helena with her husband, winemaker Stuart Smith, and family.

She has won awards for publicity and marketing campaigns she created and executed--including a program for Bandiera Winery in 1988 to the Guinness Book of World Records for The Monterey Vineyard (the largest wind sock in the shape of a wine bottle), also in 1988, to a cause marketing program in Sterling Vineyards in 1994. She's also had a hand in major wine industry developments over the past ten years---including Bonny Doon's move to screwcaps, the launch of a new prestige cuvee for Champagne Mumm, Swanson Vineyards' MerlotFightsBack.com campaign, and the top-grossing lot at the Napa Valley Wine Auction (a joint Champagne Mumm-Mumm Napa Valley-Herve Leger extravaganza).

She has also worked the other side of the desk, as a freelance writer who has contributed to The New York Times, Town & Country, The Wine Enthusiast, The Wine News, Quarterly Review of Wine, American Journalism Review, Editor & Publisher and Appellation. She also served as editor for The Napa Valley Wine Library Report. In 1997, she became a one-man shop offering marketing and publicity consulting services based in St. Helena. She also represents several non-profits as pro bono clients.