Julia Akilimali grew up in Maryland with her three brothers and seven sisters. Her dad was Ruwandan and emigrated to America as a refugee from Congo during the war.

She attended Job Corps in Astoria and received a degree in IT, then continued on to study at Clatsop Community College. Her next step is to pursue a psychology degree where she can marry IT with it to create adaptive technology.

She works at a memory care in Warrenton.

When she was 17, she was in a severe car accident which left her paralyzed from the neck down.