Julie Paul studied piano and violin as a child growing up on a farm near Napanee and began playing the oboe as a teenager. After completing high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, she received her Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Soon after, she joined the Canadian Forces as a full-time musician, traveling extensively and playing for numerous political figures and royalty, as well as Pope John Paul II. Now retired from the Canadian Forces, Julie lives near Napanee with her husband and two children. She makes oboe reeds professionally and plays oboe and English horn in the Kingston Symphony.