Julienne Dallara 

Julienne Dallara comes from a career of acting, dancing, and singing off-Broadway. She was also a landscape architect in Anchorage, a G7 government employee living in a remote Alaskan Quonset hut, a marketing and advertising analyst in San Francisco, and a drama student in London.

 

In 1996, she woke up paralyzed from a rare disease, Transverse Myelitis. This ended both her acting career and her marriage, but launched another beautiful career; helping people with disabilities live more successful and fulfilled lives. As Dallara learned to meet her own needs, she coached people to meet their needs themselves.

 

At the time of her paralysis, Julienne’s daughter was 3 years old, and her son was 7 months. They are now happy and enlightened adults, helping others, to their mother’s delight. In 2001,  Julienne met Daniel Burns, a musician and computer technologist. The third marriage for each of them, it seems to be the charm.

 

Julienne can be found working for the Abilities Expos, researching and booking new exhibitors for their 7 shows around the country. She is also a writer and interviewer, having sold many blogs of interesting people with disabilities. Currently, she is working on a women’s podcast for “Live to Roll”. After her paralysis, Julienne found that returning to her first love – painting and collage – helps distract her from the nerve pain that so often accompanies paralysis. She is now an accomplished artist, along with raising Monarch butterflies in her backyard garden.