Julie Goldberg got her start in politics working for Howard Dean's presidential campaign in Washington State and for Kerry/Edwards in Pennsylvania. She gravitated to political tech, because she has been programming since high school. In 2007, she joined Voter Activation Network as their first remote employee, when their staff was less than 20 people and Votebuilder was just being built. She left NGP VAN in early 2013 and co-founded Empower Engine. She has been running the business solo since 2016. Outside of politics and programming, she bikes around Seattle, attends lots of Broadway shows, and organizes Seattle's Lesbian Literature Meet-Up group.