Julie Summers
Vice Chair since 2023
Board member since 2016
(Representing the Snorri Alumni Association)
Born and raised in Washington State, Julie earned a BA in English and worked as an AmeriCorps volunteer and an administrative assistant in disability support at a large community college before exploring her Icelandic roots as a Snorri Program participant in 2012. She spent her homestay in the remote Westfjords, living with relatives who barely spoke English and spending her days working at a family-owned corner store and a fish processing plant.
After returning home, Julie continued to study Icelandic on her own before earning a grant jointly funded by the Fulbright Program and the Icelandic Ministry of Culture and Education in 2014. That grant enabled her to move to Reykjavík to study at the University of Iceland. She graduated with her BA in Icelandic as a Second Language in May 2017 and completed an MA in Translation Studies in 2021, also at the University of Iceland.
Julie previously served as a writer and associate editor for the Lögberg-Heimskringla and has been part of the Icelandic Roots team for several years. She has served as alumni representative on the board of the Snorri Foundation since 2016.
Alongside building a career as a freelance translator, Julie spends her free time working on projects for the Snorri Foundation and the Snorri Alumni Association. In 2020, after six years living in Iceland, she relocated to Germany, where she lives with her husband, Jan.
Julie previously served as a writer and associate editor for the Lögberg-Heimskringla and has been part of the Icelandic Roots team for several years. She has served as alumni representative on the board of the Snorri Foundation since 2016.
Alongside building a career as a freelance translator, Julie spends her free time working on projects for the Snorri Foundation and the Snorri Alumni Association. In 2020, after six years living in Iceland, she relocated to Germany, where she lives with her husband, Jan.
