MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

is a composer-lyricist, librettist, songwriter, and a New York Times bestselling novelist.

She has written several musicals, including viral hit Dive, a reimagining of the Korean folktale Shimcheong, which is being developed for the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) with Tony-Award winning director Diane Paulus. Other theater work includes ENDLESS (29-hour and tier-two workshop in NYC directed by Zi Alikhan) and score debuted in concert at Joe’s Pub in April 2025, Protege (commissioned by The Library Company in Seoul), and TYA musicals Thumbelina: A Little Musical (American Repertory Theater), Jack and the Beanstalk (A.R.T.), and Alice’s Wonderland (w/ J. Quinton Johnson, first premiered The Coterie Theater 2022). Theater accolades include: Theaterly Class of 2025, 18th Annual Fred Ebb Award, Playbill’s Featured Songwriter of the Month, 4th Annual Woman to Watch on Broadway List, Princess Grace Award Honoraria, and the Inaugural Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship.

Julia’s literary work includes the Instant New York Times Bestselling YA fantasy novel The Last Tiger (Penguin Random House), co-written with her brother Brad, and MG fantasy Shim Jung Takes the Dive (HarperCollins). Upcoming: YA sci-fi comedy Free Wilma (Penguin, 2027).

Julia’s work has been performed at the American Repertory Theater, South Coast Repertory, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, 54 Below, Greenroom 42, Summerstock Austin Texas, The Coterie in Kansas City, Harvard University’s Farkas Hall and Agassiz Theater, AMAS Musical Theater, The UNC-Greensboro School of Theater, Nora Theater Company at Central Square Theater, Cipriani Wall Street, The Harvard Art Lab, University of Missouri, The Community Music School of Webster University, John Burroughs High School, and many more.

Julia graduated magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in May 2022. There, Julia co-founded the Harvard College Asian Student Arts Project (ASAP), a club to provide the resources and community for Asian student artists. She co-wrote their first production, a musical called The East Side and later performed as “Paulette” in ASAP’s all-Asian production of Legally Blonde: The Musical, which received national recognition in fall 2021.