Julie Taraska is the founder and president of Content Needs Context, a strategy and multimedia content-creation company that helps design and tech brands position themselves, connect with their audience, and explain their value.

She got her professional start in London, where, having been awarded a Watson Fellowship, she spent a year studying British punk and writing for the music press. Upon moving back to the States, she became enamored with design. Editorial jobs at Metropolis and Architectural Record followed as well as two decades covering products and tech for the New York Times, Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, British GQ, Quartz, and Fast Company, among others. She also ran for five years a live series, Product Placement, where talents from across the design fields discussed the inspirations behind one of their pieces.

Realizing that companies—rather than magazines—were offering the most freedom to tell stories, Julie began combining journalism with marketing. She served as a founding editor at ecommerce pioneer Gilt Groupe and then communications writer for design firm Perkins&Will. In 2018, she created Content Needs Context to connect her years of strategy, communication, and craft. Clients have included Google, Herman Miller, Carnegie, ZGF, HNI, and Astound Commerce.

Julie has an M.A. from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and B.A. from Connecticut College. A long-time New Yorker, she now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family and cat.