Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Julie Roland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Julie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?
Thank you so much for the opportunity to chat.
Other than the eclectic jobs I worked in high school (spreading cream cheese at a bagel shop, preparing snow cones at a stand in a parking lot, coding at a cyber security company, working for a Senator, babysitting, etc.), I really haven’t had a “previous job” let alone a “career afterwards.” The day I graduated college, I was commissioned as an Officer in the Navy and I’m still serving active duty. I’m constantly learning here though, and the experience continues to have a widespread impact on my life.
I serve as a Naval Aviator and I fly the MH-60R. This aircraft’s primary missions include anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare, with secondary missions of search and rescue, logistics, medical evacuation, and more. I’ve been committed to the mission of the Navy and developing myself as a Naval Aviator for over seven years now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own missions.
As a pilot, you need to be familiar with rules, regulations, emergency procedures, and more from dozens of different publications. I didn’t just learn them—I memorized what I had to know verbatim. I didn’t just get qualified as a helicopter aircraft commander and ACTC Level 3 Mission Commander—I qualified as a Functional Check Pilot (meaning I would fly and run tests on helicopters after major maintenance to make sure they were mission-ready again) and as an Assistant NATOPS (Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization) Instructor (meaning I would regularly fly with other aircraft commanders to assess if they were flying “by the book”). I met a standard of excellence, and then I helped set it. But I didn’t join the Navy to fly.
I love being a pilot, but I joined to serve my country, to lead, and to be part of a team, something bigger than myself. There are definitely folks who feel safer because there are people serving in our military, and if my serving in the Navy means someone else doesn’t have to, then I’m glad to assume this duty. Regardless of what you think about our military, we all pay taxes that fund it, so as far as I’m concerned, we better have good leaders serving in it. And while a Naval Aviator’s time in the cockpit will fluctuate over the course of her career, she will always be a leader. My mission is to be a good one, which means, as the great American painter and champion of social justice Alice Neel said, “people come first.”
For better or worse, the military is the single best way in this country to get healthcare and education, not to mention financial security for you and your family. It is still an immense sacrifice, and being a Sailor is not an easy job. That’s why it’s so important to me that I show up for Sailors.
To me, that means bringing a positive attitude, being kind and generous, and treating Sailors with dignity and respect always. It also means that as long as they work hard, I’m going to help them make the most of their time in the Navy, no matter if they want to stay in four years or forty. I encourage them to learn everything they can, pursue qualifications and additional responsibilities, recommend them for awards and advancement, and more. If they want to transition to the civilian world, then I talk to them about jobs or college, help them write a resume or study for the SATs, or direct them to resources designed to help them in those ways. I’m always trying to come up with creative ways to improve morale outside of my direct leadership too. Because I’m me, I like to do magic tricks for Sailors whenever I can, just to break up the monotony of a day. I’ve organized Morale, Welfare and Recreation banquets, decorated common room spaces, and led trivia nights on deployment. I’ve coordinated bonding events at all my commands, and was a member of my fleet squadron’s Command Resiliency Team where I led focus groups to try to pinpoint how to improve our unit’s culture.
I actually ran into a Sailor recently who said to me, “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again, but I wanted to thank you. You were there for me in a dark time. I’m not saying I’m alive now because of you, but you are part of it.” I wasn’t even in this Sailor’s Chain of Command—we had a few conversations crossing paths at our squadron—which just goes to show how important it is to be compassionate since you never know what people are going through. The US Naval Institute has actually published some of my thoughts on people-first leadership, a topic I write about because I am passionate about it. I think it’s crucial that Junior Officers like me make this kind of extra effort to be there for the enlisted service members and connect with them. Among other things, it builds trust, which is essential for mission accomplishment. Additionally, it demonstrates empathy, which makes any environment better through a spirit of shared humanity.
I bring that to my non-Navy ventures too. At JTMF, I greet everyone who comes into the door by saying, “welcome to the Just Tryna Make Friends Show! I’m Julie and I’m your first friend.” It is agape love, a love-thy-neighbor-before-you-
There was never a world in which I would have made JTMF a business. I’ve always joked that I’m “not tryna make money, just tryna make friends.” It’s the truth though. And I’m lucky that my full time job in the Navy makes it possible for JTMF to be solely a passion project and not what I depend on as my source of income. I know many of my performers are supporting themselves with their art though, so I have to factor money in at some point. Plus, I believe artists provide immense value to their communities and should be compensated accordingly. When JTMF was first beginning though, there was simply no money in it. We were barely scraping by on donations to keep the show going. We could have sold tickets, but I never wanted anyone to skip the show because they couldn’t afford it. Enjoying art is one of the best parts of being alive, and it’s a real shame that it is often too expensive for folks to access. So, before I could pay the performers, I just did everything else I could to make them feel valued. Luckily, they were incredibly generous with their talents. I think they bought into what we were trying to do and were willing to share their art for free to help contribute to the mission of building community, but I did my best to sincerely express gratitude, promote their upcoming shows/albums/events/etc. to followers, attend their other shows myself, and just generally be a friend to anyone who ever performed at a JTMF. Over time, as my own connections increased, I was able to link other producers with past JTMF performers allowing them to get paid gigs elsewhere.
It’s really not possible to even properly express the gratitude I have to all the artists who have shared their creativity at a JTMF show. At this point there are hundreds of talented people who have made this show what it is and I hope they feel good about playing a role in making it all happen. For years, JTMF put people first, and this greater mission of building community made it possible for us to survive and grow. Now we are a successful 501c3 nonprofit at one of the most historic theaters in the country, bringing in thousands of dollars a year for local artists while still remaining free for all attendees. Most importantly, our bottom line is still friendship. That’s the thing about a spirit of reciprocity: it ends up coming back.
In short, the lesson which I continue to learn in the Navy and every part of life is that while other missions can change, are accomplished, or lose significance over time, the mission of caring for people is unchanging, ongoing, and always worthwhile.
P.S. It is worth noting that I believe caring about the environment, climate, all living things, water, etc. IS caring about people too…
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I’m Julie Roland, I’m 29, I’m an active duty Naval Officer and helicopter pilot, and I hold the rank of Lieutenant. I have been flying since 2015, have deployed all over the world, and am a tactical mission commander highly trained in anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare. I am currently an Aviation Certifying Officer at Afloat Training Group San Diego where I also serve as the Wardroom Events Coordinator and Assistant Senior Watch Officer. I’m an active member of the San Diego Leadership Alliance, Rotary Club, Women’s Foundation, and League of Women Voters, and I start part-time law school in August at the University of San Diego. I’m the co-founder and President of Just Tryna Make Friends (JTMF), a 501c3 nonprofit which has been promoting the arts and building community since 2019 through a monthly variety show. I produce, host, and perform magic (oh yeah, I’m a magician) at this show, and have also helped create, produce, and host dozens of other shows in Southern California, with venues ranging from Soho House to Tenth Avenue Arts Center and events ranging from birthdays to galas. I’m on an improv team called Hysteria, performed silent comedy in a show directed by famous actor Chad Damiani, was a part of a 1920s immersive experience on Zoom where I played a French tarot card reader, and even have my own “one-woman show” called Just an Idea which I perform monthly at the Diversionary Theater along with a fantastic piano player (Stu Shames, a man). I want to help people on the biggest scale I can, but I have to fill my own cup too. Art, music, comedy…magic, of course. With the addition of being in nature, that’s a pretty full list of what fills me up, and I think you can see that in how I spend my time.
When I started JTMF with my friend and comedy writer Emilia Barrosse, we just liked the idea of a backyard show for the community. She was going to produce a comedy show in LA and I was going to produce a variety show in SD, but the goal of both was to facilitate friendship-making. We had no idea what it would become.
I remember being so nervous before the first SD show. The show was at my house and the artists performing were my friends, so it was only natural that I was going to get behind the microphone and introduce them. I’d probably been behind a mic a handful of times in my life and I had experience doing some small magic shows but I didn’t know how to be a host.
Luckily, I’m the kind of person who jumps in and learns on the go and by now I’ve probably hosted over 100 shows. I really love it. Hosting lets me be a part of the show without having to actually be an artist. I find most hosts are comics themselves, but in a way that means the other comics they introduce are kind of like their competition. That seems hard to me and I think it would make me self conscious. It’s nice that I’m not a comedian; I can just introduce these acts from a place of admiration, someone lucky enough to invite on stage the professionals whom I respect and adore.
While JTMF was the beginning of this adventure, the next big step occurred when my friend and improviser Anushree Singh took me to see improv comedy in 2019 for the first time in my life. I was so blown away. I actually thought, “woah, so the word for this is ‘improv’?” I’d been doing it my whole life with my cousins and friends. We used to make up impromptu freestyle singalongs, invent characters on the fly and assume the roles, or imagine other absurd premises and “commit to the bit.” Once I knew there was a theater where I could just watch other people grapple with whatever spontaneously came out of them while on stage, I was immediately hooked. I read books about improv, tried to convince anyone around me to do scenes or play games with me, invented my own games, put an improv troupe in every JTMF… Before COVID-19, I was seeing close to five hours of improv a weekend. I took notes during the shows on what I liked. Sometimes the teams were interested to hear my thoughts about what I thought were their smartest moments. One team used a form where they would interview a special guest and then create scenes inspired by the interview; they interviewed me one night, which was thrilling, especially since then I got to see some of my favorite improvisers act out parodies of elements of my life.
When the theater reopened after the pandemic in the summer of 2021, I broke down and signed up for a musical improv class. Stu Shames was the designated piano player who provided the musical accompaniment for the class. At the same time, the theater had already offered me a monthly residency to do pretty much whatever I wanted. JTMF had such a large following at that point that I think they trusted me to build a show at their theater that would hopefully draw some of the JTMF audience to the theater. I brainstormed what this kind of spinoff show could be, and in the end settled on Just An Idea.
The basic idea was that it would be a place for half-baked ideas, an open mic for people trying out material they never had done on stage before, and maybe even a place to try out a concept that had never been attempted before. The final act was to be my one-woman show, my own half-baked idea. I wondered if I could brainstorm a musical on stage in about 45 minutes using continuous audience suggestions and feedback. I planned to jump in and out of scenes, establish characters, perform portions of the musical numbers, and carry the audience through what would feel like a full story arc and musical theater experience, as if they were seeing a Tony Award-winning musical on Broadway, but with just a piano player and me. I asked Stu to do the show with me. The first time we did it on stage was the first time we ever attempted it. It was a huge success and it was unbelievably fun.
Now, Just An Idea has moved from that theater to Diversionary Theater, one of the oldest LGBT theaters in the country, which is the new home of JTMF as well. They’re paying me to produce and perform. It has been such a wild ride, and I am so honored to be where I am now. In fact, I’m even headed to Minneapolis this summer for 24 hours to perform my one-woman show at the Twin Cities Improv Festival. Stu won’t be joining me but I’ll be accompanied instead by John Hilsen, who is currently touring and performing across the country with Colin Mochrie of “Whose Line Is It, Anyway?” In a million years, I never would have believed I’d be here. I have no idea where I’ll go next.
I do emphasize—on stage and off—that I am not a comedian. I want to lower the bar for laughter as soon as I start a show, and I want to draw real artists out of the woodwork by showing them that it’s safe to put themselves out there even if they’re not the most polished act yet. I truly don’t feel that I’m a comedian or musician even though I perform comedy and play the guitar and sing for crowds relatively regularly. It took being recognized as a magician member by the Academy of Magical Arts (the Magic Castle) in 2018 before I accepted the title of magician, and at that point I had been practicing magic tricks for 20 years. Maybe one day, with more practice, I’ll call myself an artist or a comedian. For now, I’ll just stick with calling myself an active duty Lieutenant in the Navy!
Is there a mission driving your creative journey?
My mission is and will always be to help people on the biggest scale I can. I certainly didn’t start JTMF with this intention, but I did discover through the show how much I love performing. If I can help us achieve our mission of promoting the arts and building community while also performing here and there, then great, but I’m not doing JTMF for the stage time. I love magic and am delighted to add a little wonder to the world, but it’s even better if I can use my skills as a magician to engage people and bring them together in a way that serves more than just that moment. I get more stage time with Just An Idea, but any money it brings in is going straight to JTMF to support other artists.
I do genuinely think that the more art in your life, the better. Public art projects worldwide have proven that they can help build community, combat social anxiety and isolation, increase civic engagement, and so much more. It feels good to be a part of something that does this, and I would be excited to make the arts a bigger part of my life as long as I could always find a way for it to benefit others. That being said, I start part-time law school soon and I have at least three more years in the military. I might not have the time to take on many more artistic endeavors. Creativity is useful in every field though, and we can all benefit from creative thinking.
One of my mentors gave me this advice:
1. Be present enough to recognize the opportunity when a door is being opened.
2. Be brave enough to take the opportunity and walk through that door.
3. Be prepared enough so that when you walk through that door, you’re ready.
I’m keeping an open mind about whatever opportunities may present themselves. Since I don’t know where my journey will lead, I am trying to spend my time now acquiring tools to help people as much as I can along the way. Whatever that door is, when it opens, I want to be ready. I know I won’t walk through it unless I’ll be helping people, and I hope that no matter where it takes me, my life is full of art.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I actually reject the idea of a “non-creative” altogether. Most people are expressing themselves creatively somehow, and if they’re not, it’s likely not because they lack creativity but rather because they lack the confidence, resources, or time. Creativity isn’t something you’re born with or not, but it is daunting to try something new as an adult. I hope no one is ever discouraged from wading into the arts or even thinking outside the box just because they’ve deemed themself “non-creative.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/jyrola
- Instagram: jyrola
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jyroland/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jyroland/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk0Nk-qplpg1vMAvb-SuuLw/videos
- Other: Instagrams: @jtmfshow @justanideashow Other websites: jtmf.org JTMF Fundraiser: www.classy.org/campaign/jtmf-campaign/c389300