The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed

-William Gibson

About

Julie Legault is a designer-entrepreneur from the city of Montreal. Over the last decade, Julie has worked in design research and in the maker movement. Julie began her career earning a B.F.A. (Design and Computation Art), and an G.Cert. (Digital Technologies in Design Art Practice) from Concordia University in Montreal. Julie furthered her skills and knowledge by completing a Master of Art (School of Materials) at the Royal College of Art in London, United Kingdom and a Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Since very early access to computing in her 1980s childhood, Julie has pursued understanding and translating complex technologies to the uninitiated through teaching and applied design.

During her career, Julie won and attended Design Residencies worldwide, taught at Birmingham’s Institute of Art and Design (UK), the Royal College of Art, and worked with multi-nationals, and pop stars such as Rihanna to develop accessible smart materials, wearables and biometric devices. Her work has been published and exhibited globally, notably in Wired Magazine, NPR, MoMA, and at the V&A.

Her unexpected foray into DNA technology inspired her so thoroughly that finding an accessible entry point in the complex science became the focus of her MIT Media Lab graduate thesis. It led her to found Amino Labs, an MIT spinout that builds hardware and synthetic biology products making genetic engineering accessible to children and non-scientists.

Throughout her career, Julie participated and mentored in several entrepreneurship environments, including IndieBio (Biotechnology Startup Accelerator), and E14 (MIT Media Lab Startup Accelerator). Julie is a proud fellow of the Coaching Fellowship program for Extraordinary Young Women Leaders of Impact and biotechnology faculty at Singularly University Canada.

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