Julia Craven is an acclaimed and award-winning creator, tracing her origins to the days spent creating on her great-grandmother's living room floor. From crafting vision boards to sketching magazine layouts and penning novellas, her innate creativity blossomed early. Today, she remains a passionate and empathetic storyteller, writer, and editor, known for her meticulous attention to detail and willingness to call it like she sees it.
In 2019, Julia merged her personal health experiences with her professional acumen at Slate Magazine. With the first four years of her journalism career dedicated to the complex intersection of racism and politics at HuffPost, she recognized her evolving purpose—to delve thoughtfully into health and well-being, particularly within Black communities. Most recently, she did this work as the senior writer and editor at New America's Better Life Lab.
Her writing and commentary have been published in The Best American Science and Nature Writing, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Popular Science, HuffPost, Vox, Slate, and more.
Julia's expertise extends beyond her institutional roles. She’s a freelance writer, editor, and consultant, channeling her insights into the multifaceted landscape of health and wellness. Notably, she spearheads Healthy Futures, which explores wellness culture and what it truly takes to feel well in a world that often works against it. It features research-informed, narrative-driven pieces that connect the dots between health, culture, and power. Alongside original essays, Julia offers curated studies and reporting, as well as interviews with brilliant people who are changing how we think about well-being, and actionable tools for navigating health in real life.
She is also the founder of the Library of Black Wellness, a living collection dedicated to preserving and amplifying the health wisdom, practices, and stories of Black communities. The Library highlights works that situate Black wellness as both a personal pursuit and a collective tradition. By gathering books that document ancestral practices to contemporary research, the Library of Black Wellness not only celebrates Black resilience and creativity but also challenges erasure by ensuring that these narratives remain accessible for generations to come. When she’s not doing all of this, she writes for elsewhere, briefly, a slow newsletter capturing passing thoughts, stray essays, and brief departures from the main path. Julia continues to carve her path as a luminary in journalism and health advocacy, enriching discourse and championing inclusivity every step of the way.
Professional Accomplishments
Anthem Award winner (2025) for A Glimpse of Stability, a marquee narrative and research project from New America’s Better Life Lab.
Finalist, Writers Guild of America Award (2021) and NABJ Feature & Enterprise Reporting Award (2018).
Healthy Futures named a “Top Ten Rising Newsletter in Health & Wellness” by Substack (2025) and featured by Good Good Good as one of the 24 Best Wellness Newsletters for a Balanced Inbox.
Reporting featured in Best American Science and Nature Writing 2021 and cited by the American Medical Association.
Investigative work prompted policy reform and infrastructure removal in Orlando.
Work cited in peer-reviewed journals including Annals of Health Law and Life Sciences, Health Communication, Health Research Policy and Systems, and Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Featured in Harvard Library’s COVID-19 Health Research Guide (2020) and the American Lung Association (2025) as a recommended source on health disparities. Also referenced by the Center for American Progress (2018) and Harvard Institute of Politics.