For the more than 41 million Hispanics in the United States, Julie Stav is not only a financial expert and educator, she is considered by many as a leader and inspirational role model, creating a following that now wishes to emulate her image and success.

With a revolutionary multi-media communications platform, Julie inspires and empowers people from all walks of life through her popular national radio show, “Tu Dinero con Julie Stav”; her New York Times bestselling books; Univision Network Television’s on-air financial expert and her latest endeavor launched in June 2007: Tu Dinero, a cutting edge digital publication that delivers the best and most relevant financial news to the Hispanic community faster than ever before. But there is more to Julie’s story than most people know – unfortunately a troubled childhood threatened to doom her to a life of failure and despair, but thankfully her tenacity ultimately propelled her to unbounded success.

Julie’s youth was marked by struggle. From a seemingly perfect life in her native Cuba, in which her father, a well to do factory owner, everything changed the day Castro took control of the country. Her father was forced into becoming the janitor of the factory he used to own, and Julie was painfully sent off by her parents for the opportunity of a better life. Immediately upon being separated from her family, she was sent to an orphanage in Mexico and endured a difficult two-year separation from her family.

When Julie was finally reunited with her family in Los Angeles and enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District, it seemed like her troubling story’s happy ending had arrived, but Julie’s educational woes were only just beginning. Speaking no English and unable to communicate successfully, Julie was classified as mentally retarded, cutting her off from many of the benefits the LAUSD could have offered her. Julie’s father, though, was certain of Julie’s potential and refused to let the school district’s misguided perception of his daughter determine her fate. He encouraged her to persevere, but when even her hard work and dedication didn’t seem like it would be enough to earn Julie the college education she needed to succeed, he took a desperate step: he went to the bishop of the church in his town in Cuba and told him of his daughter’s plight and her bright inner spark. This bishop then went on to write a letter to the Pope asking for his assistance in helping Julie have an opportunity to go to college.

Much to everyone’s surprise, the Pope not only responded, but secured Julie’s admission into Loyola Marymount University. Thanks to the Pope’s assistance, Julie earned her bachelor’s degree and teaching credential and went on to become an elementary school teacher. In an ironic twist of fate, Julie eventually went on to become a teacher and area advisor to the LAUSD’s bilingual education program.

When a divorce left her a single parent with next to no money in her bank account, Julie knew she had to take control of her finances and learn how to make her money work for her. She began to read everything she could about investing and finance, achieving success by a process of trial and error. Julie turned her own life around, but being a teacher at heart, she wasn’t content to simply improve her own lot. She now wanted to share what she had learned, and provide the average American family, and other Hispanics with the same tools that she had previously found out were not so easily accessible. Her goal was to inspire, and more importantly, empower others like her to turn their finances around in the face of daunting obstacles, but to do so in an everyday language they could all understand. Eventually, Julie earned a stockbroker’s license and began educating thousands of people each year—in English and Spanish—through financial planning seminars.

In her first two books, Get Your Share and Fund Your Future, both New York Times bestsellers, Julie took the mystery out of investing and gave readers the tools to choose investments wisely in English and in Spanish. When her first PBS television special, based on the principles of Get Your Share, was met with exceptional reviews and ratings, Julie effectively became a household name. Three subsequent and similarly acclaimed PBS specials, which aired in both English and Spanish, solidified Julie’s stature as a leading expert on financial issues for all people nationwide.

Every day on radio, and weekly on television, millions tune in to Julie’s radio show and TV segments on the Univision Radio and TV networks, to hear her practical, life-changing financial advice. The magazine she co-founded, Tu Dinero—the first and only Spanish language finance magazine for a US audience—has recently been transformed into a cutting-edge digital publication, its content now reaching more than 11 million readers each month thanks to a distribution deal with Impremedia, the #1 Spanish language print and online news publisher in the US.

Julie is an integral member of Univision network’s news lineup, conducting consumer and personal finance segments twice weekly on Univision’s top rated national Spanish-language morning show, “Despierta America,” and appearing twice weekly on Univision’s network news providing financial literacy content. Additionally, Julie also writes a financial column for Univision Online. Julie’s passion for empowering Latinos to take control of their finances and create the lives they want comes through in everything she does.

Because Julie’s down-to-earth and user friendly style of teaching is so unique, she is now gaining major momentum among mainstream audiences. Julie is now well known to both Hispanic and mainstream media as the go-to expert on financial topics concerning US Hispanics. She has been quoted in major magazines and newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, La Opinion and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, Julie is a regular contributor to Hispanic & Hispanic Trends Magazines. Plans are in the works to develop her latest book, “The Money in You! Discover your Financial Personality and Live the Millionaire’s Life” into a PBS special.

On October 30, 2008, Julie was the proud recipient of the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) 2008 Visionary award, an accolade “that honors champions of economic empowerment in all of its many forms, from those who have raised awareness about the need for economic and financial literacy, to those who, having succeeded in their chosen field by using sound economic decision-making, have turned that success into good public works”.