Julia Newnum

Most people might not know this, but Tri Kappa has two women in its membership who were born overseas.

Julia Newnum started life near Liverpool, England, and Deborah Fisher grew up in South Africa.

“I lost my accent in high school,” Julia laughs. “I didn’t want to be the ‘British’ person, I wanted to blend in.”

Julia moved to Chicago with her English parents when she was 15. Her folks were only in the States for five years, but Julia stayed behind to attend Indiana University and study psychology.

“It was a total shot in the dark that I came to IU,” Julia says. “Indiana was in the basketball Final Four the day of my campus visit, which made it exciting. It was just a total random choice.”

After graduate school at Indiana State University, where she studied student affairs and higher education – plus met future husband Kyle Newnum, a Hoosier boy born and bred – Julia decided to stay in Indiana permanently. Her first job was in the Housing and Residential Life department at IU.

She’s now a career coach at the IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. She and Kyle are the parents of two children, Charlie and Ellie.

It was through an IU working moms lunch group that Julia met Caitlyn Thompson and first learned about Tri Kappa.

“I also got to know Betsy Feeny, Moriah Sowders and Ellen Rodkey during that time,” Julia says. “I always heard them talking about Tri Kappa. My best friends live in Chicago and Indy, my kids are a little bit older now, I was ready to meet some more women in the community and do some philanthropy. So I asked Caitlyn about joining.”

Julia is glad she made the decision to come into the Alpha chapter. She loves to do behind-the-scenes work for the fundraisers and is really interested in Blingo, where she enjoys selling raffle tickets with Aggie Sarkissian and Angie Martin.

“There are so many great opportunities to meet people, get involved with community service and give back to the community,” Julia says of Tri Kappa.

   More About Julia:

• Loves to travel; Italy sits atop her bucket list

• Holds dual British and American citizenship

• Likes to garden and do crafting

• Is into antiques, especially milk glass

• Volunteers at Summit Elementary School, where her children are students