Julie Paynotta is a Virginia native, born in Roanoke and educated at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Spending time on her great Aunt and Uncle’s farm in Craig County was a favorite pastime of childhood with many hours spent trying to befriend wild Appaloosas and watching her aunt prepare food from what they grew and raised on site.

Many summers spent walking dirt roads, swimming, and fishing in SW Virginia creeks and rivers, and hiking in the Blue Ridge were foundational experiences that led to earning a degree in Environmental Science (UVA, 1988). Julie is a published author in the field of environmental science research, working on atmospheric transport of pollutants and precipitation chemistry.

Julie has channeled her background in quantifying and describing changes in the natural environment and her love for writing and data into a career as a grant professional. Her path to helping nonprofits secure grant funding to fuel their missions began with volunteering in various nonprofit roles over the years, and then meandered through positions as co-founder and executive director at a women’s health organization, food programs manager at a community center, and sustainability fund manager with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Office of Sustainability, and eventually brought her to the grants profession as a full time consultant in 2016, with the launching of Piñon Grant Solutions, LLC, a full service grants consulting practice offering services throughout all stages of the grant cycle as well as program design and evaluation services.

Julie earned a Professional Certificate in Grant Writing and Program Evaluation (2017) from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs School of Public Affairs and earned the Grant Professional Certification (GPC) from the Grant Professionals Certification Institute in 2022. She is also a Registered Scrum Master (2021 - current) and employs Agile practices in her work as a grant consultant.

Julie lives in Colorado with her husband and two cats, quickly losing teenagers to adulthood. She enjoys live music, hiking the Rockies, and spending time on dirt roads.