Meet Julie Smith

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julie Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I spent my career as a chemical engineer, and the last half of it was in environmental engineering, with a masters in water and wastewater engineering. I know exactly how conventional personal care and cleaning products are killing our wildlife and damaging our environment, by poisoning our waterways. These products eventually go down the drain and find their way to the local wastewater plant, where they aren’t fully decomposed in the treatment process. This is because wastewater facilities are designed to treat biological waste and not synthetic chemicals, which persist in the environment. We’ve lost more than half of our wildlife in just the past few decades, and this is a huge reason why I started my company to provide personal care and cleaning products that are non-toxic, and break down easily in the environment, so they don’t damage wildlife. My ingredients are also organic, and another huge contributor to wildlife destruction is conventional agriculture, which uses toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers that are poisoning our wildlife and surface waters, and rendering huge portions of the ocean uninhabitable for fish. By providing responsible, organic, non-toxic products I can help make a difference for good on our planet.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would recommend taking hikes in the area, as there are many to choose from. You can walk due west several miles into the foothills on the Plains to Peaks trail, a mixed use biking and walking trail. Don’t miss the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum or the Railroad History Museum. Also, the Golden History Museum and Foothills Art Center. We have some awesome breweries in Golden, and my favorites are Golden City Brewery, Cannonball Creek and Barrels and Bottles. You can catch a live show at the Miner’s Alley Playhouse and if you golf, the Fossil Trace Golf Course is a one-of-a-kind experience, because of all the exposed rock and fossils. Rafting on Clear Creek is a famous destination in Golden as well. For environmentally responsible places to stay, eat or shop, check out https://gogoodtravel.com/app/ . Woody’s Pizza and the Eddy Hotel are two of the most sustainable venues in Golden.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My dad was a huge influence in my life. He always supported and encouraged every effort, and always told me that I could do anything I set out to do. He had me helping him in our bathroom that he set up as a lab to do simple water testing when I was just 10 years old, and took me and my sisters to oilfield projects. He hired me as a lab technician right out of high school for his oilfield service company before I ever had a degree, and just turned me loose to get the tests done. He and his partner were chemical engineers, and that inspired me to go for a degree myself. Halfway through my career, I decided to leave the oil industry because I had become fanatical about the environment, and he fully supported my decision as I searched for a new career. He made a trip to Washington D.C. to watch me give my first professional presentation as a wastewater engineer, and always told me how proud he was of me.

Website: www.aspirecolo.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AspireColoradoBodyCare/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/aspire-colorado-golden

Image Credits
Julie Smith, Karyne Clark