About Juliana Illari

Juliana was raised in a politically active home, with a father who enjoyed nothing more than for her to play devil's advocate to his conservative opinions. Little did he realize she actually believed all those "liberal" things!  During the 80s, she was active with Clean Water campaigns, the International Campaign to Free Tibet and ACT-Up, the newly needed AIDS/HIV awareness campaign. As the Reagan White House ignored this serious health issue, she watched in horror as the disease devastated her friends in the fashion industry.
 
Through the Reagan/Bush era, Newt's Contract on America, and the inglorious "W", more issues were added to what kept her up at night: the war on reproductive choice, the need for  permanent closure of the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, GA and, as always, the pressing need for passage of ENDA and Hate Crimes protection, as well as more inclusive LBGTQQ policies

Juliana likes nothing better than going to DC to kick in a few doors and lobby for issues she believes in. Between those visits she serves on the Boards of Georgia for Democracy, SPARK! Reproductive Justice NOW, the Atlanta Stonewall Democrats and is active with the Cobb County Democratic Committee.  She also enjoys collecting political memorabilia and pressing out political buttons!

Since meeting so many wonderful people in 2004, she has been thrilled to blog here on a variety of issues. She writes on the front page of Blog for Democracy primarily about social and political issues, but is the Chairwoman of the Democratic Fashion Institute (you're soaking in it!), where she writes humorously about fashion dos and don'ts.