Julie A. Fragoules is a Community Education and Outreach Task Force Leader at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with two decades of experience in Hazard Mitigation, promoting disaster preparedness, loss avoidance and resilience. Previously, she was an Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalism award-winning reporter in radio news covering North Arkansas and Southern Missouri. She was raised in the small family business her parents started out of an old school bus with a used sewing machine, which grew into an industry leader in boat seat design and production and stayed in the family for 35 years. Julie holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Central Arkansas and previously co-owned a web site hosting and design company in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Julie is the author of the award-winning dystopian novel, The Serpent Underneath. Beyond her professional life, Julie enjoys kayaking, sailing and building log homes with her family. She lives in a log cabin near the White River in the Ozark Mountains of North Central Arkansas.