Julie Shapiro is a News Editor at DNAinfo.

She comes most recently from the Downtown Express, a weekly newspaper where she learned the intricate politics of Lower Manhattan and how to survive three-hour community board meetings. She also won several New York Press Association awards.

Julie has not dreamed of being a journalist since she was a child — in fact, until a few years ago, she planned on becoming a mathematician. But fate and a dislike of typos propelled her to join The Acorn, the student newspaper at Drew University. She hasn’t looked back since.

After graduating from Drew in 2007, Julie was determined to leave her East Coast roots behind, so she set up camp in McAllen, Texas, a border town with half a dozen Wal-Marts and no sidewalks.

While interning for The Monitor, McAllen’s daily paper, Julie won a first-place award from the Associated Press Managing Editors for her coverage of an elected official’s sexual assault trial. 

Julie covered the Downtown neighborhood before coming onto DNAinfo's news desk full time in 2012. She recently moved to Prospect Heights.

Fun Fact: Much to the amusement of those who know her, Julie takes hip-hop dance classes. She recently graduated from Absolute Beginner to Basic.