JULIE TUMAMAIT-STENSLIE has traced her family lineage from her father Vincent Tumamait to at least 11 known Chumash villages and as far back as the mid-18thCentury. She is currently the Tribal Chair of the Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians (Chumash).
Julie has worked as a cultural resources consultant from Malibu to Santa Barbara to the Channel Islands, providing guidance for private groups and state, county and city regulatory agencies, including the Ventura and Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s offices. She is well known throughout Ventura County and beyond for her Chumash cultural education programs and also performs ceremonies according to her native ways, such as weddings, burials, naming ceremonies and blessings. She continues to act as the Spiritual Advisor for the Cal State University at Channel Islands where she was asked to present the benediction for the first graduation commencement in 2004.
Julie has lived in the Ojai area nearly her entire life and currently owns a home in the Meiners Oaks neighborhood, very near the birthplace of her great, great grandmother, Maria Ricarda Alulalmeque, who was raised in the Chumash village of Matilija. Her husband, Bruce Stenslie, is the President of the Economic Development Collaborative in Ventura County They share their home with Julie’s three children, Paula Pugh, Rane Tumamait-Stenslie, and Aren Tumamait-Stenslie, and an assortment of well-loved animals.