I am Julia. I was a professional ballet dancer, and I am a mother of a wonderful child.

Born and raised in Germany I studied in the beautiful city of Munich and danced in several companies in Germany before I started working in the National State Opera in Istanbul, Turkey.
When I was a child, I grew up with a dog our Spanish friends gave us during our holiday stay there.

In the second year in Istanbul a little male handsome ginger–white cat, who obviously lived in the apartment`s front garden, conquered my heart in no time. I named him Kedi (which means ´cat´ in Turkish) and took him in.
I would say I looked after him for many years, but it was he who looked after me; he was my rock and my home during difficult times.
When I moved house (meanwhile I had two cats at home), I took care of the apartment`s garden with its many cats. All of them had names and I also tried to get them the proper treatment when they were sick. It was wonderful, but hard at the same time because back then there was no cure for FIP, and I lost many loved ones to that horrible disease.

During those years I danced first soloist roles at the theatre and the pressure and responsibility I had at work was immense. My cats, home and outside, always helped me when I got home tired and desperate; they don`t care how you do things or if you have a bad day, they just love you for who you are.

During the pandemic I stumbled over Instagram accounts which were created to get financial help for their cats` treatment: rescuers, who rescue many cats, but also people who struggled to pay for their house cat`s treatment. Back then I started to create fundraisers to help those people out because it is not possible to do so when you are living in Turkey as a Turkish citizen.

The economic situation got worse day by day and with time the fundraiser community grew; I couldn`t turn people down who asked me for help saving their beloved animals.

Full-time working, being a mother and doing pro bono fundraising worked for a few years, but the community has a size which needs more attention than just a few hours occasionally.

After ending my career as a dancer, I wanted to concentrate on helping all those kind and loving people get their animals proper treatment and food; also, the ones who don`t get enough visibility on social media.
I was lucky to grow up very privileged in a country with a stable economy. Therefore, it is only fair to help the ones who must struggle with much more difficult conditions.

I think rescuing animals should not be a privilege for the rich; it is not only a matter of money but first and foremost of devotion and love.