Who is Julia Stuart and where is from?
I am a football presenter at SuperSport, born and bred in Cape Town but moved to Johannesburg to follow my dream.
What brought you to this career path?
I studied film and media at the University of Cape Town and then moved into print journalism. While working at the Daily Voice in Cape Town I would do a lot of guest work on radio and TV, I was a regular on SuperSport's Back Pages in fact. I was then offered a junior sports reporter role at ETV, moving into broadcasting full time. After 6 months I was promoted to anchor and after two years I left for SuperSport. The rest is history.
How did you get into supersport?
I basically just hounded them, kept calling and emailing until eventually I got to have a meeting with head of production. That's how this industry works. You may be amazing at your job but you still have to go after what you want and take the initiative.
Do you think sports tv is still a male dominated industry, or has the playing field been leveled?
Well yes, it's a fact.
There are more females in sport broadcasting now than ever before but we're still not even in double figures in terms of percentage of staff. Naturally it's male dominated from the players all the way through to the administrators. That's why you have to have thick skin, determination and a lot of talent to make it and then also be taken seriously.
How do you feel to be known as one of the best women in football television?
To be completely honest, those titles and competitions mean very little to me. I have a job to do and when I step into that stadium I'm not thinking about the fact that I want to be better than the next person. I want to be better than what I was yesterday. That's all you can do. I appreciate that people enjoy my work because I'm always a football fan at heart first.
I'm always a football fan at heart first.
You mentioned Emirates Stadium as your favorite holiday destination. Why is that?
Because it's the home of Arsenal and that's my favourite team.
What is your favorite treat to bake?
I make a mean baked cheesecake. But I really love decorating cupcakes, that's the most fun part of baking. I have tons of little goodies like edible glitter, flowers made from icing sugar, different colour gels for the icing and so forth. My friend used to call them "West Coast Cupcakes" after West Coast Customs from Pimp my ride.
Now let's talk shoes, it's a guilty pleasure we will support you on. What are you favorite shoes?
Yes!! You can never have enough shoes. I always have to restrain myself when I travel. My favourite shoes... this is a tough one. I have a pair of boots from Balenciaga. They are a mesh of grey, purple and pink and they are impossible to walk on so I hardly ever wear them but DAMN they are amazing.
One of the biggest football tournaments in the world happened this year, and you were there, let's talk a bit about it:
The moment you heard you were going to EURO2016, how did you feel?
It was quite surreal, I wasn't expecting it at all. The first person I called was my dad because we had been to euro 2004 together as a father daughter trip so it was actually quite sentimental.
How was the atmosphere in France throughout the tournament?
It was amazing as all football tournaments are. Think 2010 World Cup and the gees back then, that's how it always is that's why live football is so magical.
Did you have a favorite you were supporting?
No. It was great that the home team went all the way to the final though.