Julie Anne Peters was born in 1952 in Jamestown, New York. She received a bachelor of arts from Colorado Women's College (now the University of Denver) in 1974, and a bachelor of science from Metropolitan State College of Denver, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1985. In 1989, she received a master's of business administration from the University of Colorado, Denver.

Peters enjoyed various careers before becoming an author. She worked as an elementary schoolteacher in 1975, then entered the field of computer design and research and held positions at Tracom Corporation and Electronic Data Systems from 1975-1988. After receiving her master's of business administration, Peters worked as a special needs educational assistant for the Jefferson County School District in Lakewood, Colorado, where she remained from 1990-1994. It was here where she began to see the consequences of using the word "normal" as a label and gain the...