Julia Jannon-Shields receives UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity’s 2026 Spark Award for her equity work

Policy, planning and lived experience—that is how Julia Jannon-Shields, ’21, is building a career rooted in equity. Just a few years after graduating, she has been named the 2026 Spark Award recipient by the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, honoring emerging leaders advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.

For those who have seen her in action, the recognition is no surprise. “Julia consistently leads with justice as her north star,” says Megan Herzog Brown, director of student services in the College of Built Environments. “She grounds every decision in her core values of justice, community and accountability and is known for engaging in challenging conversations with care.”

Julia Jannon-Shields

Raised in the diverse communities of the San Francisco Bay Area, Jannon-Shields saw early how access, representation and rapid urban change could affect people’s lives. “Equity was something I understood before I had words for it,” she says. “As a multiracial child growing up in the Bay Area, I saw firsthand how important representation, access and community really are.”

The region’s transformation during the tech boom sharpened her perspective. As new wealth flowed in, longstanding communities were pushed out. “That was the moment it all clicked,” she says. “I realized how much power planning has—to either harm or heal communities.”

That realization guided her academic path. At the UW, she was drawn to the Community, Environment & Planning program where she began to understand how zoning, redlining and development policy shape lived experiences in profound and often inequitable ways.

Jannon-Shields also found a professional direction and a sense of belonging through OMA&D. As a student in the Educational Opportunity Program and a Multicultural Outreach & Recruitment Student Ambassador, she worked closely with prospective students from historically underrepresented communities.

That work, which she grounded in trust and shared experience, became central to her leadership style. Rather than treating outreach as a transactional process, she built relationships, a practice she continues in her professional work. “Community first, transparency always and equity in every decision,” she says. “That’s the framework I bring into every space.”

In 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Jannon-Shields and her peers pushed for change at the College of Built Environments by advocating for more inclusive curricula and culturally responsive practices, urging departments to rethink who is represented in design education and who may be missing. Their efforts helped catalyze a broader shift, prompting programs across architecture, planning and real estate to reimagine how inclusion could be embedded in both theory and practice.

Since graduating, Jannon-Shields has held roles in King County focused on community engagement and policy, including serving as a Community Engagement & Policy Advisor and as the inaugural Regional Planning Equity & Engagement Program Manager.

Her influence extends nationally. As a project partner with the BlackSpace Urbanist Collective, she has contributed to initiatives that honor Black cultural identity in urban design and promote planning practices rooted in trust and co-creation.

Transportation also has become a focus, because it “shapes access to everything—education, health, employment, safety,” she says. “It’s a geography of opportunity.”

Her leadership has earned her recognition as a Transportation Justice Fellow with the National Association of City Transportation Officials and as a speaker at equity-focused events. Closer to home, she serves as co-chair of the Puget Sound Regional Council’s Equity Advisory Committee.
And she now works as a planning development supervisor for the Seattle Department of Transportation.

“We’re living in a time where our region is growing fast,” she says. “That creates both risk and opportunity. My work is about making sure equity and belonging are built into that growth.”