Julie Mammano is a California native, growing up in southeast Los Angeles County. She started drawing at a very young age and eventually majored in art at Biola University, graduating in 1984. She worked in various staff artist positions such as paste-up artist (pre-computer graphic days), greeting card designer/ illustrator, and magazine graphic designer. In 1991 she went freelance. Her first book, Rhinos Who Surf, was published in 1996. It became the first of a series of six books, ending with Rhinos Who Rescue in 2007. Besides being an artist she is also a swimmer and a musician.