Photos: Amalia Osborne.
Julianne Taylor has been a registered nurse and a furniture designer. Currently a registered nutritionist, she is completing her PhD, with a focus on the relationship between food sensitivity and rheumatoid arthritis. The 65-year-old is also a world champion powerlifter.
“My father was a psychiatrist and a Baptist minister, and my mother trained as a physio, although her heart and soul were in her family. I was the first born of four and Mum used to make us beautiful matching outfits. She knitted vests and jumpers for Dad and even made some of his suits. I was 10 when Mum taught me how to sew and I was so proud when I wore a shift dress I’d made to Ruapōtaka Primary School. By high school, I was sewing all my own clothes, although being brought up in the church, I had to be a little bit modest.
In my last year at Auckland Girls’ Grammar, I was tossing up between science and art.
I did wonder about being a doctor, but I did seventh form arts prelim instead. By the end of the year, I realised art school wasn’t for me, but because I hadn’t done the right subjects for med school, I went into nursing.
When I moved into the nurses’ home in Grafton at 17, it was a bit of a shock adjusting to all the things one could do when there are no limits.
Until then, my life had revolved around church, youth groups and family life, but I quickly got used to it. I was a registered nurse for one year but I knew I wanted something else, something more creative. I loved the medical side of the job and being in theatre, but I didn’t enjoy the repetitive nature of changing dressings, giving bed baths and emptying bed pans.
A three-year Interiors and Furniture Design course at Carrington was next, but another quandary, with so much furniture already in the world, it felt pointless to design more, so at 26, I went to England on a two-year working visa.
Based in London, I saw loads of exhibitions and did agency nursing to save money to travel in Europe. One particular exhibition over there that opened my eyes was at The London School of Furniture Design for Disability. This stuff felt more useful than designing another dining room chair, so I applied for their postgrad design course. I won a scholarship to cover fees and I nursed in the weekends to cover costs.
It was there I realised wheelchair seating desperately needed attention, so I reviewed designs around the world, especially for people with cerebral palsy.
A job in Taupō followed and for 10 years, I travelled all over the country working with physios and occupational therapists. That’s how I became known as the Seating Guru, because I had a knack for working with people whose bodies needed very individualised support.
While in the UK, I did some courses with Landmark Forum. One of the biggest things I gained was confidence, as I’d always been a little insecure.
My school reports always said ‘Julianne is very quiet and uncertain around other people.’ But when I realised everybody has worries, or can be insecure or shy, that helped my own fears and uncertainty lift.
I was nearly 40 when Mark, my husband, and I tried to have kids.
We went through one round of IVF, but with so many kids in the world who needed families, instead of putting our money and time into more IVF, which has an uncertain outcome, we decided to adopt children from Russia. On Christmas Day 2001, we flew home with a three-year-old and a five-year-old. My parents were at the airport to pick us up and these gorgeous little children ran up to them and said ‘Babushka! Dedushka!’ which is Russian for Grandpa and Grandma. It was very moving for us all.
Powerlifting and adopting have taken me to places I’d never have otherwise visited, and our experiences have been far more interesting than we could’ve anticipated.
Our kids are from Siberia, Russia’s third largest city, which is very sophisticated, and Siberians dress so well. I felt dowdy compared to Russian women, then I realised most people only had two outfits – that they wore the same clothes every day, but just really elegant clothes.
I was not at all sporty as a child.
At Ruapōtaka Primary, all the girls had to play netball in teams that went from A to F, and I was in F. As an adult, I exercised more, and went to the gym on and off, and because I was known to be well-versed in the Zone Diet, I was asked to do some nutrition coaching at CrossFit Albany. I’d also become relatively lazy by that stage, so at 49, I started doing CrossFit a few days a week to understand it better.
After a few years, I started getting niggles, so I went to a physio and joined Health & Sports Gym in Kingsland.
It was there I saw a flyer for an eight-week powerlifting course. I was 56 and I wanted to challenge myself, and because I loved powerlifting, I just kept going. After two years training for one hour, three times a week, my trainer surprised me by saying she thought I was strong enough to compete. The Auckland Champs were three months away, so I looked up the requirements and I was strong enough. My powerlifting coach Carli Dillen also suggested I consider the World Champs the following year in Sweden. That was in 2019 and I came fourth overall in my category in Helsingborg. I also got bronze for bench.
I went to Mongolia for the World Powerlifting Champs in 2023.
Mongolia is like a cross between Europe and Russia, but being Buddhist, everybody is really chill. There are beautiful temples and the countryside has all these golden larch trees dotted over summer-browned hills. We rode camels and saw the huge silver statue of Genghis Khan, which is the world’s largest metallic structure. They also have the biggest indoor Buddha that’s three-storeys tall and covered in gold.
When I was training in the hotel gym, a few Mongolian men were doing weights.
I was doing squats, deadlifts and bench, working my way up to a 90kg squat, and these guys stopped to watch. When they asked for a selfie, I did feel a little bit famous! I don’t want to go backwards from where I am and because the next World Champs is in Cape Town in October, I’m looking ahead to that. I haven’t broken any world records either and if I keep going, I might. I’m still 10kg off the world record for the squat. It’s currently 115kg and I’ve done 105kg in training. We’ll see.
My interest in nutrition was triggered in the mid ’90s when I changed my diet and I was astounded by how much better I felt.
A number of issues resolved, including joint inflammation, and I became obsessed. That led to more study, then some postgrad courses, where I learned how some people with rheumatoid arthritis had experienced relief with similar diet protocols. That started me on a journey focusing on the connection between food sensitivity and rheumatoid arthritis.
I don’t feel any particular age.
I definitely don’t feel 65. My body feels as good, if not better, than it’s ever felt. My memory is not as sharp as it used to be and that’s annoying, but I’m still the strongest I’ve ever been and I have no pain.
One thing I’ve learned is not to be afraid of stopping things.
I also went to art school for a year and I left when I realised it wasn’t for me. So don’t be afraid to stop things if they’re not working for you. I’ve also changed careers several times, so if you lose interest in what you’re doing, move on to something else more interesting if you can. When you get to 65, you realise life is really short. To think I only have 20 or so years ahead, that freaks me out and I wish I had all my years over again, as there are so many projects I want to take on and different things I’d like to explore.
When I stood on the podium in Mongolia in 2023 and our national anthem played, I did feel rather teary, and being a world champion still feels bizarre.
On one hand, I’m nothing special, but I also have this amazing strength that other people don’t have.”
To find out more about Julianne, her work and studies go to: www.juliannetaylornutrition.com
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