Julia Romualdi wants to do it all.
She's an athlete, advocate and actress, all while holding down a job and boyfriend.
The Timmins woman was named recently named the 2021 Special Olympics Ontario Athlete of the Year.
"In the past year, Julia has been a very active advocate for Special Olympics athletes, helping to keep teammates and local athletes engaged, while also participating on the Ontario Athlete Leadership Council," reads a summary of why she took home the honour.
"Julia went above and beyond what was asked of her, and put together an activity calendar for fellow athletes in Timmins, participated in numerous promotional pieces, has been involved with a number of health chats, and has been heavily involved in encouraging teammates and other athletes to participate in the Reveal Your Champion challenges."
For sports, Romouldi is active with figure skating — she even performed at the Rock the Rink tour back in 2019 — soccer and track and field. She's also a volunteer coach for the local fundamentals group where she teaches kids different Special Olympics sports.
Romualdi recently made her return to the ice with the Timmins Porcupine Figure Skating Club.
“Special Olympics means everything to me. Just being an athlete and being on the athlete leadership council has given me lots of opportunities to be an advocate,” she said, adding she's been able to travel across Canada and meet people.
“Getting back to sport is important so we can still be physically fit and they also have a motto that I go by and it’s ‘turn your can’ts into cans and your dreams into plans,'"
There was a brief period last year when COVID-19 restrictions eased and she was on the ice for a bit. That stopped when she landed a part in the Disney movie Spin and she went to film it down south.
“It was a small role, I was customer 23 and I had a speaking part,” she said, adding her name is in the credits as well.
Special Olympics has led to a world of opportunities for Romualdi.
“That message of inclusion and diversity has just taken so many different paths for Julia and it’s kept her very busy and very active mentally and physically. It’s been crazy,” said Julia's mom, Karen.
She's on a national advocacy group for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society and is the athlete representative on the Special Olympics Ontario board of directors.
“I get to do Zoom calls with these leaders in Special Olympics and I get to be the voice of the athletes,” she explained.
As part of her advocacy work, she's also part of a focus panel with dentistry professors and students to help improve training when caring for people with intellectual disabilities. As part of this, she's submitted her dental records for students to study.
Doors open with each new connection.
Along with her committee work, she's performed a ballet choreographed especially for her to Avril Lavigne's fly, and hosted a show on the disability channel.
“I want to do everything, but that’s going to be hard,” Romualdi laughed. “My dream was to be in a Disney movie and I wanted to speak up for those who aren’t able to.”