Spira was born in Glen Rock, New Jersey and attended the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, where she received a B.S. in Television-Radio.
Career
Broadcasting and technology
While attending Ithaca College, Spira, then known as Julie Evans, became the first female on-air personality at WAAL-FM in Binghamton, NY. Spira's digital career began when she worked for RKO Radio Networks as manager, Affiliate Relations in New York City. She relocated to Los Angeles, where she opened the west coast Affiliate office for RKO and was promoted to Director, Affiliate Relations. Her technology career grew further as she oversaw high speed Internet via satellite to over 100 countries while serving as Executive Vice President of Sales for Interpacket Networks.
Online dating
While a technology executive and early adopter of the Internet, Spira became a charter member of Love@AOL in 1994, which was acquired by Match.com. Passionate about the intersection of love and technology, she began coaching singles on the Internet at this time and started writing online dating profiles for single men and women. Spira is often called upon as an online dating expert. She has made many appearances and been quoted by major media outlets including USA Today, Mashable, and The New York Post, to discuss online dating safety, mobile dating, and other relationship topics. Her dating advice has appeared on numerous online dating sites. Spira has been a guest on NPR's All Things Considered as a mobile dating expert, speaking about the history of computer dating from the 1950s to the present day of mobile dating apps. Spira's Mobile Dating Bootcamp was featured in the Washington Post, where she discussed the rapid growth of mobile dating and social networking applications and she has been called on by the New York Times and other media outlets as a Tinder Dating Expert. In 2015, Julie Spira appeared as the online dating coach in the Vice Media documentary, "The Mobile Love Industry." The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online is a tell all memoir of Spira's 250 online dates. The book was published in February 2009 by Morgan James Publishing and includes Internet dating advice for singles. The Santa Monica Daily Press called it “a must for this generation of singles, both male and female, who are into cyber-dating" and dating site JDate listed Spira's book as one of "5 Must Reads for Women." Spira's second book will be titled The Rules of Netiquette: How to Mind your Manners on the Web.
Spira first termed the phrase Social Media Anxiety Disorder in 2012, where she provided five signs of SMAD in an article on Huffington Post, “Do You Suffer from Social Media Anxiety Disorder." Other media outlets continue to cite her on social media anxiety issues including Digital Journal, Elite Daily, and Digital Trends. Spira is a frequent speaker at social media conferences. She was listed as one of the "Top 10 Columnists to Follow on Twitter" by YourTango, where she has appeared in a series of online dating videos. Spira has shared her online dating and netiquette expertise at the following speaking engagements:
The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online
Awards
In 2010, Spira received the Wonderful Outstanding Woman or WOW award from the Jewish Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Los Angeles, for her philanthropic work in the Los Angeles community. In 2017, Spira was awarded "Best Dating Coach of the Year" at the iDate Awards, the dating industry's most recognized awards ceremony, which celebrated her for her excellence in navigating love.
