Julz Callahan

Biography

Julie “Cabana Julz” Callahan can walk onto a property and instinctively see it three ways. The artist sees where the afternoon light falls. The savvy REALTOR®️ sees the last sales. The former vacation rental owner/manager knows what it takes after the keys change hands. Julie brings all three perspectives to CABANA JULZ, the business she has owned since 2012, and to her work as a REALTOR® and Broker Associate. A Tennessee native based on the Alabama–Florida Gulf Coast, she brings more than 25 years of experience in real estate, design, and property management. CABANA JULZ once operated as both a real estate brokerage and a vacation rental management company. Today, Julie brings that ownership experience to luxury interior staging & design, real estate investing, and overall property consultations. With a seller, she weighs which improvements merit the expense and how to make the home memorable from the first photograph. With a second-home buyer, she looks past the water view to ask how the property will serve them throughout the year. When Julie designs a room, she wants it to feel unmistakably, harmoniously unforgettable. In Julie’s words, “I pose properties then matchmake their owners.” Licensed as a real estate broker in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida, Julie has earned consecutive million-dollar producer distinctions since becoming a REALTOR®️ in 2001. Also a former Community Association Manager with hands-on experience overseeing condominium operations, finances, maintenance, and construction projects in Florida she understands the complexities of condominium ownership & management. In Tennessee, Julie received the Upper Cumberland Association of REALTORS® Award of Excellence consecutively and served as Vice President of her local Women’s Council of REALTORS® chapter. It was there that she brought two of her professional worlds together, creating the “Art with Heart” auction and organizing it for two consecutive years, raising more than $8,000. Julie earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Belmont University in Nashville in 1997. A studio painter and published author and poet, she released Ferguson’s Blue in an edition of 125 signed and numbered canvases. Her poem Wounded Heart was published and recorded in the National Library of Congress. The same eye she developed at the easel informs her interiors today, particularly her use of color and her sense of when a room needs one bold “move.” Service has been a constant from Cookeville to the coast. A former Court Appointed Special Advocate for children, Julie was named Putnam County Volunteer of the Year in 2007. She organized the Power of Putnam Anti-Drug Coalition’s “Power to Thrive” event, bringing together more than 350 guests to hear Vallie Collins, a survivor of US Airways Flight 1549. Beyond her leadership responsibilities, she regularly volunteers her time in the fields of sobriety, addiction recovery, and mental health rehabilitation, supporting individuals and families navigating the challenges of substance use and the journey toward lasting recovery. Her commitment reflects a deeply held belief in the power of restoration, personal transformation, and second chances through a “Higher Power” whom she calls Jesus. As the daughter and granddaughter of U.S. Veterans, Julie also advocates for Veterans and their families, with a particular commitment to those living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Her humanitarian interests bring together youth prevention, sobriety, mental health awareness, and Veterans’ advocacy, reflecting a life shaped not only by professional ambition but by a desire to see others reclaim hope and purpose. Across each chapter of her career, Julie has demonstrated that success is measured not only by professional achievements, but also by the lives enriched and the communities strengthened along the way. Her work carries the signature of CABANA JULZ: “Fine real estate investing. Inspired Spaces. Poetic Living.”