Julia Sweig is the author of the highly acclaimed New York Times instant bestseller, Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight, long listed for the 2022 PEN America Literary Award in biography. Sweig is the creator, host, and executive producer of the podcast In Plain Sight, a co-production of Best Case Studios and ABC News Studios. She also is the executive producer of The Lady Bird Diaries, a feature-length documentary film directed by award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter, which is based on her book and podcast.
She is currently writing a biography of Dr. Mathilde Krim, a boundary breaking scientist and unsung warrior, and hero, of the AIDS crisis.
Sweig’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Affairs, the Nation, and in Brazil’s Folha de São Paulo where she was a columnist for three years. She is also award-winning author of books on Cuba, Latin America, and American foreign policy. She served as senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations for fifteen years and concurrently led the Aspen Institute’s congressional seminar on Latin America for ten years. She holds a doctorate and master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University.
The Archive
Foreign Policy Leadership
For more than fifteen years, including as the Nelson and David Rockefeller Chair and Director for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, Julia directed the research and managed the leadership, membership and staffing for inter-disciplinary task forces on policy challenges in Latin America and Brazil, including on drug policy, security strategy, and prospects for the region’s economic growth and enhanced global standing. A prolific writer and communicator, she has published widely, served for three years as a columnist for Brazil’s largest daily, and maintains an active public speaking agenda. As a thought leader and educator, she has worked closely with policymakers in the U.S. Executive Branch and in Congress, and with diplomats, foundations, and the media, non-profits and the private sector in shaping public policy and dialogue on key issues.
Business Initiatives
After several years of independent consulting, including for telecommunications and entertainment companies, in 2014 Julia co-founded an accelerator helping C-suite executives navigate successful commercial transactions in emerging markets (particularly Cuba). Her clients included companies in hospitality, telecommunications, commercial real estate, and technology among others. In 2015 and 2016, she designed and helped implement Starwood’s winning strategy to become the first American direct investment in Cuba in nearly sixty years. Clients of her non-profit advisory practice include leading cultural and scientific research institutions, universities, and philanthropic foundations. While official US-Cuba relations have cooled, Julia continues to advise clients in several sectors on their investment strategies.
Academic Achievements
Dr. Sweig is an award-winning, inter-disciplinary author whose books have become the standard reference in Latin American history and politics in universities across the United States and are read the world over. She has served as the Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor in International Relations at Hamilton College and for ten years managed curriculum development and scholar recruitment for the Aspen Institute’s congressional seminar on Latin America. Her book Inside the Cuban Revolution, (Harvard University Press) won the American Historical Association’s Best Book of the Year by an Independent Scholar. She was honored with the alumni award for outstanding professional achievement in 2011 and delivered the commencement address in 2015 at University of California, Santa Cruz.