Jessi Weldon

Julie Podewitz is a senior living sales and marketing expert with many years of experience and a proven track record. Julie has spent time on both the provider and consultant side, always with a focus on sales and marketing. She has presented at multiple national and state industry conferences including Argentum, CALA, CHCA, SMASH, FSLA, GSLA, KHCA, LALA, TALA, VALA, LeadingAge's Michigan, Southeast, and Iowa chapters, and the Senior Housing News Sales Summit. She has also participated in many expert webinar panels.

Before founding Grow Your Occupancy, she spent time in the VP of Sales, CMO, and CSO roles on the operator side. During her career, her track record of increased sales and occupancy has resulted in more than $80 million in increased revenue. All along, she kept her foot on the ground, never losing the “here and now” experience of the customer – the prospects, families, community, executive management, and ownership entities she serves.

Many in the industry consider her the “go-to” resource for senior living sales and marketing. Her company, Grow Your Occupancy, is in the top 1% of consultant startups.

Julie is the host of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast and is the author of three books on senior living sales: Solving the Occupancy Puzzle: A Senior Living Regional Director Sales Playbook, The Grow Your Occupancy Selling Senior Living Workbook, and (Re)Solving the Occupancy Puzzle: A Senior Living Regional, Sales, & Executive Director Playbook, and coming in 2026: 30 Days to Senior Living Sales Success.

Much of what I’ve learned in life has come from senior living residents I’ve had the privilege to know. Access to that much wisdom is something I’ve never taken lightly.

I began in this industry as a resident aide while in college and quickly realized that senior living is about much more than services or square footage. It’s about purpose, connection, belonging, and aging with dignity and choice. That realization drew me in, and it’s what continues to drive me today. I now serve as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Primrose Retirement Communities, where I’ve had the opportunity to grow across roles for more than 20 years, from community-level sales and operations to regional leadership to executive strategy.

My work focuses on helping teams build real connections and supporting families in making deeply important decisions with confidence. I’m especially passionate about leadership development and coaching sales teams to move beyond information-sharing and into conversations that truly matter.

As a parent of a medically complex child, I am also an advocate for inclusion and disability rights. That perspective continues to shape how I lead, how I see people, and why I believe we can create environments where every individual is valued, supported, and treated with dignity.