In the blink of an eye, she will be seventy years old and has more energy than many thirty-year-olds do today. We need to take notes as I believe it’s all in the attitude that she carries. Her name is Julia Nereida Domena, Jimenez is her maiden last name. She is also known in the community as either “Jules or Julie”. Well known for her skills in the salon, she has been a cosmetologist since 1975 and is one of the first Latinas to run her own salon in Reading, PA.
Why Her Story? We wanted to share her story because she is so super supportive of everyone and has a great attitude towards life and we admire her for that. We also wanted to share her youthful secrets. I didn’t need to ask Jules for her secrets as I have known and observed her for years.
Here are the 10 things I feel contribute to her Youthful Well-Balanced Life.
- A Positive Attitude
- Still Practices Her God Given Talent/Style Hair
- Says What She Thinks, “No Bottled-Up Feelings”Loves To Dance
- Supportive To Others
- Remains Social
- Still Workouts
- Is Incredibly Grateful
- Travels
- Her Confidence Or “Flow”
Have You Ever Seen Jules Walk Into A Room? She walks in with confidence and that is brain sexy. All of these things balanced keep the brain and body healthy and when they are healthy, one is happier & full of youth. I was honored to know that we were her first professional photo shoot, and we had a blast doing it. She is very well deserving, and it was way overdue.
How Did She Get Here? Born in Orocovis, Puerto Rico 1955, you may wonder how she ended up in Reading, Pa. Well, her father met a gentleman named Eddie in the military who was from Reading. They became best friends for over fifty years. When they met, he asked her father to move here as he had a friend who had a barbershop in Maple Grove, so he picked her up and moved to Reading, which was about 1951. Then a few years later her father moved her mother and her nine siblings to Reading. She is a mother of two young men, Angel M. Domena Jr, a master barber at Domena Stylez located at 350 S. 5th Street, and her other son Marcos A. Domena, a personal trainer. She also has five granddaughters, four grandsons and seven lovely great-grandchildren.
What Is She Doing Today? It’s no surprise that she now is working hard to preserve a traditional establishment where many Latinos gather and dance. If you know Jules, she loves to dance salsa and is known for her dance floor moves. Today she has brought life back to the Puerto Rican Civic Association Club, located on the South side of 4th Street even doing step classes with the ladies, usually 50 plus.
The Puerto Rican Civic Association was established in 1952. A place where for years people went to dance, have drinks, play dominoes, and have supportive events for the community. Originally it was started on S. 3rd St then in 1966 they moved to 233 S. 4th St. As an adult, she went there almost every weekend. In 1995 she moved to Florida but when she moved back to Reading in 2011, she was again supportive of the association. A few years ago, she got more involved and noticed the by-laws were being ignored and today she is the President.
In the short time she has been president, she has gotten rid of all the citations; the after-hour crowd was eliminated, & memberships were required again. A heating system was installed, new bar stools were purchased for the bar, the ladies’ bathroom was redone, and someone donated tables and chairs. They fixed the sidewalk, replaced the roof, and a new air conditioning system was also installed. They were able to accomplish so much of this with a twenty-thousand-dollar loan from Community First Fund which later was paid off with a grant from the government.
Moving Forward & How Can You Help: Their goal is for the association to be what it was intended to be. That is to preserve culture, to educate, & for community events. Hopefully, with support from the community, they can again make an association that Puerto Ricans and Latinos can be proud of, just like the founding fathers once were.
We at Palo Magazine are so proud of Jules. As a senior (a very good-looking one I might add) she is still giving back to her community. As someone born in Puerto Rico, I want to let her know how proud I am of her for continuing our Puerto Rican culture and traditions.
If you are interested in helping the association there are plenty of repairs and some sprucing up needed. Currently, Palo is working on a project with them for the spring, if you feel you can donate to this cause email me at rosa@palomagazine.com and I will give you more details about how to help.
Rosa J. Parra
Founder of Palo Magazine
