Stokes is the only child of Doris Guerin Skinner, a Metairie native, and the late Edward Thomas Skinner. In 1992, Stokes received her Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of New Orleans. From 2000 to 2010, she operated Julie S. Stokes, CPA, but thereafter became the chief financial officer of Stokes & Associates. She is also a tax preparer. She is in business with her husband, Larry S. Stokes ; the couple has two children, Brandon and Taylor Stokes. Stokes resides in Kenner with her husband Larry and their two children, Brandon and Taylor. She attended Jefferson Parish Public Schools and the University of New Orleans. After four years on full academic scholarship at UNO, she received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting, magna cum laude. She started working at a Big Four accounting firm and passed the CPA exam on her first effort.
Political career
In her freshman legislative year in 2013, Representative Stokes was rated at 71 percent by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Stokes serves on the Health & Welfare, Labor & Industrial Relations, and Ways & Means committees. She is actively involved with the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, the University of New Orleans Alumni Association, the Louisiana Society of CPA's, and local economic development activities, including the Kenner 2030 Economic Development Committee. She chairs the Sales Tax Streamlining & Modernization Commission, which seeks to reform the state's sales tax system. She was recognized nationally as one of a handful of state "Tax Legislators of the Year" by State Tax Notes for her work on sales tax reform. Stokes is the vice chair of the Legislative Audit Advisory Committee and serves as one of only two interim members on the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. She also serves on the House Executive Committee, Ways & Means, Health & Welfare, and Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay. Nationally, Stokes serves on the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislators and is involved with the organizations task force on State & Local Taxation. She also serves as co-chair of the NCSL Budgets & Revenues Standing Committee. Stokes was selected with twenty-four other women for the 2017 Class of Governing Magazines Women in Government Leadership Program. She received the Southwest Chamber Louisiana's Fusion Five Award for best new up-and-coming legislator in 2015. In 2016, she was named one of four "Women of Distinction" by the Girl Scouts of the USA for eastern Louisiana. She has also been honored as one of New Orleans City Business Magazines "Women of the Year" in both 2003 and 2014. Before public life, Rep. Stokes served as a Commissioner of the Regional Transit Authority and as President of the Chateau Estates Civic Organization, the Accounting and Financial Women's Alliance, and the Jefferson Chamber Young Leaders. Her other legislative awards include: • "Champion of Economic Development" in 2013–2016 by the Louisiana Industrial Development Economic Association
