Julia Stegner, the daughter of the Central European sales manager for a large American company and an accountant, was raised in an animal-loving household with many dogs alongside her older sister, who currently works in film production. For seven years she was a child model, appearing in commercials and children's catalogs, and for nine years was trained in dance.
In high school she discovered a passion for playing basketball, and eventually she joined a club team in Munich. Being 180 cm tall by that time, she was naturally fit for the sport; her classmates even called her "Beanpole" because of her towering height.
Shortly before her 15th birthday, while celebrating Oktoberfest in her hometown, she was discovered by a talent scout who recognized her potential as a model. Tilla Lindig, a Munich and London based couture label as well as designer of happycoat of which Claudia Schiffer is equally a fan, first booked her. Although planning to study accounting when she left high school, Stegner moved to Paris to pursue modeling afterwards instead.
