Juliana Quartey Manu was born in the Gold Coast on the 4th of August 1945.  Her mother was Alice Asante a seamstress from Kwahu in the Eastern Region and her father was a doctor at the Nsawam Government Hospital.  She completed classes 1 to 4 at Obome Presbyterian School until her uncle E. N. Adjei brought her to Accra with his wife where she attended St. Mary’s Secondary School.  She later re united with her mother in Kumasi until another uncle, Daniel Kwadwo Asante, a mass education officer brought her to live with himself and his wife.  She completed Standard 7 at Bomiwie School and furthered her education at McGyans Business training college at Mpraeso.

She joined the police training school in 1961 after a police detective saw her potential to become a police officer.  Her love for parades encouraged her to join the force and on the 1st of September 1963 she graduated from the police training college as one of the first female police officers in Ghana.  She was posted to Tema Newtown as a typist within the force.  In 1964 she was transferred to the Airport Police Station due to her typing skills.  In 1965, she and a group of policewomen were assigned to the security detail of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana.  They were stationed in an office behind the Airport tarmac before 1966 when after the coup they were moved to the CID Headquarters which was formerly in Accra Central.

After the coup, she and the other officers returned to uniform branches and she was posted to the Railways and Harbour police, then to Asokwa in the Ashanti Region for fifteen years before returning in 1981 to Accra as head of the Nima Police Divisional Police Headquarters until her retirement.