Julie Edelman grew up in a traditional household with a domestically-dutiful stay-at-home mother. Julie studied at both Duke and Oxford Universities and then hit the working world without a dust mop in sight. Julie’s drive and passion saw her rise rapidly to senior executive positions in the worlds of marketing, advertising, finance and entertainment, and allowed her to hone her entrepreneurial and creative skills.
Along the way, Julie strode down the marriage aisle, and the early warning signs of an unexpected role as an “Accidental Housewife” emerged with weekly trips to the Laundromat and sitting on toilet seats left up. But, without breaking her stride or a nail, Julie continued to pursue her career and plans for starting a family... and clouds began to gather. “It was like the perfect storm. Before my son was born, I found that marriage was pretty much the same as being single – except you’ve got a new ring or two your wearing. But once Luke came along I suddenly found myself juggling my career, home, and family. Instead of doing lunch, I was doing dishes and diapers. And, I quickly realized that suddenly without warning I’d become ‘The Accidental Housewife.’”
After the shock wore off, Julie knew she had to embrace her fears, disinterest and housewifely imperfections. “I realized I had to come clean and come out of my broom closet. I loved my family and wanted to maintain a nice home, but I wasn’t happy trying to be the perfect wife and mother, and pretending I had it all under control. “ This catharsis led her to discover and share with a sense of humor, simple, real life shortcuts that would allow her and fellow accidental housewives to get it all done in a way that suited their less then perfect style, lack of time and interest while preserving their sanity, households, and manicures.
Today, Julie is seen as the new face of today’s housewife. She hopes to help others like her come out of their broom closet, and embrace their housewifely tasks with a smile. Her simple, manicure-friendly tips and tools compliment our individual lifestyles and responsibilities regardless of skill, interest or time available. And, in doing so, just as ‘soccer mom’, Martha, and domestic diva have come to describe domestic lifestyles, The Accidental Housewife is becoming the definition and the buzz-words of today’s housewife.
“You can let weeks pass without cleaning or doing laundry, but meals are a daily necessity, so when I saw that Luke was handy with a remote control, I figured why not with a microwave?” The culmination of this observation was a children’s cookbook, Once Upon A Recipe, written by Julie and Luke. Quickly, Julie became the go-to girl for creative and fun solutions to domestic life and its responsibilities. Today, Julie is seen regularly by millions as “The Accidental Housewife” on national TV including RACHEL RAY, TODAY, The View, Fox ‘n Friends, Real Simple TV; heard daily on ABC RADIO Networks where she hosts 60 second S.O.S. (Save Our Sanity) vignettes; featured in major magazines such as Family Circle, Woman’s Day, Glamour, Quick ‘n Simple, and New York Magazine; and on line as a lifestyle anchor on Oxygen TV’s new broadband network oomph.net and her own site www.theaccidentalhousewife.com.
As a follow-up to her New York Times Best-selling book, “The Accidental Housewife: How to Overcome Housekeeping Hysteria One Task at a Time (Ballantine Books/June 2006) Julie is writing her next book which will be a hard-cover, published by Hyperion. It will be the ‘must have’ compendium for all accidental housewives and run the gamut of how to deal with day to day housewifing -cleaning, organizing, laundry and home repair where ‘just enough’ is the modi operandi of the day in maintaining one’s sanity and home.
