In her previous incarnations, Julie has been a legislative assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives, a high school instructor for government, a lobbyist for international educational and cultural exchange, a professional gardener, and still today, a mother. She holds a B.A. from the University of Iowa and an M.B.A. from the George Washington University, and also spent a post-graduate year studying international relations at the University of Vienna, Austria.

In addition to parenting three over-scheduled school-aged kids, she volunteers at their schools, serves as an English language tutor, is a Master Gardener Volunteer, and hosts a quarterly Salon des Femmes discussion group.

Developing recipes based on sweets eaten during trips to various regions in Italy, translating recipes to English, perfecting classic recipes, and offering these prized sweets to customers is incredibly stimulating work with so many rewards. In what other job is quality control such an unalloyed perk? And baking is in her genes… Her great-grandfather, a Swiss immigrant to the United States in the early 20th century, and later, her grandfather after returning from active service in WWII, were both bakers and bakery-owners.