In 1995 Julie and Michael’s first son Joe was born, followed quickly by Tom and then Paddy. With three boys under the age of three, life was incredibly active for Julie but far from slowing down, in 2002 she and Michael took the plunge and started their own IT consulting company. Hard work and commitment paid off, the business grew and soon they moved their office from the corner of their lounge room to their own premises in North Gosford and built up a team of dedicated employees.
In December 2008 Julie applied for the first series of MasterChef Australia. Little did she realise how much her life would change. Taking Australia by storm, the TV series put twenty amateur cooks through their paces, with just one to be crowned ‘MasterChef’. So it was on 19th July 2009 that Julie, watched by almost 4 million Australians, took out the title as the first ever MasterChef.
In a whirlwind of activity since her win, Julie’s first book ‘Our Family Table’ published with Random House in April of 2010, went immediately to No 1 where it stayed for over 10 weeks, having sold around 200,000 so far it is one of Australia’s largest selling cook books ever. Julie has a further 2 book deal with Random House, with book 2 due to publish for Christmas 2011. A dream come true Julie has been a regular columnist for the Australian’s Women’s Weekly since September 2009 and resident cook on the Today Show for Ch9.
In August 2010 Julie launched the first series of her own cooking show Home Cooked! Lending her name to endorse products she truly believes in Julie is the ambassador for Glad and Fountain sauces.
Along with the many charities Julie supports such as her local Community Chest, St Vincent de Paul and 40K Foundation Julie has taken on the privilege of becoming an official ambassador for the McGrath Foundation and Oxfam.
