Julie Hartigan’s Recipe for a Big, Juicy Life: How an engineer turned chef leaned into her gifts and dreams

Julie Hartigan didn’t grow up with much money, but she was smart, worked hard, and was good at math. As she neared high school graduation, she filled out a bubble form that told her she should pursue engineering, accounting, or architecture as a career. She knew she wanted to get out and see the world, and since her high school guidance counselor told her girls couldn’t be architects, she decided to become an engineer. 

She was on track to make lots of money and get lots of fancy promotions to her job title, but she walked away from it all.

It turns out, Julie wasn’t just good at math. She was also really good at cooking, hosting, and understanding what other people want and need. In this episode, you’ll hear what happened when Julie leaned fully into all of her gifts and talents. Spoiler alert: It all worked out really well. 

And that makes it extra important to listen closely to this episode because while we will hear stories over and over about what happens when it doesn’t work, maybe what we really need is more stories about what happens when it does. (And honestly, if it doesn’t work out as you hoped, you’ll probably be fine, and learn exactly what you need to learn for the next bold choice you make!)

Here’s a taste of Julie’s recipe for a big, juicy life:

💓Give yourself permission. It’s pretty unlikely that you’ll get what you want without asking for it. 

💓Don’t wait until you’re ready. Start saying yes before you are 1000% sure that you're ready, because otherwise, you'll never be ready

💓Say yes to adventure. Maybe that thing you want to do is scary. Maybe you aren’t sure you’ll be good at it. The adventure is finding out what’s possible if you try.

💓Tune out discouraging voices. It doesn't matter what you do. People are always going to have an opinion of you. You might as well do what's true for you because even if you do what they say you should do, then someone else will have something to say to you.

💓Stay clear-eyed. Your old familiar life or career or relationship will always want to pull you back, so remember what you didn’t want as you create what you do want.

💓Do what truly lights you up. Even though everyone else is doing something, and it’s possible for you to do it, if you are not truly energized by it, it’s going to be infinitely tougher to be successful.

If Julie’s story makes you hunger for more joy, more connection, and more delicious wisdom, join her on one of her fabulous upcoming trips to Tuscany! You can learn more about them at www.JulieHartigan.com. Follow @juliehartigan on IG & @cookingwjulie on FB and Youtube for more delicious wisdom!

Meet all of The Uplifters at https://www.theuplifterspodcast.com

Julie Hartigan

Julie Hartigan is an engineer-turned-chef and empty nester mom of 2 girls - who helps women live their best lives at all ages and stages through healthy cooking & coaching programs as well as through empowering and fun Food-Wine-Culture trips for women to Italy with more locations coming soon. Julie is a regular on morning and lifestyle shows and has published 1000's of recipes and cooking videos. Her small group women's travel experiences focus on women-supporting-women with a priority on visiting with inspiring women chefs, winemakers, and artisans in Italy. The chef-led trips are designed to be both inspiring and transformative as well as a safe supportive group for solo travelers to join to experience the world.