Julia Haart’s unbelievable journey from communist Russia, to strict Orthodox community, to jet-setting fashion designer

If you’ve binged much TV this pandemic, you might have happened upon a new reality TV show on Netflix called “My Unorthodox Life.” The show is centered around Julia Haart, a high-powered CEO and fashion designer with a penchant for short skirts and sky-high heels. In between design meetings and runway shows, Julia is also seen managing her growing — and grown up — kids, in a straight-talking, cool-mom kind of way. Their lives appear glitzy, fashionable, busy, and champaign-filled. But it’s a far cry from the world Julia left in 2013. Until she was 40 years old, Julia lived in an extreme ultra Orthodox Jewish community in upstate New York. If you’ve ever watched the show and wondered how this all happened, Julia is finally sharing her full story in her memoir, Brazen, which is out now. On this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie finds out how Julia went from a communist Russian childhood, to married off at 19 and living under the strict rules of her Orthodox community, to jet-setting, designing shoes and dresses for celebrities and, up until a few months ago, being the head of Elite World Group, one of the largest global modeling agencies. It’s a journey you really have to hear for yourself.

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