Stephanie Hersh dreamed of a job in the culinary world, but she never imagined she would have a front row seat to the life of the biggest culinary icon around, Julia Child. Stephanie became Julia’s executive assistant in the most unlikely of ways, when a chance phone call came into the secretarial school she was attending after time at the Culinary Institute of America. The only catch? Julia wanted an office assistant, not a starry-eyed culinary school grad. Stephanie talked her way into the job and wound up becoming Julia’s right hand for almost 16 years. Today, Stephanie is a chef instructor with Oceania Cruises and is based in New Zealand. She joins host Kerry Diamond to share some of her memories, her thoughts on the film Julie & Julia, and what Julia was like as a boss. Thank you to Mommenpop for sponsoring this episode. Our theme song is by the band Tra La La.Subscribe to our newsletter and check out past episodes and transcripts here!Listen to Dishing on Julia, The Official HBO Max Companion podcast, here!

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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