Julia Haart at a 2017 event for La Perla. Image by Getty

By Irene Katz Connelly March 11, 2021

Whether you are pining for more drama about formerly Haredi Jews or simply have an unending appetite for puns on the word “Orthodox,” Netflix has you covered.

Almost a year after releasing the blockbuster miniseries “Unorthodox,” the streaming giant announced a reality show entitled “My Unorthodox Life,” about Julia Haart, a fashion executive who left her Orthodox community to become a mover and shaker in the design world.

Currently the CEO of Elite World Group, a large network of model management agencies, Haart has previously worked at luxury lingerie brand La Perla and launched her own shoe collections.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Julia Haart (@juliahaart)

But before all that, she had a very different career. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Haart was a Judaic Studies teacher at Yeshiva Atlanta (now Atlanta Jewish Academy), a co-ed Modern Orthodox high school. Forward staff who knew her at the time – when she went by the name Talia Hendler – recalled that she was beloved by students and known for her sharp style.

Netflix said the show, set to release later this year, will follow Haart as she balances her “mission to revolutionize the industry from the inside out” with her role as a mother to four children, including popular TikTok-er Batsheva Haart.

“My Unorthodox Life” is helmed by the producers of wealth-porn reality show “Bling Empire,” which suggests that there will be plenty of high heels and dinner party spats. As a successor to the lush and moody “Unorthodox,” it seems a little — well, you know what the word is.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t be watching.

Irene Katz Connelly is a staff writer at the Forward. You can contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @katz_conn.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount