Julie Hernandez has been in the field of addiction, co-dependency, trauma, grief, parenting, and anti-bullying work for over forty years. She was a co-founder of one of the largest counseling centers on Long Island and worked as director of community relations on Long Island for a group of psychiatric hospitals and substance abuse facilities. She also hosted "Spotlight on the Issues" a radio show on WLIE. Julie has been on numerous non-profit boards, including president of New Perspectives: an organization whose mission focused on anti-bullying. She appeared on MSNBC and CNN to help families of plane crash victims, as she lost her own father in a commercial airline crash as a child. She has been quoted in Time magazine and the New York Post, and she has appeared on TV and in a few documentaries about her work in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. She has numerous honors for her volunteer work, including being in the circle of heroes at the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Newsday and Women's World have both featured her life story. She lives in Northport, New York with her husband of forty-three years, Rich. They have two married children and five grandchildren.