Her Kids Call Her "HiMaWhat'sFaDinna?" But You Can Call Her Judy

Judy Gruen’s main occupation is lobbying the federal government to create a Division of Cellulite Studies at the Department of Health and Human Services. In her spare time, she writes books, humor columns, and complaint letters.

Her new book, The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement, was published in May by Creative Minds Press. Starbucks selected a quote from the book that appeared on more than 5 million of its cups, and Judy was quite excited by this until one of her kids observed that this meant that people would be throwing away her quote and her name 5 million times. Already generating good buzz, The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement quickly became one of the top ten Hot New Releases on Amazon.com in the humor essay category. Judy’s previous books include Till We Eat Again: Confessions of a Diet Dropout, named “Best Humor Book of 2003” by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. The book was also serialized on eDiets.com. Her first book, Carpool Tunnel Syndrome: Motherhood as Shuttle Diplomacy, also achieved widespread notice for a first book. Working not only as author but also self-publisher, Judy sold thousands of copies to Scholastic Book Fairs, giving the book nationwide exposure. Woman’s Day magazine also published an excerpt of the book, “How Green Was My Checkbook,” a favorite chapter of many readers. 

Judy graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in English Literature, which has proven to be just as unmarketable as her parents predicted. She also has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. In addition to learning such journalistic observations as “If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and acts like a duck, it’s a duck,” Judy also learned that Evanston is a place that is too cold to wear open-toed shoes in February in the snow. (What did she know? She had lived all her life in California.)

After collecting these degrees, Judy worked in health care public relations. For a brief yet shining moment, she was publications editor at a Fortune 500 company that gave her an American Express credit card. She used it to charge business lunches until the day the feds came and closed the place down for crimes having nothing to do with her use of said credit card.

Judy is a regular humor columnist for aish.com, mommasaid.net, Jewish Life magazine, and podcasts her humor on ouradio.org. Her essays and features have appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, Skirt!, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and many other publications. She has been quoted extensively in the media, including in Better Homes & Gardens, the New York Times, and Woman’s Day. Her work has been published in five humor anthologies, and her popular email humor column, “Off My Noodle,” is available by subscribing via email or a direct-to-your desktop (RSS) delivery. The sign-up box is to your right.