Julie Wainwright

About

Serial Entrepreneur. Pioneer. Leader.

She founded The RealReal in June 2011, bringing luxury consignment online and into the modern world with a digital marketplace for authenticated luxury goods. The company changed the way people buy and sell high-end luxury across all categories. Wainwright raised sizable venture capital, built a membership of millions, sold millions of items, and in 2019 took the company public as one of only 23 women in history to found and lead a company to an IPO. The company is a pioneer in sustainability efforts in the luxury space, with partnerships with Gucci, Burberry, and Stella McCartney. The RealReal is the first luxury member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's CE100 USA and the first resale member of the UN Climate Change's Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action.

As someone who has been at the helm of leading tech companies for more than 20 years, she was also notably the CEO of Reel.com in 1997 and Pets.com in 1999. She has received several prestigious industry awards including Entrepreneur Magazine's 50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs, Fast Company's Most Creative People, CNBC's Disruptor 50, Inc. Magazine's 100 Female Founders List, a Retail Innovator of the Year Award, and Business of Fashion's Best of 500. She was celebrated by Forbes on their inaugural 50 Successful Women Over 50 list and was on the cover of Forbes Magazine in June 2021.

She actively supports local and national nonprofits that focus on entrepreneurship, education, the arts, sustainability, and animal welfare. She currently sits on the board of The RealReal Foundation and is the President of the board of MOCA, one of the foremost museums for contemporary art in the US. She has funded higher education scholarships supporting diversity and sustainability, including for sustainable fashion at Parsons School of Design, Women in STEM at Purdue University, and minority students at San Francisco Art Institute. She is a proud investor in Bay Football Club, the first women's professional soccer team in the SF Bay Area.

After launching her critically acclaimed book, Time to Get Real in 2025, she is currently dedicating time to helping entrepreneurs and public speaking.