Julie Wainwright: From Dot-Com Bust to The RealReal Boom

About this episode

Julie Wainwright shares her journey of resilience and reinvention from the dot-com bust to founding The RealReal.

Julie Wainwright’s career (and personal life) is a masterclass in resilience and reinvention, having seen Pets.com collapse on the very same day her marriage ended. On this episode of She Pivots, Julie opens up about the highs of leading companies at the forefront of the dot-com boom, and the devastating lows of reaching a personal professional rock-bottom on the same day. Rather than letting failure define her, she rebuilt from the ground up, ultimately founding The RealReal and taking it public—becoming one of the few women to lead a company she created all the way to IPO. Julie reflects on what it means to move through public scrutiny, personal heartbreak, and professional betrayal, and how each so-called failure became the launchpad for her next chapter. Now, with her latest venture AHARA and her memoir Time to Get Real , she is proving once again that reinvention is not only possible but powerful.   Be sure to subscribe, leave us a rating, and share with your friends if you liked this episode!   She Pivots was created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight women, their stories, and how their pivot became their success. To learn more about Julie…

People in this episode

Host: Emily Tisch Sussman

Guest: Julie Wainwright

Topics covered

• resilience
• reinvention
• entrepreneurship
• women in business
• personal growth

Keywords

• Julie Wainwright
• The RealReal
• Pets.com
• entrepreneurship
• resilience
• reinvention
• women in business
• IPO
• AHARA
• Time to Get Real

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The RealReal, Pets.com, AHARA

Books & works: Time to Get Real

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