Lunch with a Purpose

Since launching The RealReal in 2011, Julie Wainwright has transformed how we buy and sell fashion, jewelry, and art, all while promoting sustainability and circularity. Discover the story behind Wainwright’s groundbreaking success as the founder of The RealReal, including a conversation, a styling demonstration, and an inspired dining experience.

Proceeds from this series support Grace Farms Foundation’s mission across five initiatives, the preservation of our natural landscapes, and the advancement of ethical, innovative solutions for a more humane future.

About Julie Wainright

Julie Wainwright is the CEO and Co-founder of Ahara, the only food-first personalized nutrition company that translates clinically validated science into practical and precise nutrition for optimal health. She founded The RealReal in 2011, bringing luxury consignment online and into the modern world with a digital marketplace for authenticated luxury goods. When Julie took The RealReal public in 2019, she became the 23rd woman in history to found and lead a company to an IPO. She is also the author of Time to Get Real, an upcoming memoir about her entrepreneurial journey creating The RealReal, which shares the lessons, triumphs, and setbacks she faced along the way.

She has received several prestigious industry awards and accolades from Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, CNBC, Inc. Magazine, Business of Fashion, and more.

She was recently selected by Forbes for their inaugural 50 Successful Women Over 50 list and was celebrated on the cover of Forbes Magazine in June 2021.

Along with being a sought-after speaker, Julie serves as an advisor to Purdue University’s Fashion Tech Lab and the Krannert School of Management and actively supports local and national nonprofits that focus on entrepreneurship, education, the arts, sustainability, and animal welfare.