The Greater Good

Julie Wainwright

06.03.21

When The RealReal went public, Julie set aside some of the earnings toward charitable funds. Her underlying mission is to give back and to benefit society, and she's a big believer in education, stemming from the opportunities it unlocked for her. Julie and her team are leading the charge in corporate sustainability and charity!

Summary:

When The RealReal went public, Julie set aside some of the earnings toward charitable funds. Her underlying mission is to give back and to benefit society, and she’s a big believer in education, stemming from the opportunities it unlocked for her. Julie and her team are leading the charge in corporate sustainability and charity!

Thuy

You've also set up a philanthropic arm of the company, a scholarship and education foundation that includes giving grants to community education initiatives, and I want to disclose that I am on the board for the Education Foundation. Why was this so important to you to set aside some proceeds from the IPO for charitable causes in this way?
Julie_Wainwright

Julie Wainwright

Well, the real focus was on education, and I'm a big believer in the transformative power of education. My father was one of six kids. He was the only one that the family could afford to go to college. And all my brothers and sisters went to college and our lifestyle and the way we view the world is so different than people that actually didn't have that opportunity to get further educated. So for me, it's a life-changer. It sets you on your path to really understanding who you are, what your role in the world is, what you can give back in the world, and how you can really benefit society. And it all comes down to having more opportunities through education. So I'm a big believer. RealReal's foundation supports people in STEM. Also liberal arts. I'm a big believer in liberal arts and also sustainability. So those are the three legs there. We also give locally for at-risk youth, again, focused on education, getting them into a work program. But then I personally have set up two scholarships, one at Parsons for sustainable fashion. And then one at Purdue, it's women in STEM who go on to study business and those are both launching this fall. So at least I already heard from Purdue. Six young women are getting scholarships and I'm really excited about it.