May 11, 2023 • 38 mins
At the start of the pandemic, Julia Hartz realized she might lose everything she had spent 14 years building. So the co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite activated her mamma bear. She got fierce. She moved fast. And she kept the live events platform alive. In this episode, Julia Hartz talks about how she got the publicly traded company back from the brink of shutting down, shares why working at a local cafe as a teenager was transformative, and explains why her North Star as a business leader is the often overlooked quality of consistency.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, and welcome back to Out of Office. I'm your
host Malika Kapoor. When Julia Harts was a teenager, she
got a job at a local cafe called the Ugly Mogue.
She worked long hours there. She was the one who
turned the lights on in the morning, and she was
the one who turned them off every night. She says
this experience was transformative and greatly influenced her work ethic
(00:28):
and today as a co founder and CEO of event Bright,
she draws on what she learned serving coffee to serve
event bright users around the world. As you probably know,
event bright is a live event platform, so naturally, the
pandemic was brutal for the company. The company was issuing
refund after refund, but Julia wasn't about to see the
(00:51):
company fold. She says she activated her Mama Bear. She
got fierce, she moved fast, and in this episode of
Out of Her, she talks about how she pulled event
Bright back from the brink. Here's Julia Harts on Out
of Office. Julia, welcome to Out of Office.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Thank you so much for having me. It's great to
see you.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
The live event's business I event bright is a platform
that gives you all the tools to bring people together,
organizing an event, tickets, marketing. We're at a very interesting
time in history now, hopefully the worst of the pandemic
is behind us. People are coming together. What's bringing people together?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Well, it's such an interesting time, as you said, I mean,
it's we're coming out of honestly, one of the most
impactful global societal.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Shared experiences.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
If you think about the fact that not one human
on the planet was not impacted in some way by
the pandemic, it's just this remarkable time. And I think
that people are coming out there, getting out of their homes.
They're coming together mostly to celebrate right now, really to
be together and enjoy each other's company, whether it's at
(02:17):
a music festival or a you know, art show. And
I think that as we continue to process what's happened
through the pandemic and frankly the collective trauma of that
social isolation, I think we're going to see new ways
of gathering emerge. And you know, I think and I
(02:37):
hope that we'll continue to get together as communities to
solve problems.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
We're certainly starting to see that.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I mean, I live in San Francisco, which has you know,
it's a beautiful gem of a city, and we have
our fair share of problems, and we're starting to really
see citizens come together to solve those problems at a
grassroots level.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Which is exciting.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
There's you know, weekend street cleanups, there's a program where
you can adopt a street. There's live music being played outdoors.
You know, it's just it's it's a sort of renaissance.
And I think that if that's a microcosm of hopefully
what's happening around the world in different ways.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
You know, I have a lot of hope for the future.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
During the pandemic. I want to take you back just
a couple of years. I mean, you're in the live
events business. You know how worried were you. Was there
a moment when you thought, my god, I might have
to shut event right down? Did that pot occur to you? Well?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I think that there's a really unique experience and story
in what happened. Certainly we weren't the only ones, but
we were at the tip of the spear during COVID
and to see the impact of a business that I
and my teammates have spent fourteen years building essentially go
(04:02):
away in fourteen days was surreal at best, pretty terrifying.
But in the moment in the crisis, there was only
one fleeting moment where I thought, how, how is how.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Is this actually happening?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
How is something that we've we've been spent so many years,
so much blood, speat and tears, you know, building.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Go Like it just was this moment of like, how
how can this be? So fleeting? And then I turned
that moment into just you know, focus and energy around.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Saving what I knew to be this really important place
in the world where we where we you know, sit
and what we help people do, and really turning that
energy into how can we help our creators survive? Because
the impact was devastating. I mean, live events were mandated
not to happen. Gathering was something that you know that
(05:07):
officials were saying not to do. So the entire basis
of our business, the entire reason why we exist went
away again in the span of like two weeks.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
And so what we did.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Was we turned our energy, our attention are you know,
just stubbornness, I guess on how we could help our
customers survive, and that really helped us, That buoyed us
through the through the crisis. But I would say personally,
I activated the Mama Bear, and like it was quite fierce.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I hadn't. I really had no idea what I would
be like in a.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Crisis like that, because I hadn't led through a crisis
quite like that before.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
When you say you activated the Moment Bear, what did
you do?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I moved fast and and you know, it wasn't just me.
It was a collective I would say, of about fifty people,
but both internally on the team as well as externally,
and included our board, my co founder and husband Kevin,
and some advisors around us who just care a lot about.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
What we've created. And we.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Made the very, very difficult decision to downsize the company
in order to.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Really survive the impact of We were.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Generating negative revenue at the time, so I mean we
were actually generating more refunds than revenue because events were
being canceled.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And we were refunding consumers.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And we centered that decision around a go forward strategy
that would really anchor us. And really it was a
very important to me that we make these decisions based
on something that was really meaningful and that we would
be working on for a few years time. It wasn't
just in the moment, reactive and sort of making short
(06:59):
term descis visions.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And we shored up the company's.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Finances and we did all of that in less than
ninety days. So it was it was a really I
would say speed was the thing that I activated.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
The most, and.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know the way that I led through that and
decisiveness and you really didn't have time to second guest decisions.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I read somewhere that you came home one day in
March twenty twenty and found that your husband had set
up a war room. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Well, we have a home office. It's actually where I'm
sitting right now. And I was the last person in
the office. I like wanted to really make sure everybody
got home and safe. And you know, those those early
days were really really scary and just uncertainty everywhere. And
(08:00):
I hugged our CFO and I actually started crying, and
I felt like, oh gosh, we had only worked together
for a few months, and I thought, oh, he's.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Probably going, oh gosh, is she going to be able
to do this. It was the last tear that I
shed for a very long time.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
But I I just I was devastated because I knew
I mean again, we were at the tip of the spear,
so we could see it what was happening globally, and
I just knew this was going to be sort of
almost an age defining moment. And so I came home
and I walked into the house and in our office,
(08:35):
Kevin had been at home had been setting up these
gaming monitors that are really long and they are like curved,
and he had a bunch of them set up so
that it was almost this three sixty you know, sphere
of like information, and then there were two chairs in
the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
There were whiteboards, and it was truly.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Said that it was a romantic moment. Was because the
two chairs meant I wasn't alone. It wasn't like one
singular chair, you know, command and control center.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
He was really saying to me with that action, I'm
going to drop everything. I mean, he has his.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Own career and and you know, set of challenges and
things to do, and he was going to drop everything
and join me as a co founder and help help
all of us, you know, get get through that moment.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And so it was that it was a really intense time.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I was quite fascinated when I read that you did
call it a romantic moment.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
That's a lot about me, but I get it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean, it's someone showing up for you, right.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, I mean I think that that you know, any
any CEO, and and certainly you know co founder. Like
I think it's so cliche when people say it's a
lonely job, but there are moments where you realize that
no one's coming to save you.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
You are going to need to lead through this.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And I think that it was a really kind gesture
for him to show that I wasn't going to be
all on my own. And yeah, and you know, we've
grown our relationship through being co founders. We were engaged
when we started Avoupright, so we started as a couple.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
But I think just so much.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Of what our lives have been I've been around building
a business, building a company, building a team that we
really believe in in that Booy's a lot of our
life and it connects a lot of who we are
and what we do.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And so in that moment, it just felt pretty similar
to like.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
If you have a sick kid or something where you
just come together and you focus, you make it happen.
So that meant a lot to me as did again,
probably fifty people who dropped everything to help us.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Now, Kevin, your husband has been a big part of
your professional story, your professional journey as well in both
co founders of event Right, So two questions here. What
did your strategy to work together? Because that could be
tricky when you're working so closely with your husband, right.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Well, you know, I think when we started it, yes
I should, I should validate what you just said.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yes, it is tricky. It's not for everybody. I think
when we started the company, it was really unheard of.
There were only.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Bad stories of couples who hadn't who had either broken
up or who had you know, their companies hadn't worked out.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
We didn't.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
We didn't really have any positive examples except for one.
And there are some of our closest friends, Michael and
Sochi Birch, who founded Bibo and Birthday Alarm together, and
when we asked them for their advice, they said, divide
and conquer, never work on the same thing at the
same time ever, And we really took.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That to heart and used it as one of our principles.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
And it worked well for us because we have very
complimentary skills. And I should point out that we had
a third co founder, still do Reno Visage, who joined
us shortly after we decided to work together, and so
it was the three of us, and I think it
was really helpful to balance out all of our specialties
(12:14):
and superpowers.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And so, you know, we bootstrapped the company for two years.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
We spent less than a quarter of a million dollars
getting event Right to product market fit, to traction to
a place where folks were really coming to event Right
and using it in a significant scale. And I'm pretty
proud of that, and I really look back at that
time as a signal and a validation of the functionality
that we had as a group and as co founders.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
And then when we went to go out and raise
our first round of funding, that's when we needed to
you know, obviously address the elephant in the room, because
it was still not a real.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Popular notion, and so we would just start every meeting
by addressing it. And that's like, that's very Kevin and
I were very transparent. We like to just you know,
get it out there, do the right thing, and I
think that really helped us build trust.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
In those meetings.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And then ultimately, you know, so Quoia Capital decided to
support us and have been you know, incredible, incredible support
system to us throughout the last fifteen years. And I
think that there are more and more.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Co founding couples now.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I mean, I certainly feel like it's something that people
can see and you know, maybe decide that that's right
for them. But I think it is tricky because you
never quite get to turn it off, right.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I get asked a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
You know when you turn it off, and it's like, well,
never really, because we both care so deeply about this
company that it's a it's a benefit that we can
we can always talk about it.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And then when Kevin decided to step down as CEO,
you were president when he was CEO. Can you walk
me through what was going on in your head when
you decided that you would step in as CEO and
you would pike over a CEO of A.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Well, I don't. I don't know if.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Most people feel ready for that. Uh, maybe there are
people who who do feel very ready. I felt like
it was an honor of privilege and a responsibility to
step into that role if I could, and certainly it
was the board's decision, so you know, I respected either
(14:27):
way it was going to work out. And I think that,
you know, knowing that I'm not the same person as
Kevin and knowing that there's going to be different things
that I do well or that I'm drawn to, was
something that we could be really mindful about and that
(14:49):
I could make sure that I surrounded myself with people
who you know, could compliment that.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
But I made a joke to Kevin after the.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
First couple of months, like, you know, you made it
look so easy, like and I feel like I was
in Candyland and now I'm in tron.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
This is not easy.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
And so I just deeply respect the way that he
approached the role because it can get to your head
very quickly.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think, probably I don't know, eighty percent of it
is how you as the leader.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Can take care of yourself, activate the things in you
that the will to lead is kind of how I
think about.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It, like how you can be the most consistent in that.
And it is really an endurance sport. So I've gotten
much much better at it.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Over over the past you know, I guess six years.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
But I love the way that every day I'm learning
something new and it's unlocking knowledge.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I'm just so I'm so addicted to learning and kind
of infatuated with the idea that you're always improving.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
But I'm delighted now that I start to see things
that I've seen before and I can pattern match. So
there's sort of I'm sort of in this.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Like sweet spot of my CEO tenure, you know, And
I feel really grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And I think Kevin's been really helpful. But you also
have to.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Have a strong sense of self to not be asking yourself, well,
how would he do it differently?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And he's here, I can ask him how you would
do it differently? Right, And so's it's challenging, you know
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
What's the one leadership quality you value the most, especially
as a CEO.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I think consistency over all else. I think that it's.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Something that I both value and something that I work
on the most, because I think that you can be brilliant,
and you can be kind, and you can be brave,
and you can be shrewd, and there are all these
qualities that really celebrated leaders have, but I think consistency
(17:16):
is something that is really difficult to achieve and maintain
at a high performance level.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And why I think consistency is so important.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Is because in any ecosystem with humans involved, like, there
is great power in being able to anticipate and being
able to create pattern recognition and being able to come
(17:49):
back to a north star, whether it's the principles, the values,
the mission, and it's difficult to achieve, Like I think
that I'm in pursuit of that, especially now now that
I feel far more confident and capable of leading this company,
(18:09):
and I know, you know I can.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I can really like understand.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Where my kind of opportunities lie and the influence that
I can have on this incredible company. It's really I
think the consistency that matters, and where you see if
you like read biographies of great leaders, there's that that
theme threaded throughout, and I just don't think it gets
the airtime right. It doesn't like it's not a sexy
(18:36):
subject to talk about consistency.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
But I'm fascinated that you pick that because I do
interview a fair number of CEOs, and I have to
be honest, it's the first time I've heard that. Can
you explain that a little bit more deeply? When you
say consistency, is it being consistent to your mission? Is
it being consistent to showing up in the same way
for your employees. What is does consistency mean to you?
(19:02):
In what way do you want to embrace consistency?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
So I would say it's all of the above that
you mentioned, but to me, it means that a leader
has the self awareness to understand a situation and to
run it back through a filter and through.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Organizational system that allows.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
For them to turn whatever information that's coming in or
whatever they're feeling, because we're all humans right into something
that's actually productive for the company, and that's consistently applied
across different situations, different challenges.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
So it's almost like a groundedness, I would say.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
And it's a way to be able to build trust,
it's a way to be able to.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
You know, build belief.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
It's a way to be able to connect with the
people you work and you care for.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
But I think so often humans get caught in.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Mirroring a reaction to a situation based on whatever that
situation is, right, And so if it's a you know,
if it's a crisis, you are you are heightened in
your emotionality, you are you know, focused, you are aggressive,
you are this this this I actually think that is
the sign of an immature leader.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And it's not that we all need to go be
you know, like like it's some you know, Buddha.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
But I think we we honestly could learn some really
important lessons from from you know, folks who have shown
and threaded through their lives and their missions and their career.
Just a consistent set of values and a consistent way
of showing up in the world.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
That has a really quiet power that I think we
could use a.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Lot more of, right especially in the time where it's
sort of reaction begets. Reaction begets, you know, like the
way that we consume media and information and so on
and so forth.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Event bright is your baby, your passion, your company now,
But you've had some You've had some pretty interesting jobs
before starting in the age of fourteen, when you work
in a coffee shop called the Ugly Mug, and you'd
be the first and the lights on, you'd be the
last to leave turning the lights off. Tell me about
your experience at the Ugly Mug, And do you think
(21:37):
those early years of working there I have influence to
your work ethic I do.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I mean, you know, I'm very aware of the people
in my life now who had an outsized impact and
I didn't realize it back when I was a child.
I think that's probably pretty common. But in high site,
as I collect more data points and I'm reflective on
(22:07):
who I am, and I think also having children of
this age, you know, it.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Makes you really be tapped into.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
What formative experiences you had that led to you being
who you are, good, bad and different.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
And one for me was definitely The Ugly Mug. I mean,
I love that. I'm so delighted that this is part
of my life that I.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Worked at at this coffee place in the name of it,
and what was special about it was it was a
I grew up in a small beach town, very close community.
The founder of the Ugly Mug moved into town was
sort of a peculiar guy.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
He was very, very passionate about coffee.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
So he brought this beautiful manual Italian machine that was
probably the only one in our town, and he was
meticulous about training his staff on how to use it,
and he The Ugly Mug was an ode to the
fact that he brought all of his mug collection with
him to this tiny town and a setup shop and
(23:15):
the mugs for everybody we served drinks in them, they
were all over them. I mean, it was just like
it's still there today. You can go, you can go
see it in so Cal, California, and it just I
think it taught me a lot about excellence, about craft,
about attention to detail, about you know, being meticulous.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
And I was just this high school kid and I'm
learning how to draw the perfect espresso shot. And so
that was the first lesson.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
The second lesson was customer service because the minute I
was behind the counter, and yes I would do the
early shift, there was always this one woman who would
come in on Saturday mornings. She would stand outside at
five fifty nine and I'd open the door at six
and she would walk in and any drink I made her, no.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Matter what it was. And she'd actually order different drinks
every week, which was interesting. She hated it and she'd
send it back and make me do it again.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
And I was terrified of this woman because she also
would just tell me like how much my latte sucked,
and so it was very negative. And then I finally
realized about four weeks in that she just wanted someone
to talk to and instead of going back and forth
about the drink. I started stealing my parents' local newspaper
(24:37):
with me on the way out the door, and I'd
put it on the counter and she'd walk in and
I would point to any kind of.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Story and be like, what do you think about that?
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And we'd start talking about that, and all of a
sudden she loved my drinks. And so that was a
big lesson for me, right, like, of empathy, of understanding
customer needs. And I don't know how I would have
gotten that lesson in life if it hadn't been for
that experience.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
That is a great lesson. And I have to say,
as a fourteen year old, well done. And you to
pick that up that, you know, you realize that all
she needed was company. I mean, she was obviously just
lonely in that she was reaching out for something else,
not just a latte.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
And then later on you were an intern on the
set of Friends. Was that fun? Was that intimidating? Tell
me about that?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Oh gosh, I mean, another surreal experience.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
It was.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Overwhelming. I would say.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It was at the height of the Friends frenzy and
there was just a lot going on, and I think
what was challenging for me was the kind of culture
of secrecy and paranoia that persisted because it was such
(25:57):
a huge hit that everything had to be you know,
very protected, the storylines, the guest stars, and it just created.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
This really kind of bad culture.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I would say, now, I was very young, so I
want to like, I kind of want to discount myself
a bit, but it was my worst job because it
was and which would seem strange, you know, I was
on the set with these mega stars and you're in
the height of the seigeist but it was just really
a challenging environment.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
However, I have to say that the cast they were very, very.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Tight and insular and almost like you know, they were
in their own vortex of this massive theme, and they
were delightful to one another and honestly to the crew.
It was just everything else around.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
It was super difficult.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
And my job as intern was to answer the set
phone and to go find whoever was calling. So I
walked around with this big wireless phone, and I can
just say, without a doubt it created a phone phobia
that I have I have barely recovered from.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
So yeah, it's just I'm going to have to work
that out eventually.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Did anyone interesting call.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Well, anyone who has the number to the friends set
at that moment in time.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
They were all really interesting.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
People, right or powerful people, I would say, but they
weren't very patient.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
They were very kind.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Can Jennifer and get her now?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yes? Yes, it was terrifying.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So I'm still getting over my phone phobia.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
So I read a really interesting story about you going
to college. You had a dream college. You got accepted,
but it was really expensive at that time. You didn't
have the funds to go there, so you wrote them
a letter saying how much you wanted to go, and
the next thing you knew is you've got a scholarship
to go there. I want to know what did you
(28:08):
write in that letter?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Well, I should I should say that I got financial aids,
so I was, which meant that I that I was
indebted to college and to uh to student loans for
quite some time. But I you know, I think I
was very sure about where I wanted to be and
why I wanted to be there, and.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
So that's what I wrote my letter was you know.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
The the like desire to be in that community, to
be in a small liberal arts college, to be you know,
like a part of that community, and then you know
just the why behind wanting to go. And I thought
it was I mean, it was going to be just
tossed in the trash, right, And my mom had told
(28:55):
me to write the letter, and I'm like, O, good mom.
And two days before I was having to commit to
my very very distant number two choice, I received a
huge envelope in the mail and I'll never ever forget that.
It stuffed our little mailbox and it was just such
(29:17):
a thrilling moment. And I often think about who read
that letter and what I mean, that person is truly
responsible for a lot of my life, and I'll never
know who it is, And of course I just recently
thought about that, so you know, the chances of me
finding who they are probably pretty slim.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
But it's incredible to think about. It's just seemingly small moments.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
It was probably just you know, a normal, mundane day
for that person, and they decided, Oh, this person really
wants to go here, let's let's offer them more financial
aid and like a chance everything to me, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Let's give her a chance. Yes, I want to talk
to you quickly about being a woman in the tech sector,
of being a woman in silicon Valley. First of all,
I was just one of whom we were talking just now.
When you took over as CEO of event right after
your husband Kevin had been CEO. You were a woman
leading it. Was there any difference in the way people
(30:22):
viewed the company or in the funding of the support
of the company. God, because it was being led by
a woman.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
You know, it's it's.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I kind of laugh because it's like, yeah, I'm a woman,
and there's not a lot of us in these positions,
so it's really important.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I think that that, like we stay in it.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
I had a lot of privilege, and you know, I
mean that sincerely. It wasn't a solo coch I wasn't
a solo founder. I had the backing and support of
titans of industry, right like one of the most revered
venture firms in Sequoia Capital and.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Rule Off Both who.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Was on our board for thirteen years and has been
a friend for twenty really through his involvement in several
businesses that Kevin's been involved in. You know, he's also
one of my kind of mentors and great mentors or
your biggest critics.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
And I remember him saying.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Be careful what you wish for like this, this is
going to be a steep climb, but I'm going to
be right there with them. I'm going to be behind you,
and they just they really walk the walk. I mean,
there was never a moment where I felt alone. And
I think that when you do have that kind of
support system that in addition to the other investors we
(31:53):
had involved in event right at the time we were
still private company and our board, our lead independent director
Sean Moriarty, is an incredible coach. To me, when you
have that kind of support, I think it's a great privilege.
And so that's I feel like it's it's now my
mission to go find women who don't have that support
(32:15):
and become that support because it means all the difference
in the world.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Not it's not about opening doors or making connections. It's
about knowing that you have someone to turn.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
To when you don't know the answer, or frankly, just
the feeling of people having your back right and that
I think to any human is going to be powerful.
And so what excites me about the time we're living
in now is that there is more and more women
not only in the role as CEO, and again there's
(32:48):
not enough women running their own companies publicly in the
public markets, right, but thinking about the ecosystem of more
women venture, more women in private equity, more women at
the table around you know, board discussions. I don't know,
I'm an internal optimist on this, but I hosted dinner
(33:11):
that is, you know, women founders and CEOs, and that
I can't fit them around my table anymore, right, like
we have we have to keep getting bigger and bigger space.
So that to me is my own little microcosm of
something's working.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
And let's keep going.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
And I think there's some really interesting women founders in
AI that I just I'm I'm so excited about. So
I just say I can see the change and the
path forward. And at the same time, you know, it's
bittersweet when when you when we ring the bell in
(33:47):
the New York Stock Exchange and the and they came
out and said they looked through the archives and they
couldn't find a balcony that had as many women.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
On it as we did. And that was just our
executive team, that wasn't you know. And And when the
when the.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Trader who opened our stocks that he'd never seen this
any kids on the trading floor, and that was just
us bringing our families.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
It wasn't you know, it was like a kid event.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
And so it's just those kind of moments could strike me.
It's like, wow, I can't believe that this is still
where we are. So there's you know, it's kind of dynamic.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
When you get these women around your table one minute morning,
Can I keep you for just maybe two three minutes extra? Yep, Okay,
I'll do great. When when you get these women around
your table, what what are they talking about? What's priority?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Why would say?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
You know, it's a it's a mosaic of topics, it's
you know, we're all speaking the same language. So certainly,
like with any group that you have affinity with, it's
it's you know, comforting to know that you're that you're
facing some of the similar challenges, whether it's running a
public company through this crazy volatile time, or it's you know,
(35:04):
raising funding, or it's building a team. There's just so
much commonality between our experiences but also life. I mean,
it's nice to be able to get together with women
who are running companies, being leaders and also building their lives.
And I think that there's just such a diversity around
(35:26):
the table. It's not one demographic, and I really work
hard at that because I think that's actually where you
end up getting the fullness and richness of an experience
like that. I've been in plenty of experiences where it's
all the same you know, era of women leaders, and
there's value in that, but I think the greater value
(35:49):
is in putting people, giving people seats around the table
who are just absolutely in different stages and phases of
their lives and have very very different experiences. And so
that's what that's what I'm really passionate about in terms
of that particular gathering.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Today, this podcast is called out of Office. What's your
favorite thing to do when you're not in the office?
Speaker 3 (36:13):
Well, golly, I mean, traveling with my family is just
the thing that I live for. So you know, I'm
I'm the cruise director of my entire family. So I
get to be very very directive in this in this pursuit,
which I think is probably a big part of it.
But I would say that they get to benefit from
my from my you know, my leadership in that way
(36:36):
because we do some pretty awesome traveling together.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
So we went to Egypt over in.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Twenty twenty one, which was a big trip to take
during that time, but it was a magical trip, and
so you know, I love to try to find new
ways that we can be together in different environments, and
I would say that's my biggest passion outside of event right.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Do you have any exciting trips planned this year?
Speaker 3 (37:05):
We are going to go to Spain and I haven't
spent a lot of time there. We have over one
hundred and fifty Brightlings in the country and so I'm
excited to see. We often combine event right with travel.
Our last trip before covid hit was to Mendoza, Argentina
to see our team there and bring our girls there,
so you know it's it's going to be funded to
(37:25):
do that and then to also explore Participain.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
I've never been to before. I studied there in college.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
In Madrid, but I didn't I think I was too
busy study to do much traveling.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
The right thing to do, of course. Thank you so
much for your time and for joining me on out
of office.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
That was my conversation with Julia Hart, CEO of event Wright.
I really enjoyed hearing about her journey, especially about her
experience working at the Ugly Marc Cafe. I hope you
enjoyed this episode. Other episodes of Office are on Bloomberg
dot com, the Bloomberg Terminal, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Please
do check them out when you can. Recent episodes include
(38:08):
conversations with makeup entrepreneur Bobby Brown and the president of
the CFA Institute, Mark Franklin. I'm Alika Kapoor. As always,
thank you for listening.
Hello, and welcome back to Out of Office. I'm your
host Malika Kapoor. When Julia Harts was a teenager, she
got a job at a local cafe called the Ugly Mogue.
She worked long hours there. She was the one who
turned the lights on in the morning, and she was
the one who turned them off every night. She says
this experience was transformative and greatly influenced her work ethic
(00:28):
and today as a co founder and CEO of event Bright,
she draws on what she learned serving coffee to serve
event bright users around the world. As you probably know,
event bright is a live event platform, so naturally, the
pandemic was brutal for the company. The company was issuing
refund after refund, but Julia wasn't about to see the
(00:51):
company fold. She says she activated her Mama Bear. She
got fierce, she moved fast, and in this episode of
Out of Her, she talks about how she pulled event
Bright back from the brink. Here's Julia Harts on Out
of Office. Julia, welcome to Out of Office.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Thank you so much for having me. It's great to
see you.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
The live event's business I event bright is a platform
that gives you all the tools to bring people together,
organizing an event, tickets, marketing. We're at a very interesting
time in history now, hopefully the worst of the pandemic
is behind us. People are coming together. What's bringing people together?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Well, it's such an interesting time, as you said, I mean,
it's we're coming out of honestly, one of the most
impactful global societal.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Shared experiences.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
If you think about the fact that not one human
on the planet was not impacted in some way by
the pandemic, it's just this remarkable time. And I think
that people are coming out there, getting out of their homes.
They're coming together mostly to celebrate right now, really to
be together and enjoy each other's company, whether it's at
(02:17):
a music festival or a you know, art show. And
I think that as we continue to process what's happened
through the pandemic and frankly the collective trauma of that
social isolation, I think we're going to see new ways
of gathering emerge. And you know, I think and I
(02:37):
hope that we'll continue to get together as communities to
solve problems.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
We're certainly starting to see that.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I mean, I live in San Francisco, which has you know,
it's a beautiful gem of a city, and we have
our fair share of problems, and we're starting to really
see citizens come together to solve those problems at a
grassroots level.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Which is exciting.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
There's you know, weekend street cleanups, there's a program where
you can adopt a street. There's live music being played outdoors.
You know, it's just it's it's a sort of renaissance.
And I think that if that's a microcosm of hopefully
what's happening around the world in different ways.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
You know, I have a lot of hope for the future.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
During the pandemic. I want to take you back just
a couple of years. I mean, you're in the live
events business. You know how worried were you. Was there
a moment when you thought, my god, I might have
to shut event right down? Did that pot occur to you? Well?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I think that there's a really unique experience and story
in what happened. Certainly we weren't the only ones, but
we were at the tip of the spear during COVID
and to see the impact of a business that I
and my teammates have spent fourteen years building essentially go
(04:02):
away in fourteen days was surreal at best, pretty terrifying.
But in the moment in the crisis, there was only
one fleeting moment where I thought, how, how is how.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Is this actually happening?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
How is something that we've we've been spent so many years,
so much blood, speat and tears, you know, building.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Go Like it just was this moment of like, how
how can this be? So fleeting? And then I turned
that moment into just you know, focus and energy around.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Saving what I knew to be this really important place
in the world where we where we you know, sit
and what we help people do, and really turning that
energy into how can we help our creators survive? Because
the impact was devastating. I mean, live events were mandated
not to happen. Gathering was something that you know that
(05:07):
officials were saying not to do. So the entire basis
of our business, the entire reason why we exist went
away again in the span of like two weeks.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
And so what we did.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Was we turned our energy, our attention are you know,
just stubbornness, I guess on how we could help our
customers survive, and that really helped us, That buoyed us
through the through the crisis. But I would say personally,
I activated the Mama Bear, and like it was quite fierce.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I hadn't. I really had no idea what I would
be like in a.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Crisis like that, because I hadn't led through a crisis
quite like that before.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
When you say you activated the Moment Bear, what did
you do?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I moved fast and and you know, it wasn't just me.
It was a collective I would say, of about fifty people,
but both internally on the team as well as externally,
and included our board, my co founder and husband Kevin,
and some advisors around us who just care a lot about.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
What we've created. And we.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Made the very, very difficult decision to downsize the company
in order to.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Really survive the impact of We were.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Generating negative revenue at the time, so I mean we
were actually generating more refunds than revenue because events were
being canceled.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And we were refunding consumers.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And we centered that decision around a go forward strategy
that would really anchor us. And really it was a
very important to me that we make these decisions based
on something that was really meaningful and that we would
be working on for a few years time. It wasn't
just in the moment, reactive and sort of making short
(06:59):
term descis visions.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And we shored up the company's.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Finances and we did all of that in less than
ninety days. So it was it was a really I
would say speed was the thing that I activated.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
The most, and.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know the way that I led through that and
decisiveness and you really didn't have time to second guest decisions.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I read somewhere that you came home one day in
March twenty twenty and found that your husband had set
up a war room. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Well, we have a home office. It's actually where I'm
sitting right now. And I was the last person in
the office. I like wanted to really make sure everybody
got home and safe. And you know, those those early
days were really really scary and just uncertainty everywhere. And
(08:00):
I hugged our CFO and I actually started crying, and
I felt like, oh gosh, we had only worked together
for a few months, and I thought, oh, he's.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Probably going, oh gosh, is she going to be able
to do this. It was the last tear that I
shed for a very long time.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
But I I just I was devastated because I knew
I mean again, we were at the tip of the spear,
so we could see it what was happening globally, and
I just knew this was going to be sort of
almost an age defining moment. And so I came home
and I walked into the house and in our office,
(08:35):
Kevin had been at home had been setting up these
gaming monitors that are really long and they are like curved,
and he had a bunch of them set up so
that it was almost this three sixty you know, sphere
of like information, and then there were two chairs in
the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
There were whiteboards, and it was truly.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Said that it was a romantic moment. Was because the
two chairs meant I wasn't alone. It wasn't like one
singular chair, you know, command and control center.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
He was really saying to me with that action, I'm
going to drop everything. I mean, he has his.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Own career and and you know, set of challenges and
things to do, and he was going to drop everything
and join me as a co founder and help help
all of us, you know, get get through that moment.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And so it was that it was a really intense time.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I was quite fascinated when I read that you did
call it a romantic moment.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
That's a lot about me, but I get it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean, it's someone showing up for you, right.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, I mean I think that that you know, any
any CEO, and and certainly you know co founder. Like
I think it's so cliche when people say it's a
lonely job, but there are moments where you realize that
no one's coming to save you.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
You are going to need to lead through this.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And I think that it was a really kind gesture
for him to show that I wasn't going to be
all on my own. And yeah, and you know, we've
grown our relationship through being co founders. We were engaged
when we started Avoupright, so we started as a couple.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
But I think just so much.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Of what our lives have been I've been around building
a business, building a company, building a team that we
really believe in in that Booy's a lot of our
life and it connects a lot of who we are
and what we do.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And so in that moment, it just felt pretty similar
to like.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
If you have a sick kid or something where you
just come together and you focus, you make it happen.
So that meant a lot to me as did again,
probably fifty people who dropped everything to help us.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Now, Kevin, your husband has been a big part of
your professional story, your professional journey as well in both
co founders of event Right, So two questions here. What
did your strategy to work together? Because that could be
tricky when you're working so closely with your husband, right.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Well, you know, I think when we started it, yes
I should, I should validate what you just said.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yes, it is tricky. It's not for everybody. I think
when we started the company, it was really unheard of.
There were only.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Bad stories of couples who hadn't who had either broken
up or who had you know, their companies hadn't worked out.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
We didn't.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
We didn't really have any positive examples except for one.
And there are some of our closest friends, Michael and
Sochi Birch, who founded Bibo and Birthday Alarm together, and
when we asked them for their advice, they said, divide
and conquer, never work on the same thing at the
same time ever, And we really took.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That to heart and used it as one of our principles.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
And it worked well for us because we have very
complimentary skills. And I should point out that we had
a third co founder, still do Reno Visage, who joined
us shortly after we decided to work together, and so
it was the three of us, and I think it
was really helpful to balance out all of our specialties
(12:14):
and superpowers.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And so, you know, we bootstrapped the company for two years.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
We spent less than a quarter of a million dollars
getting event Right to product market fit, to traction to
a place where folks were really coming to event Right
and using it in a significant scale. And I'm pretty
proud of that, and I really look back at that
time as a signal and a validation of the functionality
that we had as a group and as co founders.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
And then when we went to go out and raise
our first round of funding, that's when we needed to
you know, obviously address the elephant in the room, because
it was still not a real.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Popular notion, and so we would just start every meeting
by addressing it. And that's like, that's very Kevin and
I were very transparent. We like to just you know,
get it out there, do the right thing, and I
think that really helped us build trust.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
In those meetings.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And then ultimately, you know, so Quoia Capital decided to
support us and have been you know, incredible, incredible support
system to us throughout the last fifteen years. And I
think that there are more and more.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Co founding couples now.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I mean, I certainly feel like it's something that people
can see and you know, maybe decide that that's right
for them. But I think it is tricky because you
never quite get to turn it off, right.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I get asked a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
You know when you turn it off, and it's like, well,
never really, because we both care so deeply about this
company that it's a it's a benefit that we can
we can always talk about it.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And then when Kevin decided to step down as CEO,
you were president when he was CEO. Can you walk
me through what was going on in your head when
you decided that you would step in as CEO and
you would pike over a CEO of A.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Well, I don't. I don't know if.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Most people feel ready for that. Uh, maybe there are
people who who do feel very ready. I felt like
it was an honor of privilege and a responsibility to
step into that role if I could, and certainly it
was the board's decision, so you know, I respected either
(14:27):
way it was going to work out. And I think that,
you know, knowing that I'm not the same person as
Kevin and knowing that there's going to be different things
that I do well or that I'm drawn to, was
something that we could be really mindful about and that
(14:49):
I could make sure that I surrounded myself with people
who you know, could compliment that.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
But I made a joke to Kevin after the.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
First couple of months, like, you know, you made it
look so easy, like and I feel like I was
in Candyland and now I'm in tron.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
This is not easy.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
And so I just deeply respect the way that he
approached the role because it can get to your head
very quickly.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think, probably I don't know, eighty percent of it
is how you as the leader.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Can take care of yourself, activate the things in you
that the will to lead is kind of how I
think about.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It, like how you can be the most consistent in that.
And it is really an endurance sport. So I've gotten
much much better at it.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Over over the past you know, I guess six years.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
But I love the way that every day I'm learning
something new and it's unlocking knowledge.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I'm just so I'm so addicted to learning and kind
of infatuated with the idea that you're always improving.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
But I'm delighted now that I start to see things
that I've seen before and I can pattern match. So
there's sort of I'm sort of in this.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Like sweet spot of my CEO tenure, you know, And
I feel really grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And I think Kevin's been really helpful. But you also
have to.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Have a strong sense of self to not be asking yourself, well,
how would he do it differently?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And he's here, I can ask him how you would
do it differently? Right, And so's it's challenging, you know
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
What's the one leadership quality you value the most, especially
as a CEO.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I think consistency over all else. I think that it's.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Something that I both value and something that I work
on the most, because I think that you can be brilliant,
and you can be kind, and you can be brave,
and you can be shrewd, and there are all these
qualities that really celebrated leaders have, but I think consistency
(17:16):
is something that is really difficult to achieve and maintain
at a high performance level.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And why I think consistency is so important.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Is because in any ecosystem with humans involved, like, there
is great power in being able to anticipate and being
able to create pattern recognition and being able to come
(17:49):
back to a north star, whether it's the principles, the values,
the mission, and it's difficult to achieve, Like I think
that I'm in pursuit of that, especially now now that
I feel far more confident and capable of leading this company,
(18:09):
and I know, you know I can.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I can really like understand.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Where my kind of opportunities lie and the influence that
I can have on this incredible company. It's really I
think the consistency that matters, and where you see if
you like read biographies of great leaders, there's that that
theme threaded throughout, and I just don't think it gets
the airtime right. It doesn't like it's not a sexy
(18:36):
subject to talk about consistency.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
But I'm fascinated that you pick that because I do
interview a fair number of CEOs, and I have to
be honest, it's the first time I've heard that. Can
you explain that a little bit more deeply? When you
say consistency, is it being consistent to your mission? Is
it being consistent to showing up in the same way
for your employees. What is does consistency mean to you?
(19:02):
In what way do you want to embrace consistency?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
So I would say it's all of the above that
you mentioned, but to me, it means that a leader
has the self awareness to understand a situation and to
run it back through a filter and through.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Organizational system that allows.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
For them to turn whatever information that's coming in or
whatever they're feeling, because we're all humans right into something
that's actually productive for the company, and that's consistently applied
across different situations, different challenges.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
So it's almost like a groundedness, I would say.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
And it's a way to be able to build trust,
it's a way to be able to.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
You know, build belief.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
It's a way to be able to connect with the
people you work and you care for.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
But I think so often humans get caught in.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Mirroring a reaction to a situation based on whatever that
situation is, right, And so if it's a you know,
if it's a crisis, you are you are heightened in
your emotionality, you are you know, focused, you are aggressive,
you are this this this I actually think that is
the sign of an immature leader.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And it's not that we all need to go be
you know, like like it's some you know, Buddha.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
But I think we we honestly could learn some really
important lessons from from you know, folks who have shown
and threaded through their lives and their missions and their career.
Just a consistent set of values and a consistent way
of showing up in the world.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
That has a really quiet power that I think we
could use a.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Lot more of, right especially in the time where it's
sort of reaction begets. Reaction begets, you know, like the
way that we consume media and information and so on
and so forth.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Event bright is your baby, your passion, your company now,
But you've had some You've had some pretty interesting jobs
before starting in the age of fourteen, when you work
in a coffee shop called the Ugly Mug, and you'd
be the first and the lights on, you'd be the
last to leave turning the lights off. Tell me about
your experience at the Ugly Mug, And do you think
(21:37):
those early years of working there I have influence to
your work ethic I do.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I mean, you know, I'm very aware of the people
in my life now who had an outsized impact and
I didn't realize it back when I was a child.
I think that's probably pretty common. But in high site,
as I collect more data points and I'm reflective on
(22:07):
who I am, and I think also having children of
this age, you know, it.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Makes you really be tapped into.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
What formative experiences you had that led to you being
who you are, good, bad and different.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
And one for me was definitely The Ugly Mug. I mean,
I love that. I'm so delighted that this is part
of my life that I.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Worked at at this coffee place in the name of it,
and what was special about it was it was a
I grew up in a small beach town, very close community.
The founder of the Ugly Mug moved into town was
sort of a peculiar guy.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
He was very, very passionate about coffee.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
So he brought this beautiful manual Italian machine that was
probably the only one in our town, and he was
meticulous about training his staff on how to use it,
and he The Ugly Mug was an ode to the
fact that he brought all of his mug collection with
him to this tiny town and a setup shop and
(23:15):
the mugs for everybody we served drinks in them, they
were all over them. I mean, it was just like
it's still there today. You can go, you can go
see it in so Cal, California, and it just I
think it taught me a lot about excellence, about craft,
about attention to detail, about you know, being meticulous.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
And I was just this high school kid and I'm
learning how to draw the perfect espresso shot. And so
that was the first lesson.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
The second lesson was customer service because the minute I
was behind the counter, and yes I would do the
early shift, there was always this one woman who would
come in on Saturday mornings. She would stand outside at
five fifty nine and I'd open the door at six
and she would walk in and any drink I made her, no.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Matter what it was. And she'd actually order different drinks
every week, which was interesting. She hated it and she'd
send it back and make me do it again.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
And I was terrified of this woman because she also
would just tell me like how much my latte sucked,
and so it was very negative. And then I finally
realized about four weeks in that she just wanted someone
to talk to and instead of going back and forth
about the drink. I started stealing my parents' local newspaper
(24:37):
with me on the way out the door, and I'd
put it on the counter and she'd walk in and
I would point to any kind of.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Story and be like, what do you think about that?
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And we'd start talking about that, and all of a
sudden she loved my drinks. And so that was a
big lesson for me, right, like, of empathy, of understanding
customer needs. And I don't know how I would have
gotten that lesson in life if it hadn't been for
that experience.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
That is a great lesson. And I have to say,
as a fourteen year old, well done. And you to
pick that up that, you know, you realize that all
she needed was company. I mean, she was obviously just
lonely in that she was reaching out for something else,
not just a latte.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
And then later on you were an intern on the
set of Friends. Was that fun? Was that intimidating? Tell
me about that?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Oh gosh, I mean, another surreal experience.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
It was.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Overwhelming. I would say.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It was at the height of the Friends frenzy and
there was just a lot going on, and I think
what was challenging for me was the kind of culture
of secrecy and paranoia that persisted because it was such
(25:57):
a huge hit that everything had to be you know,
very protected, the storylines, the guest stars, and it just created.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
This really kind of bad culture.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I would say, now, I was very young, so I
want to like, I kind of want to discount myself
a bit, but it was my worst job because it
was and which would seem strange, you know, I was
on the set with these mega stars and you're in
the height of the seigeist but it was just really
a challenging environment.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
However, I have to say that the cast they were very, very.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Tight and insular and almost like you know, they were
in their own vortex of this massive theme, and they
were delightful to one another and honestly to the crew.
It was just everything else around.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
It was super difficult.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
And my job as intern was to answer the set
phone and to go find whoever was calling. So I
walked around with this big wireless phone, and I can
just say, without a doubt it created a phone phobia
that I have I have barely recovered from.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
So yeah, it's just I'm going to have to work
that out eventually.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Did anyone interesting call.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Well, anyone who has the number to the friends set
at that moment in time.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
They were all really interesting.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
People, right or powerful people, I would say, but they
weren't very patient.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
They were very kind.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Can Jennifer and get her now?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yes? Yes, it was terrifying.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So I'm still getting over my phone phobia.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
So I read a really interesting story about you going
to college. You had a dream college. You got accepted,
but it was really expensive at that time. You didn't
have the funds to go there, so you wrote them
a letter saying how much you wanted to go, and
the next thing you knew is you've got a scholarship
to go there. I want to know what did you
(28:08):
write in that letter?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Well, I should I should say that I got financial aids,
so I was, which meant that I that I was
indebted to college and to uh to student loans for
quite some time. But I you know, I think I
was very sure about where I wanted to be and
why I wanted to be there, and.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
So that's what I wrote my letter was you know.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
The the like desire to be in that community, to
be in a small liberal arts college, to be you know,
like a part of that community, and then you know
just the why behind wanting to go. And I thought
it was I mean, it was going to be just
tossed in the trash, right, And my mom had told
(28:55):
me to write the letter, and I'm like, O, good mom.
And two days before I was having to commit to
my very very distant number two choice, I received a
huge envelope in the mail and I'll never ever forget that.
It stuffed our little mailbox and it was just such
(29:17):
a thrilling moment. And I often think about who read
that letter and what I mean, that person is truly
responsible for a lot of my life, and I'll never
know who it is, And of course I just recently
thought about that, so you know, the chances of me
finding who they are probably pretty slim.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
But it's incredible to think about. It's just seemingly small moments.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
It was probably just you know, a normal, mundane day
for that person, and they decided, Oh, this person really
wants to go here, let's let's offer them more financial
aid and like a chance everything to me, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Let's give her a chance. Yes, I want to talk
to you quickly about being a woman in the tech sector,
of being a woman in silicon Valley. First of all,
I was just one of whom we were talking just now.
When you took over as CEO of event right after
your husband Kevin had been CEO. You were a woman
leading it. Was there any difference in the way people
(30:22):
viewed the company or in the funding of the support
of the company. God, because it was being led by
a woman.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
You know, it's it's.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I kind of laugh because it's like, yeah, I'm a woman,
and there's not a lot of us in these positions,
so it's really important.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I think that that, like we stay in it.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
I had a lot of privilege, and you know, I
mean that sincerely. It wasn't a solo coch I wasn't
a solo founder. I had the backing and support of
titans of industry, right like one of the most revered
venture firms in Sequoia Capital and.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Rule Off Both who.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Was on our board for thirteen years and has been
a friend for twenty really through his involvement in several
businesses that Kevin's been involved in. You know, he's also
one of my kind of mentors and great mentors or
your biggest critics.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
And I remember him saying.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Be careful what you wish for like this, this is
going to be a steep climb, but I'm going to
be right there with them. I'm going to be behind you,
and they just they really walk the walk. I mean,
there was never a moment where I felt alone. And
I think that when you do have that kind of
support system that in addition to the other investors we
(31:53):
had involved in event right at the time we were
still private company and our board, our lead independent director
Sean Moriarty, is an incredible coach. To me, when you
have that kind of support, I think it's a great privilege.
And so that's I feel like it's it's now my
mission to go find women who don't have that support
(32:15):
and become that support because it means all the difference
in the world.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Not it's not about opening doors or making connections. It's
about knowing that you have someone to turn.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
To when you don't know the answer, or frankly, just
the feeling of people having your back right and that
I think to any human is going to be powerful.
And so what excites me about the time we're living
in now is that there is more and more women
not only in the role as CEO, and again there's
(32:48):
not enough women running their own companies publicly in the
public markets, right, but thinking about the ecosystem of more
women venture, more women in private equity, more women at
the table around you know, board discussions. I don't know,
I'm an internal optimist on this, but I hosted dinner
(33:11):
that is, you know, women founders and CEOs, and that
I can't fit them around my table anymore, right, like
we have we have to keep getting bigger and bigger space.
So that to me is my own little microcosm of
something's working.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
And let's keep going.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
And I think there's some really interesting women founders in
AI that I just I'm I'm so excited about. So
I just say I can see the change and the
path forward. And at the same time, you know, it's
bittersweet when when you when we ring the bell in
(33:47):
the New York Stock Exchange and the and they came
out and said they looked through the archives and they
couldn't find a balcony that had as many women.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
On it as we did. And that was just our
executive team, that wasn't you know. And And when the
when the.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Trader who opened our stocks that he'd never seen this
any kids on the trading floor, and that was just
us bringing our families.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
It wasn't you know, it was like a kid event.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
And so it's just those kind of moments could strike me.
It's like, wow, I can't believe that this is still
where we are. So there's you know, it's kind of dynamic.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
When you get these women around your table one minute morning,
Can I keep you for just maybe two three minutes extra? Yep, Okay,
I'll do great. When when you get these women around
your table, what what are they talking about? What's priority?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Why would say?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
You know, it's a it's a mosaic of topics, it's
you know, we're all speaking the same language. So certainly,
like with any group that you have affinity with, it's
it's you know, comforting to know that you're that you're
facing some of the similar challenges, whether it's running a
public company through this crazy volatile time, or it's you know,
(35:04):
raising funding, or it's building a team. There's just so
much commonality between our experiences but also life. I mean,
it's nice to be able to get together with women
who are running companies, being leaders and also building their lives.
And I think that there's just such a diversity around
(35:26):
the table. It's not one demographic, and I really work
hard at that because I think that's actually where you
end up getting the fullness and richness of an experience
like that. I've been in plenty of experiences where it's
all the same you know, era of women leaders, and
there's value in that, but I think the greater value
(35:49):
is in putting people, giving people seats around the table
who are just absolutely in different stages and phases of
their lives and have very very different experiences. And so
that's what that's what I'm really passionate about in terms
of that particular gathering.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Today, this podcast is called out of Office. What's your
favorite thing to do when you're not in the office?
Speaker 3 (36:13):
Well, golly, I mean, traveling with my family is just
the thing that I live for. So you know, I'm
I'm the cruise director of my entire family. So I
get to be very very directive in this in this pursuit,
which I think is probably a big part of it.
But I would say that they get to benefit from
my from my you know, my leadership in that way
(36:36):
because we do some pretty awesome traveling together.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
So we went to Egypt over in.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Twenty twenty one, which was a big trip to take
during that time, but it was a magical trip, and
so you know, I love to try to find new
ways that we can be together in different environments, and
I would say that's my biggest passion outside of event right.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Do you have any exciting trips planned this year?
Speaker 3 (37:05):
We are going to go to Spain and I haven't
spent a lot of time there. We have over one
hundred and fifty Brightlings in the country and so I'm
excited to see. We often combine event right with travel.
Our last trip before covid hit was to Mendoza, Argentina
to see our team there and bring our girls there,
so you know it's it's going to be funded to
(37:25):
do that and then to also explore Participain.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
I've never been to before. I studied there in college.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
In Madrid, but I didn't I think I was too
busy study to do much traveling.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
The right thing to do, of course. Thank you so
much for your time and for joining me on out
of office.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
That was my conversation with Julia Hart, CEO of event Wright.
I really enjoyed hearing about her journey, especially about her
experience working at the Ugly Marc Cafe. I hope you
enjoyed this episode. Other episodes of Office are on Bloomberg
dot com, the Bloomberg Terminal, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Please
do check them out when you can. Recent episodes include
(38:08):
conversations with makeup entrepreneur Bobby Brown and the president of
the CFA Institute, Mark Franklin. I'm Alika Kapoor. As always,
thank you for listening.
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