Before she was a Silicon Valley success story, Julia Hartz was just a creative kid from Santa Cruz, California, who loved bringing people together. The daughter of a teacher and a contractor, she grew up surrounded by surf culture, small businesses, and a tight-knit community where everyone pitched in. From a young age, she found joy in planning events — birthdays, school fundraisers, and neighborhood parties.
That early spark of connection and leadership would one day grow into Eventbrite, one of the most successful event platforms in the world.
From Santa Cruz Beginnings to Big Ambitions
Julia Hartz was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California — a place known for its laid-back energy and independent spirit. From an early age, she showed creativity and confidence, organizing family gatherings and community projects just for fun.
After earning a degree in telecommunications from Pepperdine University, she began her career in television development at MTV and FX Networks, where she helped develop shows like Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me. The fast-paced entertainment industry taught her how to manage pressure, lead teams, and execute big ideas. These would all become skills that would later serve her in the startup world.
But deep down, Julia wanted more than ratings and storylines. She wanted to build something lasting — a business that helped people connect in real life.
Building a Platform for Everyone to Make Things Happen
In 2006, Julia co-founded Eventbrite alongside her husband Kevin Hartz and engineer Renaud Visage. The idea was deceptively simple: a self-service ticketing platform where anyone could organize and attend events.
At a time when most online event tools were clunky or expensive, Eventbrite focused on accessibility and ease. Whether you were hosting a yoga class, art show, or music festival, you could now sell tickets and manage attendees in minutes.
Behind the scenes, Julia and Kevin were also building their family. They welcomed two daughters while working around the clock to keep the startup alive. It wasn’t glamorous — it was grit, coffee, and late nights spent debugging code between diaper changes.
Then came a bold and unusual decision. Kevin stepped down as CEO and encouraged Julia to take the reins — a move almost unheard of in Silicon Valley, where male founders rarely hand over power.
Julia didn’t hesitate. She stepped up and never looked back.
Under her leadership, Eventbrite expanded rapidly, scaling into a global platform hosting millions of events across 180 countries. Her focus on company culture, customer empathy, and empowering small creators set the tone for a new kind of tech leadership — one that valued people as much as product.
Changing the Game for Live Experiences
By 2018, Eventbrite went public with a valuation exceeding $1 billion, officially cementing Julia Hartz as one of the first women to take a tech company through a major IPO. It was a defining moment not just for her, but for every woman who’d been told she couldn’t lead at the highest level.
But Julia’s biggest test came just two years later. When the COVID-19 pandemic brought the global events industry to a standstill, Eventbrite lost nearly all its revenue overnight. Thousands of creators were impacted, and Julia faced the hardest decision of her career: cutting jobs to save the company.
Through it all, she stayed transparent, empathetic, and determined. Instead of retreating, she reimagined what live experiences could look like — launching digital events, virtual ticketing tools, and hybrid solutions that helped creators adapt.
Her resilience turned a crisis into a comeback story.
Today, Eventbrite employs more than 700 people across 12 countries and powers millions of experiences every year. Julia continues to champion independent creators and small business owners, helping them transform ideas into experiences.
The Power of Reinvention
Julia Hartz’s journey is a masterclass in modern leadership — one built on courage, partnership, and reinvention. She built a billion-dollar company while raising a family, proved that women can lead at the highest levels of tech, and showed that vulnerability and strength can coexist.
She took a childhood love of event planning and transformed it into a global movement for connection. And when the world stopped, she didn’t — she evolved.
As Julia once reflected:
“That resilience and resourcefulness has served us in every chapter — from IPO to pandemic to recovery.”
Her story is proof that leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about staying grounded, adapting, and daring to believe that something better can be built.
Five Leadership Lessons from Julia Hartz
Community is your superpower. Building connection isn’t just a strategy — it’s a mission that lasts.
Rewrite the rules. Taking over as CEO from your spouse is rare, but Julia showed that leadership isn’t about hierarchy — it’s about capability.
Grow without losing your values. True scale happens when your culture grows with you, not against you.
Adapt fast and stay calm. When the world shut down, Julia stayed steady and found a new way forward.
Representation creates ripple effects. Diversity at the top doesn’t just inspire — it transforms the entire industry.
Jenny’s Takeaway
Julia Hartz’s story is a rare and beautiful reminder that leadership can also be partnership.
When Julia and her husband Kevin switched roles — with him stepping back as CEO so she could step forward — it wasn’t a power struggle. It was trust. It was two founders believing that success meant putting the best person for the moment in charge, regardless of ego or title.
In a world that often romanticizes lone-wolf CEOs, their decision showed that shared vision and humility can build something far stronger than individual ambition. Julia took the reins and didn’t just sustain the company — she elevated it.
She reminds us that partnership — in business and in life — can be the most powerful growth strategy of all.