Julia Haart
board member
Julia Haart is a self-made business leader, designer and bestselling author with a personal story that inspires millions. Born in Russia, she immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 3 and was raised in an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Monsey, New York. In 2013, at the age 42, she fled her community, changed her name and, without any formal secular education, she launched her career as a fashion designer and global entrepreneur.
Within nine months of leaving her community, Haart founded a luxury shoe brand that was featured at Paris Fashion Week. A few years later, she was named Creative Director of La Perla, the world’s most iconic lingerie brand. In 2019, she became co-owner and CEO of Elite World Group (EWG), representing over 5000 of the world’s top artists, models, actors, musicians and athletes with an audience of over two billion.
Under her leadership, Julia transformed the business from talent management into a billion dollar talent-as-media conglomerate, shifting the power dynamic squarely into the hands of her clients by building them into brands and transforming their social media into powerful media channels. Julia’s commitment to empowering women helped hundreds of EWG clients become financially independent, while simultaneously helping brands to transform media spend into actual ROI, creating systems to ensure products were advertised to the correct audience, completely changing the ways that brands market their products.
Putting her experience into practice, she is currently the founder and CEO of +Body by Julia Haart, with a mission to re-imagine shapewear as comfortable, technologically advanced, confidence building clothing that is designed to be seen.
In 2021, Julia created and produced the NETFLIX hit series ‘My Unorthodox Life’, which premiered in over 190 countries, captivating and inspiring viewers, especially women, who deeply resonate with her commitment to personal freedom, autonomy and authentic expression. Her memoir BRAZEN was released in 2022, written with radical vulnerability and honesty, sharing her deeply personal journey of heartbreak, resilience and courage to flee a fundamentalist community. BRAZEN became an instant bestseller simultaneously in the U.S. and the U.K. Season 2 of ‘My Unorthodox Life’ premiered December 2022, staying in the NETFLIX worldwide top 10 for weeks.
Inspired by the overturn of Roe v Wade and the horrific October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Julia has ignited her philanthropic and activist commitments both domestically and internationally with the same fearlessness and purpose she brings to her work empowering women’s economic independence.
Julia transcends all stereotypes of a celebrity activist, bringing tangible resources and solutions. Within weeks after October 7, Julia traveled to Israel embedding inside Gaza with women-led battalions of the Israeli Defence Forces. She also interviewed President Herzog, Prime Minister Netanyahu and gathered countless personal stories of Israel - Jews, Christians, Bedouins, Muslims and members of the LGBTQIA+ community - sharing their candid perspectives about the realities of life in Israel.
Julia has traveled to Ukraine multiple times, bringing worldwide attention to the war effort. In her trips she cleared landmines with HALO trust, an organization supported by Princess Diana, and personally delivered ambulances and medical supplies to the frontlines.
Her other international and domestic projects include sexual health advocacy in Rwanda, cultural arts programs like Paint2Power in New York City, and ongoing convenings of Female Founder Workshops and a Feminist Roundtable she initially founded with iconic organizer Dolores Huerta. She has participated in protests at the United States Supreme Court and spoken at the Global Women’s March for Iranian women and the United Nations for the return of Israeli hostages.
Julia is honored to serve on the Emerge America Creative Coalition, the ERA Coalition Advisory Board and the Association for Foreign Press Correspondents USA Board of Directors. She resides in New York City where she generously creates community and opportunities for collaboration for her family, friends and colleagues who seek to change the world.
