Rebekah Neumann
Neumann in 2019
Born
Rebekah Victoria Paltrow

(1978-02-26) February 26, 1978 (age 46)
New York City, U.S.
Alma materCornell University
Title
  • Former CEO of WeGrow
Spouse
​
(m. 2008)​
Children6
RelativesBruce Paltrow (uncle)
Gwyneth Paltrow (cousin)
Jake Paltrow (cousin)

Rebekah Victoria Neumann (née Paltrow; born February 26, 1978) is an American businesswoman. Until September 22, 2019, she served as chief brand and impact officer at WeWork, a company founded by her husband, Adam Neumann, and oversaw its education program WeGrow.[1][2][3][4]

Early life and education

Neumann, the daughter of Evelyn and Bob Paltrow, grew up in Bedford, New York, and attended the Horace Mann School.[5] Her father had a direct mail business and spent a number of years in prison for tax evasion.[6]

She went on to study business and Buddhism at Cornell University. She later became a certified Jivamukti yoga instructor.[7][8] She received her yoga instructor certification from the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.[6] She is a first cousin of actress Gwyneth Paltrow.[9] Neumann is of Jewish descent and practices the faith.[10] When she started her yoga training, Rebekah went by the nickname Rebi.[5]

Career

After graduating from college, Neumann entered Salomon Smith Barney's Sales and Trading Program, now known as Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.[11] In the early 2010s, she acted and produced some short films using the screen name Rebekah Keith.[12]

In 2010, her husband, Adam Neumann, and Miguel McKelvey co-founded WeWork.[13] In 2019 Rebekah Neumann began calling herself a cofounder of WeWork.[6]

According to Vanity Fair at WeWork "she has been known to have people fired, such as a mechanic for WeWork’s Gulfstream jet, within minutes of meeting them because she didn’t like their energy."[6]

She founded WeGrow, a private school in Chelsea, in 2017.[14][15] In September 2019, after an attempt to take the company public revealed deepening financial issues, it was announced that Rebekah Neumann would step down as CEO of WeGrow and relinquish her role in The We Company.[16] Rebekah Neumann played a key role in the collapse of the IPO having contributed New Age language in the filing which as a result "read like a novel written by someone who was 'shrooming", according to Scott Galloway.[6] In October 2019, it was announced that the WeGrow school would close at the end of the academic year.[17]

Since the collapse of WeWork and associated companies it has been discovered that Rebekah Neumann played a key role in WeWork’s downfall.[5][6]

In 2020, Neumann bought back some of WeGrow's assets and started Student of Life for Life (SOLFL).[18]

Personal life

Rebekah and American-Israeli entrepreneur Adam Neumann met in New York[1] and married in 2008.[5] They have six children.[19]

Neumann has come under criticism for endorsing pseudoscientific beliefs, such as the idea that meat has emotional memory that can be passed on through consumption.[6][20]

In popular culture

In the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed (2022), Rebekah Neumann is portrayed by Anne Hathaway.[21] Neumann also appears in the nonfiction book Billion Dollar Loser (2020).[22]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Fair Game United Nations Diplomat [12][23]
2010 Nomads Sam

Short Film

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Awake Ara
2012 Aunt Louisa Katherine

References

  1. ^ a b "How Gwyneth Paltrow's Cousin Co-Founded WeWork". Observer. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  2. ^ ""A Mess Any Way You Look at It": 5 of the Weirdest Things in the WeWork IPO Filing". Fortune. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Meet Rebekah Paltrow Neumann, WeWork co-founder". South China Morning Post. 17 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  4. ^ "See inside WeWork's first elementary school in NYC designed by Bjarke Ingels". 6sqft. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d Tkacik, Moe (2 March 2020). "Her Search For Enlightenment Fueled WeWork's Collapse". www.bustle.com. Bustle. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g DODES, RACHEL (24 June 2021). "HOW BILLIONAIRE REBEKAH NEUMANN PUT THE WOO-WOO IN WEWORK". vanityfair.com. Vanity Fair. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  7. ^ Wiedeman, Reeves (10 June 2019). "How Did WeWork's Adam Neumann Build a $47 Billion Company?". Intelligencer. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  8. ^ "Rebekah Neumann - Founder at WeGrow".
  9. ^ Rogers, Taylor Nicole. "Meet Rebekah Paltrow Neumann, the former actress who cofounded WeWork, is cousins with Gwyneth Paltrow, and is CEO Adam Neumann's 'strategic thought partner'". Business Insider. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  10. ^ "WeWork may try to wrap its roadshow and price its IPO before the Jewish New Year on September 29". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  11. ^ "Rebekah Neumann Fast Company". FastCompany.
  12. ^ a b "WeCrashed: where is WeWork's Rebekah Neumann now?". South China Morning Post. 24 March 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  13. ^ Kessler, Sarah (14 March 2016). "Adam Neumann's $16 Billion Neo-Utopian Play To Turn WeWork Into WeWorld". Fast Company. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  14. ^ "WeWork Founder Hopes Her New School Will Help 5-Year-Olds Pursue Their Life's Purpose". Fast Company. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  15. ^ Brown, Lindsay Gellman and Eliot (16 December 2014). "WeWork: Now a $5 Billion Co-Working Startup". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  16. ^ Davis, Michelle F.; Bloomberg, Writer (24 September 2019). "WeWork CEO Adam Neumann Stepping Down". Fortune. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  17. ^ Klein, Rebecca (11 October 2019). "WeWork Is Closing Its Private School In New York City After This Year". HuffPost. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  18. ^ Jeans, David (30 June 2020). "Rebekah Neumann Buys Back WeGrow, WeWork's Defunct $42,000-A-Year School, With Plans To Relaunch". Forbes.
  19. ^ Mackelden, Amy (18 March 2022). "What Happened to WeWork's Adam and Rebekah Neumann?". Harper's BAZAAR.
  20. ^ Lewis (7 November 2018). "Build a Purpose Driven Business, Education, and Life with WeWork Co-Founder Rebekah Neumann". Lewis Howes. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  21. ^ Foussianes, Chloe (3 February 2021). "WeCrashed: What to Know About the WeWork Series Starring Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto". Town & Country. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  22. ^ Kirn, Walter (23 October 2020). "The Cautionary Tale of Adam Neumann and WeWork". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  23. ^ Smail, Gretchen (18 March 2022). "Rebekah Neumann Once Made A Bizarre Short Film Starring Rosario Dawson". Bustle.

External links

Further reading

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