Rati Levesque was welcomed into the corner office at RealReal Inc. with stock awards valued at $10 million, which made up the bulk of her pay last year.

Levesque, the resale platform’s first employee, was president and chief operating officer until October, when she took over the role of chief executive officer after the departure of John Koryl. 

Her compensation last year also included a salary of $540,385, bonus and incentive pay totalling $947,167. CEOs of public companies often see the bulk of their compensation coming from stock awards, which link the executive’s own pocketbook with the fortunes of investors. 

Levesque has had a taste of the top job before, serving as co-interim CEO after founder Julie Wainwright abruptly left the business in 2022. 

But she took the job for real just as the company hit a financial milestone, logging adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $9 million last year.

That touch of profitability came after the company increased the amount it charges for each sale, cut out items valued for less than $100, moved to a consignment model and eliminated unprofitable categories. 

“We just went back to our core of fashion buying jewelry, watches, handbags, ready-to-wear, shoes,” Levesque told WWD in February. “The P&L is different. The flow-through from revenue to adjusted EBITDA now is much healthier. Now we got back to growth.”

The trick now is going to be to keep up that growth.