Auctioneer & emcee with a flair for style, entertainment, & raising money
Polished. Powerful. Profitable.
Add a little sparkle. Raise a lot of money.
At 27, Grace Lakey's whole life changed with an Ancestry DNA test she took for fun. It revealed a world-champion auctioneer dad she never knew she had, and set off a chain reaction: she left corporate America for the unconventional world of auctioneering, and never looked back.
Grace's work goes way beyond her mad cool bid calling skills. She consults with fundraising committees on strategy, emcees events that keep people in their seats (or jumping to their feet in a good way), and brings the kind of energy that turns a quiet ballroom into a crowd eager to participate. When you see her tagline, "Add a little sparkle, raise a lot of money," know that she means every word. And yes, she can sing, too.
Grace is a licensed auctioneer. She teaches at three of the largest auction schools in the country, competes in bid calling competitions, and co-owns AuctionStream, where she hosts weekly live auctions on Whatnot and TikTok with her business partner Gracie.
Off the clock, Grace soaks in time with her (now much larger) family and travels around the world with her husband, Nate, and their fur-baby, Lady Bird. She is all about chasing dreams and making the most out of life.
Ready to raise the bar and the paddles? Let's talk.
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This is the main event. Live auction, mission moment, raffle reveals, the whole show.
A professional benefit auctioneer typically raises significantly more than a volunteer or celebrity emcee with a gavel. Here's why: I know when to slow down, when to push, when to double a package, and how to read bidders.
At 27, a DNA test I took for fun revealed that my dad wasn't my biological father. Many twists and turns later, that accidental discovery led me out of my stable corporate job, into the auction world, and eventually to building my own businesses from scratch.
Now I tell that story from stages, and I tailor it to what your audience needs to hear: taking the risk, rebuilding after trauma, betting on yourself, or breaking into an industry where you're not who they expected.
Keynotes, breakout sessions, panels, luncheons. If your audience needs a reason to bet on themselves, I have a few.
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General inquiries (press, schools, auctionStream): grace@gracelakey.com
