Alexandra Wilkis Wilson

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson is best known professionally as Co-Founder of ecommerce sensation, Gilt which transformed the landscape of luxury and fashion ecommerce with the invention of the flash sale, creating urgency of demand and innovating the online shopping experience. Wilson owned the Chief Merchant role at Gilt and filled many other seats on the journey from start-up to $650M in revenues. Having learned how to parlay the ability to sell luxury and accessible luxury items into selling travel and experiences, Wilson was more than intrigued by the idea of using technology to efficiently deliver services.

As a co-founder and CEO of GLAMSQUAD, Wilson brought beauty to the home of the time constrained and GLAMSQUAD professionals engendered a level of trust which ultimately permitted the development of a product line, creating a full-service beauty company. Before AI and machine learning became household words, Wilson jumped at the challenge to use this advanced technology to create a shopping tool, which Google found so compelling that they bought it pre- launch. Wilson and her team had simultaneously developed an accompanying analogue tool which they ultimately sold to peer-to-peer luxury recommerce company, Tradesy.

While no one would have flinched if this pioneer in digital commerce, retail, merchandising, sales, business development and marketing had launched another start-up, Wilson decided to take the path more traveled when she joined Allergan, the global pharmaceutical leader in aesthetics, to help them learn how to communicate directly with the consumers they sought to engage, rather than delivering samples to doctors. Befittingly, Wilson coined Project Moonwalker and hired a team of 70 to execute the vision.

Today, Wilson has launched together with her business partner Lisa Myers from L Catterton, a growth equity fund called Clerisy, investing in consumer and techsumer companies at the growth equity stage.

Don’t hold it against Wilson that she is a double H – Harvard B.A. and MBA. Wilson’s humility is disarming, especially when she speaks to you in your native language (of which she speaks five). Wilson is a relentless consumer, forever testing new platforms and products. She will often have suggestions on a first meeting. When she is not analyzing a new consumer concept, Wilson can be found on the tennis court, and not missing her New York roots as she soaks up sunshine with her husband and two kids in their new Miami digs.