Alexandra Wilkis Wilson
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Alexandra Wilkis Wilson is an American entrepreneur and investor who co-founded the companies the
Gilt Groupe Gilt Groupe is an American online shopping site launched in 2007. In 2016 the company was sold to Hudson's Bay Company for approximately $250 million, which was less than the $268 million taken from investors. Prior to the Hudson's Bay acquisiti ...
, GlamSquad, and Fitz. She is currently co-founder and Managing Partner at Clerisy, a consumer-focused growth equity fund.


Early life and education

Wilkis Wilson was born and raised in New York City. She attended The Brearley School,
Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...
,
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
, where she graduated ''magna cum laude'', and
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
. Wilkis Wilson grew up in a bilingual home (Spanish/English) and later learned French, Portuguese and Italian. She studied piano at the
Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...
and played competitively until about the 10th grade. She credits music as being a strong early influence in her life and in her dedication to entrepreneurial ventures. Her brother Alan Wilkis is the founder of the American Music Project,
Big Data Big data primarily refers to data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data processing, data-processing application software, software. Data with many entries (rows) offer greater statistical power, while data with ...
.


Career

Wilkis Wilson began her career working in investment banking at
Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...
for three years, before returning to Harvard to earn an MBA. She then entered the
Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ...
management training program, which included working the sales floor. Subsequently, she worked for two years managing retail operations for Bulgari. Wilkis Wilson co-founded the Gilt Groupe in 2007, a flashsale company that offers luxury goods for sale at significant discounts, but only for brief windows of time. In 2012, Wilkis Wilson and cofounder Alexis Maybank, a classmate from Harvard Business School, published a book on Gilt's founding, ''By Invitation Only: How We Built Gilt and Changed the Way Millions Shop.'' At one point the company was valued at a billion dollars, making it a "
unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...
" (a venture capital slang term for a startup valued at a billion dollars), but sold to
Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...
parent company
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
for $250 million in 2016. Wilkis Wilson left the company in 2014. In September 2014, she became co-founder and CEO of GlamSquad, a mobile styling company "which offers on-demand beauty services through an integrated app." Clients can use an app to book hair and makeup artists for house calls--"the
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...
of beauty services." The company had $8 million in sales in the first year, and raised $24 million in funding, as of February 2017. It operates in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington, DC. In March 2017, Wilkis Wilson launched a startup called Fitz, a service that offers an in-person wardrobe consultation and then follow-up advice on shopping. Fitz was sold to Tradesy, the online peer-to-peer resale marketplace for women's luxury and designer contemporary fashion, in February 2018. In February 2018, Wilkis Wilson was recruited by Boston Consulting Group to join Allergan as the SVP, Consumer Strategy & Innovation. She led new efforts in revolutionizing digital marketing and DTC initiatives for Allergan's leading aesthetics portfolio including Botox, Juvederm and Coolsculpting. She left Allergan in July 2020 after the company was acquired by AbbVie Inc. for $63B. Today Wilkis Wilson is co-founder and Managing Partner a
Clerisy
the growth equity fund which she co-founded with Lisa Myers, formerly a partner at L. Catterton and a 20-year veteran of Templeton. Clerisy's growing portfolio includes investments in Dormify, UNION and CleanCo. Wilkis Wilson has been a prolific advisor and angel investor to over 80 tech startups including but not limited to Birchbox, Carbon38, Flow Commerce, Rent the Runway, and Tula. She has been an advisor to consumer tech Venture Capital funds including Forerunner Ventures and Montage Ventures.


Personal life

Wilkis Wilson is married and has two children. She presently resides in Miami, FL.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Alexandra Wilkis American women business executives Brearley School alumni American businesspeople in fashion Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Harvard Business School alumni 21st-century American women