If you have any connection to the fashion or beauty industries you’ve most likely heard of Alexandra Wilkis Wilson at least of The GILT Group and Glamsquad. Her latest entrepreneurial success is Allergan’s Spotlyte, educating millions on beauty and medical aesthetics.Alexandra shares her remarkable entrepreneurial journey—from a childhood lemonade stand to leading 1,000 employees, how startups are romanticized, and teams are everything, the importance of a two-way street and how becoming a mother impacted her professional life, finding the right people to hire, launching a company in the biggest way, how culture has been a focus for her new company, and how she’s learned to say no (but sometimes yes). Plus, a surprise, and a brainstorm for a social media strategy.Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Entrepreneur, Executive, Board Director, Investor, Advisor, Mentor, Author, Public Speaker, and SVP, Consumer Strategy and Innovation for Allergan, joins Socialfly founders Stephanie Cartin and Courtney Spritzer in the MouthMedia Network studios for a conversation about building her company and her journey to success, along with a surprise and a brainstorm.
In this episode:
Hosts
Stephanie Cartin is a serial entrepreneur, investor, podcast host, community builder, and a champion for women founders. She created the Entreprenista League, a community for women founders, to provide resources and support necessary at all business stages. She’s also the Co-founder of Socialfly, one of the first social media marketing agencies, as well as Entreprenista Media and Pearl Influential Capital which was recently acquired by Cherub. Stephanie has shared her journey managing her health challenges with Multiple Sclerosis, Infertility, and a complicated pregnancy and is an advocate for women going through similar challenges. Her story and businesses have been featured on the Today Show, Bloomberg and Forbes. Consider Stephanie your biggest business cheerleader.
Courtney Spritzer is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, author, and community builder with a passion for creating brands and platforms that empower women to lead, grow, and thrive.
In 2012, she co-founded Socialfly, a leading social-first digital and influencer marketing agency. Over the course of a decade, she helped scale the business into an award-winning agency working with Fortune 500 brands and emerging startups, building a powerhouse team and culture along the way. In 2024, Socialfly was acquired.
In 2018, Courtney launched the Entreprenista Podcast to spotlight the stories of inspiring women founders. That passion evolved into Entreprenista Media in 2021, a media platform and community supporting women entrepreneurs at every stage of growth. She now co-leads the continued expansion of The Entreprenista League, a membership-driven community and ecosystem for founders.
As an angel investor, Courtney supports female-led and mission-driven startups aligned with her vision for a more inclusive and equitable business landscape.
She is the co-author of Like, Love, Follow: The Entreprenista’s Guide to Using Social Media to Grow Your Business (2015), a strategic guide for leveraging social platforms to drive business success.
Her work and ventures have been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and The New York Times. She is committed to championing visionary founders and helping build the next generation of impactful, community-driven businesses.
Get featured on our podcast as an Entreprenista League member
Interested in being a podcast guest? We’re accepting applications from Entreprenista League members who want to share their stories.
Join 2,000+ supportive, ambitious founders in the
Highlights
- Coming from a lemonade stand as a child to launching GILT as her first entrepreneurial effort as a professional person
- Being bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, a major turning point for her — seeing tech, fashion, commerce, all really changing
- Why Alexandra is a big believer in teams
- The unexpected level of difficulty, and how startups are romanticized
- The process from idea to raising money and figuring out a business
- How Alexandra is involved in many startups in various ways
- Always seeking the perfect market fit — a perfect storm of a good idea and amazing people, timing and funding
- What the co-founders focused on in their roles
- The importance of a two-way street, LinkedIn, helping others, what goes around comes around
- The timing of becoming a mother, how it brought a change
- Getting involved in Glamsquad because she bumped into cofounders who had a great idea
- What Alexandra is doing now is scarier than anything before
- Someone from Socialfly was the 500k Glamsquad customer
- When she was looking for board roles, a big client is Allergan owned Botox, doing something innovative
- Spotlyte – a great place to learn about beauty and skincare
- Alexandra is an expert in understanding consumer behavior, consumer strategy and innovation into an industry heavily regulated, that wasn’t focused enough on customer
- A billboard in Times Square and a food truck for a launch
- Educating millions of consumers on beauty and medical aesthetics, unbranded
- Why Alexandra is surprised that a big, global company is so entrepreneurial
- Keep meeting people, keep track of people
- Hiring 50 new people in a year
- Leading over a 1,000 people at one time
- The culture at Alexandra’s current office – transparent, communicative, respectful, agile, teamwork, fun, passionate, and more — consistency
- Whether being an entrepreneur gets easier? The good days and bad days phase her less
- Learning to say “no”
The Latest

The Entrepreneur’s Holiday Dilemma: Setting Boundaries Without the Guilt
Women entrepreneurs face heightened stress at year-end as they juggle business demands, family obligations, and social expectations, often leading to burnout and feelings of inadequacy. Establishing healthy boundaries becomes a critical mental health practice that protects energy, reduces guilt, and models sustainable leadership.












.png)







