Alexandra Wilkis Wilson

"When we started there were not a lot of female-founded [online] consumer retail companies," Gilt Groupe Co-Founder Alexandra Wilkis Wilson told the Financial Times. Gilt, of course, is huge now, and in addition to revolutionizing online shopping, FT is suggesting that the company has also provided a much-needed model for MBA students and other women headed into the business of fashion. "There now seems to be a path to follow," says Christina Wallaceof, co-founder of newly launched e-commerce site Quincey Apparel, which she founded with Harvard Business School classmate Alex Nel.

Lunchtime wouldn't be nearly so fabulous for budget-conscious fashionistas if it weren't for Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson. The duo joined forces in 2007 to launch Gilt Groupe and bring designer sample sales — famous in New York for inducing tug-of-war frenzies — to an online audience. A few minutes before noon Eastern time each day, the Manhattan company sends an email alert to its nearly three million members, announcing the day's online private sales in women's and men's luxury brands at up to 70 percent off retail prices.