Alexandra Smart

Alexandra Smart is a highly respected business leader, strategist and entrepreneur with more than three decades of experience in some of the most competitive industries, including fashion, retail, media and professional services. Known for her ability to combine bold creative thinking with sharp commercial imperatives, Alexandra has built a career at the intersection of innovation and leadership.

Best known as the Founder and CEO of the luxury fashion house GINGER & SMART, Alexandra scaled the label from a dining-room table start-up into an internationally recognised brand sold at Saks Fifth Avenue and across digital, retail, wholesale and corporate channels. Under her leadership, the brand became a pioneer in sustainable and ethical practices before its successful sale to private equity in 2019.

Today, Alexandra is a Partner at ECI Partners, one of Australia’s leading strategy and leadership advisory firms. She works closely with C-suite executives and boards to unlock leadership potential, sharpen strategic clarity and embed performance cultures across sectors such as health, energy, infrastructure, retail, transport and professional services. She also leads her own consultancy, Smart Alex Studio, advising founders and creative businesses on growth, resilience and purpose-driven success.

Deeply engaged with Australia’s cultural and creative economy, Alexandra is a Director of the Melbourne Fashion Festival, a Board Member of The Social Outfit, a mentor with the AGSM/UNSW Alumni Leader Mentor Program, and a frequent lecturer at UNSW on entrepreneurship, sustainability and leadership.

Her keynotes are known for being contemporary, candid and deeply practical. Speaking with warmth and authority, she covers themes such as:

• Creative leadership and innovation
• Women in leadership and ethical growth
• Scaling resilient brands
• The founder’s journey – grit, growth and graceful exits
• Aligning people and purpose with strategy

An MBA and AICD graduate, Alexandra has also served as a journalist, editor and non-executive director. She has been recognised in the Power 30 List of Influential Retailers and continues to shape the future of leadership and creative enterprise through her board work, consulting and public speaking.

Alexandra inspires audiences to lead with courage, think creatively and scale with purpose.

Topics

Building a Brand/Business in the Creative and Retail Industries

• Germinating an entrepreneurial idea that sets you apart from others: what can you bring to the table that makes your offering special, relevant, and sustainable
• Finding the right business structure and suppliers and buyers to sustain a business over the long term
• Team, team, team focus
• Navigating the necessary walk of creativity and commerciality

Entrepreneurialism and Creativity

• What makes a creative idea stick
• How can the seemingly opposing concepts of entrepreneurial speed and creative nurturing marry and work for the long term
• The key attributes required every day to make this marriage work

Women in Business

• Inspiration
• Empowerment
• Youth and Expertise
• The reality of the work/life balance: debunking the myths…
• The importance to women of planning a career path that encompasses kids and family
  Keeping going without losing health and wellbeing

Social responsibility as a business practice

• Sustainability How to embed sustainability into your business
• Ethical trading
• The importance of being transparent and authentic
• Importance to culture and the bottom line

The GINGER & SMART Journey

• The start up story
• How we have built a business, brand, team
• The ups and downs and lessons learnt