Jess Wilson Keynote Speaker

Jess Wilson is an award-winning entrepreneur pinned by Forbes as one of 1,000 entrepreneurs under 30 to change the world in the next 50 years.

Jess started her first business at 16 years old – running formal after-parties for students in Karangi, the small farm town she grew up in. She dropped out of university after a career advisor told her she “didn’t have it in her” to make it in the fashion industry. Through grit and determination, Jess eventually secured an internship which led to a full-time job working at Australia, New York, and Paris fashion weeks with some of the biggest fashion brands in the world.

Working in fashion, Jess noticed the emergence of tech and the change in buying cycles within the global industry. This inspired her to launch ‘Stashd’, an online shopping app. ‘Stashd’ had presence in 130 countries and was featured as Apple’s ‘Best New App’ in 12 countries and ‘Top Lifestyle App’ in five countries cementing Wilson as a global leader in women in tech.

Jess Wilson represented Australia at Google’s global tech accelerator program in Silicon Valley. She has discussed leadership with the likes of Malcom Turnbull and Richard Branson and spoke about entrepreneurship with corporate leaders all over the world. Following her success, Jess was listed three times in Smart Company’s 30 under 30 and named Commonwealth Bank’s Australian of the Day. She was a participant in China’s ‘The Next Unicorn’, a televised global search for the next billion-dollar business in China that had a viewership of 15 million people per episode. Jess won the bronze trophy in the grand finales as the last western team and last female founder standing.

Shortly after the TV show, Jess became a victim of sexual assault. Despite being told to let it go, she started a lawsuit and educated herself on the legal system. The lawsuit took 18 months, but Wilson eventually won. Her entrepreneurial mind turned this experience into a tech business ‘Women Making Waves’ (WMW) which Jess co-founded with her business partner, Hayley Evans.

WMW funds and scales the work of those who specialise in women’s rights law reform. The launch started a viral LinkedIn campaign #ITookThePledge with the support of Venture Capital companies such as Blackbird, Airtree, Square Peg, Giant Leap and Rampersand to name a few. Besides leveraging on Web3 technology, Jess Wilson works with impact partners who have changed about 45 and counting laws. This includes Deepak Chopra of The Chopra Foundation and Caren Yanis who previously built Oprah’s philanthropy portfolio to champion women’s rights law reform.