15 women in ecommerce to follow in 2026

Ecommerce is full of people worth learning from, and these women work across different parts of ecommerce, from building DTC brands and Shopify stores to retention, partnerships, retail, and growth marketing. Each brings experience from running, advising, or teaching ecommerce businesses.

You’ll find founders, agency leaders, consultants, and educators on the list. Their work covers practical problems ecommerce teams deal with every day, including customer acquisition, retention, brand growth, and expansion.

This is a curated list, not a ranking. We selected each person based on hands-on experience, useful public content, demonstrable accomplishments, contributions to the industry, and relevance to people working in ecommerce today.

At-a-glance comparison table

Use this table to find the women whose experience best matches the part of ecommerce you want to learn more about.

15 women in ecommerce to follow

1. Gretta van Riel, owner of Creative Converters and founder of Hey Influencers

Few people on this list have built across as many sides of ecommerce as Gretta van Riel. She founded SkinnyMe Tea and Drop Bottle, and co-founded The 5th Watches. Van Riel founded Creative Converters and remains a strategic adviser and minority shareholder following TMSPC’s majority acquisition in 2026. She also founded influencer marketing agency Hey Influencers.

Her work sits at the intersection of ecommerce growth, creator marketing, and product ideation. Van Riel won Shopify’s 2013 Build-A-Business competition with SkinnyMe Tea, while The 5th Watches later generated $1 million in ecommerce sales in a single day. She also says she has managed more than 50,000 influencer collaborations and taught more than 25,000 students through courses for Foundr, Shopify, and Later.

Follow her for practical ideas on product validation, marketing psychology, social algorithms, and building creator-led campaigns at scale.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

2. Anaita Sarkar, co-founder and CEO of Hero Packaging

Anaita Sarkar is an ecommerce founder, author, and marketing educator who co-founded Hero Packaging in 2018. What began as a solution to the plastic waste created by her previous online business grew into a sustainable packaging company that, according to Sarkar, has sold more than 35 million compostable mailers and serves over 73,000 customers.

Much of Sarkar’s work centers on helping product-based businesses improve their content, customer acquisition, branding, and practical growth tactics. She also runs Sell Anything Online, which started as a digital marketing playbook and developed into a broader education business for small-business owners. Her 2024 book, How to Sell Anything Online, became an Amazon bestseller in the entrepreneurship category.

Follow Sarkar for practical advice on marketing, content creation, customer growth, and running an ecommerce business.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

3. Lisa Jones, founder and CEO of SHE-com

Lisa Jones is an ecommerce founder, author, and community builder with experience launching, scaling, and exiting product businesses. She now leads SHE-com, a media, community, education, and events platform for women building ecommerce brands. According to Jones, the SHE-com ecosystem reaches more than 100,000 female founders globally and is expanding further into the United States in 2026.

Across that work, Jones focuses on the parts of brand growth founders have to manage themselves, including marketing, operations, hiring, profitability, and retail expansion. Before SHE-com, Jones co-founded Ecoriginals, a baby-care brand that reached more than 300 retail outlets across Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States before she sold the company in 2019.

Follow Jones for practical lessons on scaling product businesses, building founder communities, and navigating the operational side of ecommerce growth.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

4. Jackie Damelian, owner and Managing Director of Jackie Mack Designs

Jackie Damelian is an ecommerce founder, retail growth advisor, and Foundr ecommerce coach. She took over Jackie Mack Designs from her mother and relaunched it as a DTC fashion accessories brand in 2018, then expanded it through B2B retail partnerships, white-label projects, and private-label work. According to Damelian, that strategy helped the business achieve 300% year-over-year sales growth and sell more than 100,000 fashion accessories over three years.

Damelian’s clearest area of expertise is taking a DTC brand into broader retail while building a stronger multi-channel presence. Jackie Mack Designs has worked with retailers including Bloomingdale’s, Anthropologie, Free People, Revolve, The Iconic, and Smith & Caughey’s.

Follow Damelian for advice on retail partnerships, product sourcing, pricing, and building a recognizable brand across multiple sales channels.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

5. Melisa Vong, CEO and Managing Partner at Buzz Ventures / Buzzin Brands

Melisa Vong is a serial ecommerce entrepreneur who works across product development, branding, Amazon strategy, and business growth. As CEO and Managing Partner of Buzz Ventures / Buzzin Brands, she helps product-based businesses move from idea to launch and build the systems needed to scale online.

Vong works most deeply across Amazon ecommerce and product development, including listing optimization, keyword research, packaging, branding, logistics, and A+ content. Vong has also co-founded and directed multiple ecommerce brands in the beauty and health categories, giving her experience on both the operating and advisory sides of the business.

Follow Vong for practical insight into launching products, improving Amazon listings, developing stronger branding, and navigating the operational work behind growing a product business.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

6. Shopify Success — Julia, creator of Shopify Success

Julia runs Shopify Success, an educational channel focused on helping beginners build and grow ecommerce businesses with Shopify. Her content covers the practical side of running an online store, from initial setup and store design to branding, product management, conversion, advertising, and growth.

Her content is aimed squarely at new and growing Shopify merchants. Through tutorials, step-by-step guides, and longer educational videos, she breaks down how to build and manage a Shopify store whether you sell your own products, use dropshipping, or are still deciding on a business model. She also offers free guides and a more extensive Shopify course through Digital Success Journey.

Follow Julia for approachable guidance on store setup, optimization, and Shopify marketing automation as your business grows.

Find her on YouTube and Instagram.

7. Jess Vassallo, founder and CEO of Evocative Media

Jess Vassallo is the founder and CEO of Evocative Media, an ecommerce growth agency specializing in email and SMS marketing, paid social, and paid search. Her work spans acquisition and retention, giving her a broad view of how different channels contribute to ecommerce growth.

Much of Vassallo’s work sits in ecommerce performance marketing, across email, SMS, Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and Google Ads. According to Vassallo, Evocative Media has driven more than $900 million in tracked sales for brands including Culture Kings, Lorna Jane, Aje Athletica, Hairhouse, Billini, and Naked Harvest.

Follow Vassallo for practical insight into paid growth, retention, and how channels work together across the wider lifecycle marketing journey.

Find her on LinkedIn.

8. Abigail Clarke, Director of Eventus Agency and founder of Sipdopa

Abigail Clarke is an ecommerce founder and growth marketer who combines agency work with hands-on experience building product brands. She runs Eventus Agency, where her team focuses on TikTok Shop, paid social, creator programs, content, and growth strategy. She also founded Sipdopa, a ceremonial-grade matcha brand launched in 2026.

Clarke’s strongest focus is paid growth and creator-led ecommerce, especially through TikTok Shop, Meta, TikTok, and Google. According to Clarke, her team has managed more than £80 million in ad spend and worked with over 500 brands, including PrettyLittleThing, SweetZone, Haute Dolci, and Hair Syrup.

Follow Clarke for practical advice on paid media, creator recruitment, TikTok Shop, offers, and building the systems behind scalable ecommerce growth.

Find her on LinkedIn.

9. Grace Beverley, founder of TALA, SHREDDY, and The Productivity Method

Grace Beverley is an ecommerce founder and entrepreneur behind TALA, SHREDDY, and The Productivity Method, as well as co-founder of AI company Retrograde. Her strongest ecommerce credentials come from building consumer brands in fashion and fitness, particularly TALA, which she founded in 2019.

Beverley’s ecommerce experience is rooted in DTC brand building, with work across product development, sustainable fashion, fundraising, community building, and retail growth. Beverley was included in Forbes’ 2020 30 Under 30 retail and ecommerce list at age 23, and she says TALA and Retrograde have raised more than $14 million across Seed and Series A funding rounds.

Follow Beverley for insight into building consumer brands, raising capital, entering competitive categories, and growing founder-led businesses.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

10. Susan Yara, founder of NATURIUM and owner of Playa

Susan Yara is a beauty entrepreneur and content creator who built her ecommerce career on a foundation in media, product education, and audience development. She founded Mixed Makeup in 2014, growing it into a beauty-focused YouTube channel, and later co-founded skincare brand NATURIUM. She also founded the haircare brand Playa.

Yara’s approach to brand building draws heavily on content, product education, and the trust she has built with a beauty audience. Before launching her own brands, Yara worked across beauty and lifestyle media at publications including Forbes, PEOPLE, NewBeauty, POPSUGAR, and CNBC.com, giving her a strong editorial background alongside her ecommerce experience.

Follow Yara for insight into beauty ecommerce, product storytelling, content strategy, and turning an engaged audience into a consumer brand.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

11. Sky Bailey, ecommerce email marketing specialist

Sky Bailey is an ecommerce email marketing specialist with more than nine years of experience helping online brands build email strategies focused on revenue, engagement, and retention. Since 2017, she has worked independently with ecommerce businesses, with a particular focus on Shopify and Klaviyo.

Bailey concentrates on ecommerce email strategy, particularly automated flows. Bailey says she has built hundreds of high-converting flows and generated millions in revenue through email, giving her hands-on experience with the systems behind stronger customer relationships and repeat purchases.

Follow Bailey for practical advice on ecommerce email marketing, automation, retention, and improving the performance of email programs for online stores.

Find her on LinkedIn and TikTok.

12. Ellie Tyler, founder of Tyler Aromatherapy and Tyler Talks Business

Ellie Tyler is an ecommerce founder and marketing mentor who runs both Tyler Aromatherapy and Tyler Talks Business. She launched Tyler Aromatherapy in 2021 as a product-based wellness brand, then created Tyler Talks Business to share practical marketing advice with other small-business owners.

Tyler’s work covers small-business marketing and ecommerce brand building, including branding, product launches, SEO, digital marketing, and community. Through Tyler Talks Business, she has built a community of more than 200 women in business and created educational resources covering launches, SEO, and brand development.

Follow Tyler for practical guidance on growing a product business online, building a recognizable brand, and improving the marketing foundations behind an ecommerce store.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

13. Jess Ruhfus, founder and Director of No.2 Co

Jess Ruhfus is a marketer and entrepreneur with experience in brand partnerships, ecommerce, and consumer products. She currently runs No.2 Co and co-founded Staje, following nearly a decade building Collabosaurus, a brand collaboration platform she launched in 2015 and exited in 2023.

Brand partnerships and collaboration marketing have been a consistent thread through Ruhfus’ work. Collabosaurus grew to more than 10,500 participating brands, including ASOS, Walmart, Marks & Spencer, and Cotton On Group. Ruhfus says the bootstrapped business achieved average core revenue growth of 84% year over year. She now applies that marketing experience to her own product businesses while continuing to speak and create content around partnerships, branding, and entrepreneurship.

Follow Ruhfus for ideas on brand collaborations, creative campaigns, partnership strategy, and building consumer products.

Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

14. Milly, founder of Milly’s Studio and Milly’s Studio School

Milly is a creative ecommerce founder who has been building Milly’s Studio since 2020, originally under the name Prints by Milly. From her home in the United Kingdom, she runs a stationery and illustration business while documenting the day-to-day realities of growing a product-based brand.

Her content focuses on the practical side of growing a creative business, from product launches and studio operations to content creation and everyday challenges. She also runs Milly’s Studio School, where she shares tips and resources for other creatives building businesses of their own.

Follow Milly for a behind-the-scenes view of product launches, running a creative ecommerce brand, and learning through the ups and downs of business ownership.

Find her on YouTube and Instagram.

15. Lina Gallagher, founder and Managing Director of Emerce Consulting

Lina Gallagher is an ecommerce consultant, operator, educator, and investor with more than 20 years of experience across digital commerce and retail. She leads Emerce Consulting, where she works with retailers, manufacturers, startups, and founders on ecommerce strategy, technology, operations, marketing, and omnichannel growth.

Gallagher works across ecommerce and omnichannel strategy, including marketplaces, acquisition and retention, digital transformation, international expansion, and retail operations. Through Emerce Consulting, Gallagher says she has worked on more than 100 digital business transformations across sectors including fashion, beauty, grocery, electronics, and luxury. She also runs Ecomm Wave, co-hosts the Commerce Talks GCC podcast, and oversees ecommerce growth at Drink Dry.

Follow Gallagher for practical insight into scaling digital commerce, marketplace strategy, regional expansion, and AI in retail.

Find her on LinkedIn.

How to choose which ecommerce experts to follow

Start with the part of ecommerce you need help with most. If acquisition is the priority, follow people who share practical advice on paid growth, creative testing, and customer acquisition. For retention, look for specialists in lifecycle strategy, email marketing, or SMS marketing. Shopify merchants may get more value from platform-specific educators, while founders working on positioning or expansion may prefer experts focused on brand building, operations, or leadership.

You also don’t need to follow everyone on this list. A smaller group with complementary expertise is often more useful — for example, one operator, one acquisition specialist, and one retention expert.

Follower counts and impressive job titles don’t tell you much on their own. Pay more attention to people who are still doing the work, show concrete examples, and can point to measurable results. Good advice is easier to trust when you can see the thinking and evidence behind it.

Turn ecommerce insights into action

Following experienced ecommerce operators and marketers is useful only when you test their ideas against your own business. That could mean trying a new retention tactic, refining your email segmentation, or using proven email automation examples as a starting point for welcome, cart recovery, post-purchase, or re-engagement flows.

Omnisend gives ecommerce brands the tools to put those ideas into practice through email, SMS, automation, and segmentation. You can build lifecycle campaigns around your own customer data, measure the results, and keep improving what works.

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