Quick Facts
Biography
Lisa Gersh is an American businesswoman who has served as the CEO of companies such as Martha Stewart Living, Goop, and the Alexander Wang fashion label. She was a co-founder of the Oxygen Network. Currently, she is an executive partner at Attention Capital, LLC.
Early life
Gersh tells the story that she grew up poor in The Bronx, New York City, and began working as an umpire for girls' softball games to earn cash. Due to unionization, she found great pay at the Foodtown grocery store, where she worked in highschool and made a game of memorizing all the prices to entertain herself. She cites her mother as a big influence and inspired her to pursue her passions. Her mother also taught her to listen, a skill that has served her well in leadership positions. Gersh also cites Geraldine Laybourne as an influence who taught her a number of valuable lessons.
Gersh received her undergraduate degree from SUNY Binghamton, after which she earned her JD from Rutgers University. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association.
Career
In 1986 she began work as a partner at Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP. In making the switch from legal to creative business, she describes how she had to learn to engage artists to give their best pitch, which was different than how she had engaged with legal clients. Since making that change, she has been brought on as CEO ofMartha Stewart Living, Goop, and the Alexander Wang fashion label. Alexander Wang said that he had hoped "Lisa's ... diverse background in the media, lifestyle and digital landscape will help us continue to position the business to expand into new categories and territories." Additional work by Gersh has includedPresident of Strategic Initiatives at NBC Universal, Interim CEO at The Weather Channel, and founder/COO of the Oxygen Network. Since October 2019, she has worked as an Executive Partner at Attention Capital LLC, an American company acquiring and building media brands in the attention economy.
She currently serves as a board member for Hasbro Inc., University of Southern California, Establishment Labs SA, and POPSUGAR Inc.