Marisa Sharkey

President and Co-Founder, Birdies

Marisa Sharkey is an entrepreneur and retail executive. She is the co-founder and president of Birdies, a direct to consumer e-commerce brand that is disrupting the women’s footwear industry by creating a new category of footwear–stylish and comfortable slippers that are versatile enough to be worn indoors and out.

Marisa is passionate about building brands and retail experiences and has over 20 years of experience working with leading brands across the world. Prior to Birdies, she led corporate strategy for Ross Stores, where she led efforts to design their best in class merchandising organization and to identify and implement opportunities for product expansion. Before that, she was a senior manager at Bain and Company, the management consultancy, where she focused on growth strategy and performance improvement while working with CEOs and executives of Fortune 500 retailers and leading private equity firms.

Marisa holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and received her undergraduate degree at Cornell University. Marisa now lives in Sacramento, California with her husband and two daughters.

Active in supporting women’s organizations in both her personal and professional life, Marisa currently advises early stage entrepreneurs pursuing their own passions and serves on the Board of Directors of Women’s Empowerment, an organization that supports homeless women in building skills for employment.