Dr. Alessandra Wood is an author, educator, and design historian with an eye towards the future. A scholar of art and design history & theory, she leverages visual culture as a tool to understand humankind past and present. With a multi-faceted career in the academic, museum, and business worlds, her point of view is unique as she strives to make art and design accessible to all. Her roles in tech, including as VP of Style at Modsy, have allowed her to work on the compelling challenge of reimagining the way we design our homes while introducing engaging content on design history and criticism to a wide audience.
Alessandra is a nationally recognized expert on design history and has engaged in critical conversations on design in hundreds of articles for print and digital media including in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Associated Press, Washington Post, Forbes, Architectural Digest, and Business Insider.
Alessandra is the author of Designed to Sell: The Evolution of Modern Merchandising and Display (Routledge, 2020). With a PhD that focused on Design History & Material Culture and an M.A. in the History of Decorative Arts and Design, she has intense academic training in style, production, and consumption of the designed world—a bona fide design expert, taught by the best of the best curators and historians.
Currently, Alessandra is an adjunct professor teaching history, theory, and criticism of art and design. She’s a mom of 2 toddlers and fully understands the need for a beautiful and well-balanced life. In her free time, she’s a fierce competitor on the fair circuit and holds numerous blue ribbons, as well as the 2024 San Mateo County Fair Culinary Arts Exhibitor of the Year award.