Gelila is the Head of AI Strategy at Union Square Advisors.

She started her career at BlackRock, partnering with the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, foundations, and endowments. Over the years, she worked as a search fund entrepreneur at Aone Partners and also served as a Director at a high growth software holding company that acquires and scales vertical market SaaS businesses.

She has published studies on technology businesses with Stanford University faculty and Harvard Business Review, covering IPO strategy, venture capital, and M&A. These are taught in Stanford's flagship entrepreneurship courses.

Gelila earned an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics and Computer Science from Columbia University, where she was a Kluge Scholar. 

Gelila writes a column with Forbes on AI in private markets. She is interested in emerging technologies and new models of capital allocation that are shaping financial markets. She grew up in Addis Ababa and lives in New York.