In her many years as Creative Director, she has acquired many minions in the fashion industry (including one from a rival magazine), whom she uses in order to reach her goal of becoming editor-in-chief.

In the early episodes of the first season, Wilhelmina was also in league with a mysterious bandaged woman, who, as the series progressed, many clues linked to be Fey Sommers.

It is finally revealed, however, the mystery woman is actually Alexis Meade, Daniel's older (male to female transgender) sister.

After learning her assistant Marc was the caller, Wilhelmina is ready to fire him, but she finds herself backed into a corner after she lets slip her takeover plans.

Wilhelmina's scheme to replace Daniel is again delayed, however, due to an injunction: although Bradford's Will states the elder son would take over Meade publications, Alex has since become Alexis.

In the season finale, Bradford gives Wilhelmina a gaudy engagement ring he designed himself, setting things up for a November 2007 wedding.

She also manipulated an amnesiac Alexis (who was in the hospital after the car crash she and Daniel were in) into thinking they were still friends by telling her Claire was the one who walked out on Bradford.

She also used a tactic at the annual Meade Black & White Ball resulting in Bradford finally telling Claire their marriage was over for good.

However at the wedding, things started unraveling when Daniel found out about Wilhelmina's tryst with her bodyguard (and would later fire Betty for lying to him about it).

At the hospital Wilhelmina tried to trick him into a quickie wedding with Marc as an ordained minister upon learning she could claim a stake in the company if she was legally married.

But after she was terminated from Meade Publications, Wilhelmina secretly unveiled a virus disk called "Medusa X" and wiped out the entire magazine's database.

At first Christina turned her down because she didn't want a "Satan Spawn" growing inside her, but after Marc and Wilhelmina burned an expensive dress once owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, which Christina was intent on selling to a collector, she gave in...and had Betty brought in for support, which upset Wilhelmina.

She later revealed her unborn child to the Meade family and subsequently made a dramatic return to Mode, thanks to Alexis.

However, when Wilhelmina sees Molly and Daniel flirting at a company retreat, she conceives the idea to push the two together and leave Connor open to her.

After the manhunter leaves, she is seen walking into a room, and upon seeing someone, drops her shot glass, obviously shocked at this mystery person's appearance.

In desperation, Wilhelmina planned to flee the country with Nico, and resigned from her position at Mode effective after the upcoming "Fearless shoot" in the Bahamas.

Back home, Wilhelmina continues to secretly meet Connor in prison; the perks of having a Senator for a father granting her daily conjugal visits.

In "Back in her Place" Connor is becoming increasingly worried that Wilhelmina is becoming too attached and is missing out on her chance at a real life by continuing their relationship whilst he is still in prison.

In "The Past Presents the Future" Wilhelmina is shot by Tyler, Claire's illegitimate son with Cal Hartley.

In the following episodes Wilhelmena makes a recovery from this wound, and awakens to find Connor by her bedside, having talked a guard into releasing him to come see her.

The revelation of Connor back in her life makes her want to put the past behind her and become a new woman; however, after this Claire visits her and offers Wilhelmina a bribe to say that Tyler did not shoot her.

Later she announces at a press conference that Claire did not shoot her (as media had speculated due to their fight) and prepares to name Tyler as her assailant.

However, seeing Marc in the background brings her to her senses as his earlier words hit home and she instead insists it was an accident, much to Tyler and Claire's relief.

Wilhelmina reveals in "Trust, Lust, and Must" that while she was a student at the Salem Academy, she performed a private dance for Mikhail Baryshnikov.

She also has a strong-willed teenage daughter, Nico, introduced in the episode "The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe" who has attended a succession of boarding schools and rarely lived with her mother.

It is also implied her father knows of and financially supports Nico but, like Wilhelmina, takes little active interest in his daughter's day-to-day life.

Wilhelmina's younger sister, Renee (played by Gabrielle Union), was introduced in the episode "A Thousand Words Before Friday".

In a deleted scene from the season 1 DVD, Wilhelmina is seen looking at her closet full of outfits as she tries to rearrange them by the aforementioned colors.

Wilhelmina, despite her cold calculating ways, is also shown to be willing to abandon her career to develop relationships with men, as shown in the first season when she readily abandons her scheme with Alexis to pursue a relationship with Ted LeBeau, or when she actively pursues Connor despite his arrest warrant and the implications it'd have on her life to be romantically involved and in cahoots with him.

Originally, Wilhelmina was supposed to be so mean she would fire an assistant every week, but Marc proved to be a popular character and got the job permanently.