Welcome to the first episode of Women in Retail Leadership Circle’s new biweekly video series, Around the Circle. This video series offers us the opportunity to chat about amazing women leaders in retail and beyond, as well as share news affecting women everywhere! Today, we’ll be talking about all the amazing things that women leaders accomplished in 2019.

  1. Corie Barry was named CEO of Best Buy in June after working at the company for nearly 20 years. She is Best Buy’s first woman CEO. (And Corie is a keynote speaker at this year’s Women in Retail Leadership Summit!)
  2. In October, Audrey Gelman, CEO and co-founder of the women-focused co-working space The Wing, became the first visibly pregnant CEO to be on the cover of a business magazine.
  3. Also in October, Melinda Gates announced a pledge of $1 billion to promote gender equality in the United States.
  4. Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, was named TIME Magazine Person of the Year, becoming the first teenager to receive the honor.
  5. Shoptalk, the retail industry’s largest event, announced that its 2020 conference will feature an all-women speaker lineup. This is a groundbreaking move for the retail industry!

2019 was an incredible year for women in the retail industry and beyond. We can’t wait to see what happens in 2020!