From the Archives: Women in Retail Leadership Circle Reflects on 10 Years Empowering Female Leaders
In this episode of Women in Retail Talks, we resurface one of our most downloaded episodes of 2024: a special episode reflecting on 10 years of Women in Retail Leadership Circle. The discussion is led by Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) Co-Founder Melissa Campanelli, who is joined by President and Co-Founder Jennifer DiPasquale and Membership Director Susan Koger. Listen in as DiPasquale details the origin story of the membership association (2:05), Campanelli shares the major milestones marked since its launch in 2014 (7:20), and Koger shares her professional background in membership that led her to join the WIRLC team (8:30). Additionally, she details WIRLC’s exciting in-person and virtual member benefits (10:40) and DiPasquale emphasizes the organization’s wide-ranging content offerings (13:05).
The leaders share their favorite stories that showcase the impact of the WIRLC community on our members as well as the retail industry (15:00), and provide a preview of what attendees can expect at the 2024 Women in Retail Leadership Summit (18:00). Lastly, they share the year-round WIRLC events and networking opportunities available to female retail leaders in 2024 (21:30) and how to become involved with Women in Retail Leadership Circle as a member or sponsor partner (22:35).
This interview was originally published on Jan. 9, 2024.
Melissa Campanelli is the co-founder and brand and content director of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle, a members-only networking group that offers enterprise-level women in the retail industry a place to learn, connect and grow. Previously, Melissa spent 10 years at DM News, where she was first a senior editor and then deputy editor. She’s also a leading expert in small business e-commerce and author of the books “Entrepreneur Magazine’s Open an Online Business in 10 Days” and “55 Surefire Internet Businesses You Can Start for Under $5,000.” In her free time, Melissa loves exploring New York City and Brooklyn and spending time with her family.
Jennifer DiPasquale is the president and co-founder of Women in Retail Leadership Circle, and president of Total Retail and Women Leading Travel & Hospitality. Jen launched Women in Retail Leadership Circle, an exclusive community of women executives at leading retailers and brands, in 2014 while running Total Retail. She also launched Women Leading Travel & Hospitality in 2020. She continues to be a conduit between leading retailers and technology solution and service providers. Jen is a huge consumer of leadership and professional development content, and loves sharing great podcasts, books, and articles with her community and team. When she isn’t working, you can find Jen trying to keep up with her three crazy kiddos and the cutest Havanese dog ever, Brody.
Susan Koger is the membership director for Women in Retail Leadership Circle and Women Leading Travel & Hospitality. She is passionate about building communities that help its members thrive personally and professionally. Susan lives in the Queen Village neighborhood of Philadelphia with her husband, son, and their rescued flame-point-Siamese cat. She enjoys cooking, hosting friends and family, volunteering, urban gardening, hiking, travelling, and any time spent by the water.
Date: December 20, 2024
Credits: Melissa Campanelli, Jennifer DiPasquale, Susan Koger
Duration: 24:16
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