It’s been two weeks since the close of the sixth annual Women in Retail Leadership Summit (WIRLS), and we here at the Inner Circle are still on cloud nine! Jen and I have been flooded with lovely thank-you emails and messages from attendees, speakers and sponsor partners, and we’ve read and responded to each and every one of them. We’ve also received so many wonderful comments from attendees via our event survey! Here are some of my favorites:

  • “I am in awe of all these amazing and powerful women! Every WIRLS I attend leaves me jazzed and excited about life, my personal brand story and being a woman! Thank you for a spectacular event!!”
  • “Empowering. That’s the best word to describe my experience the last two years. I arrive to the Summit with personal doubt after experiencing everyday stress, but when I leave the Summit, I’m energized, confident, and have a group of new friends and peers that I will keep close for years to come. Thank you so much WIRLC!”
  • “It was incredibly energizing and empowering to have the opportunity to engage with and learn from so many exceptional and inspirational women in our industry. I left the conference feeling like I could conquer the world!”
  • “WIRLS provides the platform for women business leaders to gather, share, learn and build relationships with like-minded amazing women. It is, by far, the best time and money I have spent on an industry conference. I walk away with a full bucket of learnings and new relationships.”
  • “What an amazing ‘hidden jewel’ of an event! WIRLS is the perfect combination of industry updates, leadership and coaching content, networking, support, and pampering. I look forward to staying in touch with several of the women I met. The vibe of WIRLS made it all the more possible to really connect with other great women in a meaningful way.”

You get the idea … it was simply an amazing experience for all who were a part of WIRLS. And I truly believe the reason WIRLS is so successful each year is because of the inspiring women who attend, speak and sponsor it. We’re blessed with an amazingly talented collection of attendees who come from across the industry each year to support each other to be their best selves.

So, I want to say THANK YOU to all!

More Summit Stuff

Many Women in Retail Leadership Summit attendees really loved the music we played during breaks, as speakers walked up to the stage, and during our cocktail hours. Soooo, we put together two Women in Retail Leadership Summit Spotify playlists, featuring “Songs from the Summit!” Here’s the link to both the WIRLS Session and Cocktail Hour playlists. Jam out at work, in the car, or whenever and wherever you want some inspiration! (Thanks to Danielle Mullen and Kristina Stidham from our team for helping put this together!)

I also had the pleasure of reading two articles this week that did awesome jobs of summarizing the Summit! One of the articles, from Melissa Metheny, vice president of sales and account management at Acxiom (a Summit sponsor partner), discussed a variety of topics at the show, including the lunch panel on omnichannel attribution, data and analytics that she moderated, as well as some of the Summit speakers’ most inspiring quotes. Metheny also noted that on March 8, she along with colleagues Janet Cinfio and Stefana Rusu, launched Acxiom’s first Women LEAD (Leadership, Enrichment and Development) program. The Acxiom Women LEAD group shares a passion for the diversity and development of future leaders for Acxiom, with the goal of supporting the company’s intention to provide equal opportunities for everyone within the organization. Congrats to Melissa and the whole Acxiom team!

The other article, from attendee Sonia Hernandez, a partner at The Parker Avery Group, offered a comprehensive recap of the event. My favorite part of Hernandez’s article was when she explained that the Summit reminded her of an “article I recently read about fireflies, which explained that a single firefly lighting up is not as productive as a group of fireflies. The outstanding group of women at the Summit were truly lighting up together, and their collective brightness was fascinating. There is power in connection, and so many women attending the Summit said they felt so much more optimistic about the future being part of this group.” Doesn’t that just sum it up?

With love,

Melissa Campanelli
Co-Founder
Women in Retail Leadership Circle