Innovative retail technology and live country music: an unlikely duo, or the perfect combination? We think the latter! The Women in Retail Leadership Circle team travelled to Nashville last week to host our sister brand Total Retail’s annual technology summit, Total Retail Tech. It was a roaring success, and an incredible experience for my first visit to the Music City!

Among the many trends to emerge from the event, from all things technology to innovative leadership to diversity in tech, there was one that really struck me: the number of women at the show.

You might not normally associate a technology summit with strong female presence, but luckily that’s changing. We’re proud to do our part in trying to level the playing field in the historically male-dominated tech industry. At Total Retail Tech last week, nearly two-thirds of our speakers were women! And of our 23 female speakers, six are Women in Retail Leadership Circle members:

Other event highlights included an all-female panel discussing effective cross-department collaboration between marketing and IT teams; a keynote presentation from Asha Saxena, CEO and founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI; and women-led panel discussions focused on diversifying the tech workforce as well as the contributing factors that brands need to be weighing when making build vs. buy technology decisions. We’re thrilled to be part of the movement driving rising female representation in the retail technology space, and will continue to support career advancement for women technologists and leaders in retail.