The Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) came about after Jennifer DiPasquale and Melissa Campanelli spent a lot of time conversing with women retail leaders at Total Retail (TR)-hosted Retail Roundtable dinners over the last few years. They regularly heard stories that while there are a lot of women working in the retail space, the number of women in the C-suite is actually dwindling. In addition, they learned how much women retailers love to network with each other. And finally, TR’s annual “Top Women in Omnichannel Retail” issue was becoming one of its most popular, and so they felt they needed to take it “to the next level”! Before launching WIRLC, however, they “tested” the idea with a Women in Retail Leadership Summit, which launched in the spring of 2014. The event was a smashing, sold-out success. More than 100 attendees were treated to fantastic content and programming as well as great sharing, connecting and networking. Following the success of the WIR Summit, Melissa and Jen decided to move ahead with the idea, and thus, WIRLC was born.