Did you know the average woman earns just 82 cents for every dollar earned by a man? Did you know this disparity is even greater for women of color, with African American women earning just 60 cents and Latinas earning only 55 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men?
In celebration of International Women’s Day, we want to recognize all the women who have dismantled stereotypes, shattered glass ceilings and opened doors for the future generation of leaders. There are so many amazing women-led organizations working each day to achieve gender equality and ensure that women have equal opportunities and rights in all spheres of life.
One organization doing just that is WOCRA (Women of Color Retail Alliance). WOCRA provides hard and soft skills training, leadership development, and a support network for women of color in retail and adjacent industries and we’re lucky enough to know and work with the Founder and President of WOCRA, Kimberly Lee Minor.
Kimberly Lee Minor is an accomplished executive with an impeccable record of building brands and developing strategies to keep business competitive and nimble. An executive member of leading domestic and international retailers and brand organizations, she is currently the President and Chief Commercial Officer at Bandier, the premier retailer destination for luxury athletic and athleisure fashion. In this role, she oversees the direction of design, multichannel merchandising, marketing, production, sourcing, and human resources.
Kimberly also serves as the CEO for Bumbershoot, a boutique consulting firm that provides C-suite leadership, cultural and market insights for inclusive, equitable and diverse representation across brand, content, product and customer experience. As a fashion and retail thought leader and advocate for advancing women and people of color in the workplace, she started WOCRA to support the careers of women of color in the retail industry through hard and soft skills training, leadership development and networking opportunities. She also sits on several board of director committees including BlueConic and Together Digital, to drive positive change across the industry. Empowering as a leader and mentor, Kimberly is consistently challenging team members to surpass personal career objectives and have a positive impact on organizations.
We had the pleasure of working with Kimberly as a speaker in one of our breakout sessions for RICE last year and we’re excited to continue to work with her again — this time as a workshop lead and facilitator. Kimberly will host her 90-minute workshop on Tuesday, June 13. By attending “Actualizing Equity in the Organization,” retail and brand executives will have the unique opportunity to hear from Kimberly and gain hard and soft skills training that will help you build a foundation for equity as soon as you get back to the office. We’re so excited for our community to see her incredible passion and valuable expertise firsthand! Registration for workshops will open soon, so be on the lookout for updates.
Note: Only retailers/brands are eligible to attend the workshops on Tuesday, June 13 and there is an additional fee ($149 with an All-Access Pass and $349 with a Free Expo Pass). Seats will be limited.
In the meantime, be sure to register for an All-Access Pass to hear from the 40+ women trailblazers on the speaking faculty!
