Years ago, Kimberly Lee Minor had the idea to bring together women of colour in corporate retail at the director level and above so they could build a network of support.
“Everyone I knew were onlies or firsts, and it was lonely and difficult to navigate. I set a date for market week, reached out to everyone I knew, and waited. Finally, the night of the dinner came, and there were six of us,” says Minor, President of the Women of Color Retail Alliance (WOCRA) and CEO of Bumbershoot.
“Fast forward to 2020, and the world is turning upside down. And while so much was changing, so much was still the same. It was time to try again. It was time to make a change. So, I reached out to several trusted colleagues who had the same desire to change the trajectory for women of color in retail, many of whom were isolated or stuck in mid-level roles with no resources on how to progress. We also wanted to help retail corporations progress in sustainable ways.
“In September 2020, we had our first virtual “We should know each other” networking event – we exceeded capacity. After that, we had several more gatherings and introduced our “My Leadership Journey” lunch and learn series and “Straight No Chaser”, our career development pilot program.
We are ready to take our cohorts to new levels of career advancement and committed brands to new levels of social responsibility.”
In this video interview, Minor and Liza Amlani, Principal/Founder of the Retail Strategy Group and The Merchant Life and WOCRA board member, discuss the organization and the challenges women of colour still face in the retail sector.
The organization can be reached here: https://www.wocretailalliance.org/
Kimberly Lee Minor Bio
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, Minor is currently the President and Chief Commercial Officer at Bandier, the premier retailer destination for luxury athletic and athleisure fashion, where she oversees the direction of design, multi-channel merchandising, marketing, production, sourcing, and human resources.
Minor 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.
A Philadelphia native, Minor attended Temple University for her undergraduate studies. Upon graduating, she embarked on a 25+ year career holding major brand leadership positions at global retail and fashion organizations including Macys, LBrands, Footlocker, and Iconix.
As a fashion and retail thought leader and advocate for advancing women and people of color in the workplace, Minor serves as the founder and president of WOCRA (Women of Color Retail Alliance), supporting the careers of women of color in the retail industry through hard and soft skills training, leadership development and networking opportunities and sits on several board of director committees including BlueConic and Together Digital.
Empowering as a leader and mentor, Minor is consistently challenging team members to surpass personal career objectives and have a positive impact on organizations.
Kimberly holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and Executive Certificates in Leadership and Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Inclusive Organizational Excellence from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Liza Amlani Bio
Liza is a retail industry veteran and the go to expert in retail merchandising, product creation, and accelerating speed to market.
Liza Amlani is a 25 year retail industry veteran and works with global retailers, brands and retail tech companies to help them achieve dramatic business growth. Liza has worked with familiar brands including Holt Renfrew, Ralph Lauren Europe and Canada, Club Monaco, Nike, Walmart.
Liza founded Retail Strategy Group in 2020. Her thought leadership is showcased in our monthly newsletter, The Merchant Life. Founders, VP’s and C-Suite executives subscribe to gain valuable insights and discover best practices. Liza is also a Talkdesk Retail Industry Advisory Board member.Liza is a respected voice on a variety of pertinent topics and is cited in Forbes, RetailWire, Retail Insider, Bloomberg, Chain Store Age, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Sourcing Journal and Footwear News.
Liza has been invited to speak at retail conferences across North America and often guest lectures at top Business schools across the country. She also brings a wealth of global insight to her work given the number of stamps in her passport and countries in which she has resided – Liza has moved 29 times in her life from Canada to the UK to Africa and many places in between.
Liza has recently been named one of RETHINK Retail’s Top Influencer of 2022 and you can find her on all social platforms under @themerchantlife.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
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