Julie Fox long has understood the benefits of female mentorship. While she’s had great male role models throughout her career, there are “issues and things that women go through that only other women can understand,” she said. Thus, she co-founded The Pipeline, a network of women retail real estate professionals to support each other in business and beyond.

For instance, it was a female mentor, Nancy Mozzachio, then COO of Cedar Realty Trust, who taught Fox how to negotiate salaries better. “She taught me to really understand my worth,” Fox explained. And it was Lynda Benedetto, then general manager at PREIT, who taught Fox how to be a better manager. “She taught me if you’re going to manage someone, you really need to fully understand their responsibilities,” Fox recalled.

Fox wished that there was a nationwide network to help women retail real estate professionals, specifically, find, reach out to and support each other. So in 2016, Fox and her friend and former colleague Cortney Rickle started one themselves. They called it The Pipeline because, Fox said, “we’re very focused on building a pipeline for the next generation of women and also building a pipeline of business deals.”

Today, more than 300 women across the U.S. gather for Pipeline educational conversations on topics like real estate investing for women. They also gather over cocktails to talk about issues affecting them in the workplace and new ways of looking at situations. “Honestly, selfishly, I wish this existed for me 20 years ago when I started as a minority woman in the business,” Fox said.

Fox, who also is senior vice president of leasing and development for Ashkenazy Acquisitions Corp., talked with Commerce + Communities Today contributing editor Rebecca Meiser about the group’s successes and how to get involved.

The former ICSC Women’s SIG, or specialty interest group, fostered professional enrichment for women. I heard it was actually an ICSC SIG discussion that sparked The Pipeline. Is that true?

Yes! In 2016, we were at the Philly ICSC show, and I was asked to moderate a women’s [SIG] session. There was a good number of women in the room, maybe 50 or 60. We talked about a lot of topics that affect women from career paths to work-life balance to transitions. At the end of the meeting, everyone said: “This was so great for us to be able to come together and to talk and to share. It’s too bad that we have to wait until next year to come back to get together.” That sparked something in me. I was like: “Why do we have to wait a whole year or six months until we see each other at these conferences to be able to help each other?” That’s what really stirred my heart. I know there are other women’s groups that are out there, but I wanted to create something different: more of a network where women could come together and support each other. I shared the idea with my co-worker at the time, Cortney Rickle. We didn’t know what it was going to evolve into, but we thought: “Why not?”

What was your vision for the group? And the goal?

I started thinking: “What would we want to see? What was missing for me when I started in this business 15-something years ago?” I would have loved to have been able to call upon women in the business when I had questions about a deal or about salary negotiations or a career path. I thought: “How amazing would it be to just be able to pick up the phone or email someone and say, ‘I could use some help’ — and not just from a business standpoint, also from a mental health and emotional standpoint.”

Who is in your group?

We have about 300 women that are landlords, retailers, engineers, architects, lenders, people in title from all around the country. Anyone that touches retail real estate or commercial real estate is welcome to attend. We have women right out of college and women who have been in the industry for over 40 years. We’re very inclusive.

What sort of events do you have and how often do you meet?

When it started in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area seven years ago, we had events monthly that were fun and educational. We partnered, for example, with Madison Marquette and did a redevelopment tour of Asbury Park. The firm gave us tickets to a concert and we had dinner, which was educational and fun. We’ve also had sessions like Productivity Hacks for Women Retail Real Estate Professionals and an Introduction to the Land Development Process. But for me, it was really important that these events were not just serious conference-style events. I said to the group: “What are some fun activities that you would want to do with your girlfriends?” We’ve done everything from wineries to spa days to brunches.

Why was it so important to you that The Pipeline include these excursions as part of your programming?

As women, we care about relationships and connection. When I think about my relationships with my girlfriends, we like to just get together and brunch or go to a spa. I think it eases people when they are able to just have fun with each other. Openness and vulnerability are developed over time, and having these sorts of shared events builds those deeper connections. I can say that there are many people within this group now that I not only do business with but who have also become some of my very close friends.

What makes The Pipeline different from other groups?

We’re not transactional. If you’re joining with the idea that “I want to join and I want to hand you my business card and I want to do work with you immediately,” we’re really not kind of that group. We’re also, as I mentioned, very inclusive. If you express an interest and want to get connected and provide support and network with each other, then we welcome you. To that end, we don’t have dues currently. If women choose to attend an individual event, they pay it out of their own pocket or their company pays for it, but there are no dues. There’s also no pressure that you have to attend X number of events or do Y number of things in order to be part of the group. The only requirement is to express interest and then complete your profile. We have an updated directory that members can use to reach out to women all over the country.

How does The Pipeline function? Is there an executive board? Is it a 501(c)(3)? Tell us a little bit about your format.

Right now, we’re just a network. We don’t have nonprofit status, though it’s something I’ve been thinking about. But I haven’t pulled the trigger yet. The way it works now is that I oversee the network. Because we’ve spread all over the country, I have different region leads that help to plan the regional events.

Where do you have locations?

We have regions in New York City, North Jersey, Central Jersey, Philly/South Jersey, the [Washington, D.C., metropolitan area] and Colorado. We also have a virtual component that anyone can join. We continue to get women that have expressed interest from various parts of the country in starting up more [sections] like Boston and Portland, [Oregon], but they haven’t officially started yet.

Do you do any sort of active recruitment?

No. People will hear about us through word of mouth from one of their colleagues or one of their friends. I was at the ICSC Mid-Atlantic conference last year, for example, and was asked to be on a panel. Having that platform, I was able to talk a little bit about The Pipeline. Out of that event, I had a number of women approach me and said: “Oh, I want to join.” Other times, people will see us posting about some of the events we did on LinkedIn or through social media.

Do you have goals for your events? A lot of times, success is measured in number of attendees. Is that how you measure success?

I tell my team, especially when we plan events, the most important thing is that we’re consistent. Even if two people come, even if 10 people come, even if 20 people come or 200 people come, the goal is to build relationships and foster connections. I’ve been to events where there were only three or five of us in the room. That intimacy actually gave me an opportunity to get to know those women on a much deeper level than if there were 20 or 200 of us. So I don’t really measure success by numbers. I measure success by: Did the women that attend those events get what they needed to get? Did they form new friendships? Did they exchange cards with each other and continue to keep in touch with each other? Then when I hear about success stories like women that have gotten jobs through other women sharing job opportunities with them or are now doing some work together or are hanging out together, that’s the success that I measure things by.

Can you talk about The Pipeline’s connection with Temple University’s Fox School of Business?

A couple of years ago, one of the women in the group was really passionate about mentorship. She partnered with Temple University’s business school and recruited almost 20 mentors within our group to mentor young women within their school of business for a year. We were able to provide one-on-one mentorship for women who were thinking about getting into real estate. That was really great.

I understand the Pipeline brunch at ICSC LAS VEGAS, pictured at top, included men for the first time. Can you talk us through that decision?

For the past six years [at ICSC’s Las Vegas event], it’s just been a very small gathering of about 25 women over brunch. Last year, we had probably about 40, 50 women. This year, we wanted to do something different, where we just didn’t sit down. We realized that sometimes when you sit down, you can’t talk to everyone. We changed it up this year and did a more reception style. And because we wanted to cast a bigger net and because we realized that at big events like ICSC LAS VEGAS, people are really coming for the purpose to connect, we wanted to broaden the opportunities to include men.

How did it go? Was it good to include them?

It was great. I joke and say there were a few good men. We had about 10 men that came out of the 80, and they enjoyed it. They said they would come back. The women that came said that they really enjoyed that the men were there. For these bigger events, everyone liked that it was co-ed.

If someone reading this wants to join, what should they do?

If they’re a woman in commercial real estate or retail real estate and they want to learn more about the group or join, they can go to our website, which is www.pipelineladies.com, to learn more, and they can also send me an email at jfox@aacrealty.com.

What are some upcoming Pipeline events that people might be interested in?

We’re celebrating our seventh anniversary the whole month of September. On Sept. 6, [the day ICSC@PA/NJ/DE begins, IMC Construction] is hosting a networking reception for us at their corporate office. We’re going to have our signature event at the ICSC NEW YORK show on Dec. 5, which is the night before the show starts. We’re currently working on getting sponsors and planning. We’d love anyone to attend!