There is a woman who wakes up every morning and, before her feet hit the floor, she has already made a dozen decisions. Which doctor the family sees. Whether the car needs to go in this week. What the household needs, what the weekend looks like, what's running low, what needs replacing. She moves through the world as the quiet architect of almost everything around her — and most of the time, nobody names it.

So let me name it.

You are the Chief Purchasing Officer of your home, your family, and more often than you're given credit for, your organization. That is not a metaphor. It is an economic reality.

Women influence $43 trillion of worldwide spending. She makes 85% of all household purchases. She's the chief purchasing officer, chief medical officer, travel agent, and chef — and that's just the beginning of the list. She decides where the family banks, what car they drive, which school the kids attend, and which brands earn her loyalty. She is, without question, the world's most powerful consumer.

And yet, she walks into rooms every single day where the experience wasn't designed with her in mind.

I've spent years inside boardrooms, dealerships, and brand strategy sessions asking one very uncomfortable question: Why are we still designing experiences for her without ever truly understanding her? Although the female movement is interwoven into our social world and people preach "girl power," this mindset hasn't penetrated business branding or the experience businesses provide to women. Very few businesses focus on building a genuine connection with her — one that addresses her real interests, her real needs, and the way she actually makes decisions.

That disconnect costs businesses billions. But more than that — it costs her. It costs her the feeling of being truly seen.

Nowhere is this gap more visible — or more costly — than on the showroom floor.

The lifetime value of a single customer has been estimated at $517,000. By failing to curate an experience for the female buyer, you're not just losing her sale — you're losing her lifetime value and the reach of her entire referral network. And she will use that network. Loudly.

85% of the world's executives are still men, and in the automotive industry, men hold over 80% of the positions within dealerships. The car shopping experience is still largely designed by men, for men, and delivered by men. The urgency to flip that lens has never been greater.

Here's what the data shows from my own research: 69% of female participants said the sales associate didn't take time to get to know her — and that same 69% said they didn't trust the sales associate. Trust and connection aren't soft skills in her world. They are the deciding factor. One of the most significant differences between male and female consumers is that women want to create a relationship with the person they buy from. Her decisions are driven by the way she feels about you, your brand, and the experience you provide.

She isn't just buying a car. She is deciding whether you are worth her trust. And if you're not — she'll find someone who is, and she'll tell everyone about it.

Women are the original social media. Now they have a megaphone called the World Wide Web — Instagram, TikTok, Facebook — where they spread their opinions about your business and your experience. 86% of women use social media for purchasing advice. She is not just a buyer. She is a voice, a referral engine, and a community builder all at once.

Here is what I know after years of research, speaking on stages around the world, and writing CustomHER Experience: the journey of the purchase is far more important to her than the purchase itself. She isn't just buying a product or a service. She is deciding whether she trusts you. Whether she sees herself in you. Whether you are worth her most valuable resource — her loyalty.

And that same instinct she brings to every buying decision? She brings it to every room she walks into. She evaluates. She reads the energy. She decides whether this is a place where she belongs.

Which is why the communities she chooses matter deeply.

Transformation happens in the moments when you choose action over avoidance. The woman reading this right now already knows that. She has been choosing, deciding, and building — often without the recognition, without the infrastructure, and without a room full of women who truly get it.

She doesn't need to be convinced of her power. She needs to be surrounded by people who already know she has it.

That is the invitation here. Not to become something you aren't — but to finally stand in a space that sees exactly who you are. The decision-maker. The standard-setter. The woman who has been running the show all along.

It's time the experience caught up to her.

Katie Mares is a best-selling author, TEDx speaker, and customer experience strategist specializing in the female consumer. Her book CustomHER Experience is available now.