Momentum Makers:The CX PlaybookA collective industry resource authored by women in customer experience. Table of contents Introductory remarks3I. Growth & evolution4 The turning point5 The focus shift7 II. The reality of the role9 III. Mentorship & legacy14 IV. Future casting19 V. Conclusion24 Contributors26 Introductory remarks “This playbook is meant to bereturned to—when the work feelsheavy, when leadership feelsisolating, or when you need toremember that momentum is builtgradually, and often, collectively.” Customer experience is complex, human work. •The Focus Shift:Moving attention from optimizingindividual touchpoints to mastering the entireoperational ecosystem, prioritizing influenceand sustainability over performance alone,and ensuring technology implementation ismatched by effective change management. It lives in the space between strategy and emotion,scale and nuance, metrics and meaning. And muchof what makes someone effective in CX is not foundin a certification or a framework,it is learnedovertime. a relational, emotionally intelligent lens to CX,centering empathy and long-term thinking to makethe discipline smarter and more human.•Future Casting:The necessity for CX to evolve International Women’s Day 2026 and its theme,Give to Gain.When women in CX share their lived experience, Vice President, Customer, Partner, andRegional Marketing, Talkdesk the entire discipline gains clarity, confidence,andmomentum.Inside these pages, you will not find a prescriptive from managing contacts and measuring efficiencyto anticipating issues and being valued forguidance, designing intelligent systems whileprotecting customer trust.Each contribution represents a moment of insight methodology or a list of best practices. Instead,you’ll find perspective, hard-won lessons, and honestreflections on the realities of leading in CX today,including key insights on: I. Growth & evolution Today, they concentrate on the entireecosystemof the experience: solving issues at the root,managing dependencies and trade-offs, andensuring operational alignment. The focus movesbeyond incremental improvements to questioningfundamental assumptions, strategically deployingtechnology while prioritizing human judgment, andsecuring the function's influence and long-termsustainability across the entire business. Thesereflections chart the path from initial executionto enduring strategic impact. and customer experiences rise or fall together, or bya mentor validating their innate human strengths—empathy, curiosity, and organizational skills—ascore drivers of business results. The conviction thatthe customer experience is a strategic, industry-independent function is a common thread. The journey through customer experience leadershipis marked by a profound evolution—a transition frommanaging transactions to mastering influence. Asleaders progress, they discover that true confidencein CX is rarely a starting point; it is a hard-wonoutcome built through critical turning points. the moments that forged confidence. For many, thiswas the realization that CX is not a “soft” function,but a fundamental revenue driver, empowering themto step beyond simply presenting data and activelyadvocate for what the data means. For others,confidence was built by successfully navigatingmajor operational pressures, seeing how both agent in professional focus. Earlier in their careers, manycontributors concentrated on optimizing the visibleand tactical: reducing friction, improving individualservice moments, and hitting performance metrics.However, as experience deepened, their attentionshifted to the underlying strategic landscape. The turning pointThe experiences that inspired confidence in these CX leaders. Mayra GuillotteDirector of Customer Experience, Reserv gathering insights, building dashboards, and clearlysummarizing customer pain points. I took pride inbeing thorough and objective. In meetings, though,I stayed neutral. I would present the data and waitfor others to decide what it meant. I saw my role assupportive rather than directive.That began to change because of mentors whoboth the context and the responsibility to interpret itand advocate for action.Over time, that shift built my confidence.I realizedthat confidence in CX does not come from titleor tenure. It comes from clarity, ownership, and awillingness to stand behind your perspective.Mymentors helped me see that my point of view was not extra commentary. It was the value I was hired tobring. Once I internalized that,I stopped waiting forpermission to speak and started contributing withintention and conviction.” encouraged me to step fully into the role. One leader,in particular, regularly asked me to share a clearrecommendation, not just the findings. At first, thatfelt uncomfortable. I worried about overstepping ordrawing the wrong conclusion. She reframed it for Sabrina RegnerDirector of Guest Engagement &Reservation Management, Falkensteiner “One experience