Discover how Katie Stabler built a thriving CX consultancy through resilience, authentic leadership, and a human-centred approach to customer experience.

In this special edition of the Inspiring Women in CX podcast series, celebrating the winners of the Inspiring Women in CX Awards 2025, Katie Stabler joins Clare Muscutt to explore what it really takes to build a successful customer experience consultancy rooted in humanity, resilience, and authentic leadership.

Named Solopreneur of the Year 2025, Katie reflects on her journey from unexpected redundancy to running a thriving independent CX consultancy for over five years. Together, Clare and Katie unpack the realities of solopreneurship, navigating personal adversity, and maintaining a human-centred CX philosophy in an increasingly AI-driven world.

The conversation also dives into Katie’s book, CXism, which challenges traditional views of customer experience by reframing CX as a cultural belief system rather than simply a business function.

Whether you're a CX consultant, leader, founder, or someone navigating the future of customer experience in the age of AI, this episode offers honest insights into resilience, leadership, and building a values-led business.

Key Insights:

• Building a customer experience consultancy in an AI-driven world requires more human connection – not less.
• Resilience in business is often about continuing to show up through uncertainty and personal adversity.
• Human-centred CX creates stronger long-term customer relationships built on trust and empathy.
• Solopreneurship can feel isolating, but it also creates freedom, adaptability, and authenticity.
• Visibility, relationships, and reputation can become more powerful than traditional marketing strategies.
• CXism reframes customer experience as a mindset and cultural philosophy rather than a department or process.

Timestamps: 02:07: Career Inspiration & Human-Centred CX Leadership 05:48: Staying Human in an AI-Driven Customer Experience Industry 10:03: Why Women in CX Technology Matter More Than Ever 12:19: Starting a CX Consultancy During the Pandemic 19:42: Burnout, Grief & Building Resilience as a Solo Entrepreneur 29:19: Writing “CXism” & Growing a Global CX Brand 37:17: Advice for Women Starting a Business in Customer Experience

About Katie Stabler: Katie Stabler is an award-winning customer experience consultant, speaker, and author of CXism. As the Inspiring Women in CX Awards 2025 Solopreneur of the Year winner, Katie is passionate about helping organisations create more human-centred customer experiences through culture, empathy, and authentic leadership.

Resources & Links:

• Explore the Women in CX Community
• Learn more about the Inspiring Women in CX Awards
• Discover upcoming Women in CX Events
• Listen to more Inspiring Women in CX Podcast Episodes

In this episode of WiCX Talk Trends, Clare Muscutt is joined by Sierra Modro, Sr. Director of Software Engineering at ujet.cx.

As one of the few women building the technology that so many CX teams rely on every day, Sierra offers a unique lens on one of the biggest tensions in customer experience today: are we using AI to fix customer experience, or just speeding up what’s already broken? And why who builds the technology matters just as much as the technology itself.

Many organisations are racing to implement AI, but few are addressing the fragmented systems, siloed data and agent-experience challenges that limit its potential impact.

With extensive experience across Intel, AWS, Wacom and several EdTech companies, Sierra shares how her career has been shaped by one core question: what happens at the moment a human touches technology – and what does it cost when that experience breaks?

Clare and Sierra unpack why today’s CX challenges are deeply architectural, and what it takes to move beyond “shiny” AI solutions to a more holistic, human-centred approach that reduces friction for agents, improves customer outcomes, and delivers meaningful business value.

A must-listen for CX and technology leaders navigating AI transformation and looking to build smarter, more effective customer experiences.

In this special edition of the Inspiring Women in CX podcast, celebrating the 2025 Inspiring Women in CX Awards Winners, Clare Muscutt sits down with Judy Bloch, VP, Industry Executive Advisor and our Women in CX Tech Award Winner.

In this insightful conversation, Judy shares how her background in industrial engineering shaped her structured, results-driven approach to customer experience. From early process improvement work to becoming a global CX advisor, Judy reveals how she connects CX initiatives directly to commercial outcomes – helping organisations prove the value of experience-led transformation.

She also reflects on the power of influence, storytelling, and executive presence in driving change, particularly for women leading in technology-driven environments.

Together, Clare and Judy explore:

• Connecting CX investments to measurable business value in regulated industries.
• Why modern CX leadership requires balancing innovation with empathy.
• The evolution of personalisation – from basic segmentation to real-time, individualised experiences at scale.
• The growing role of AI in enabling proactive, human-centred experiences.
• The importance of thinking like a business leader, not just a CX leader.

This episode celebrates Judy’s pragmatic and commercially savvy approach to CX. Packed with practical wisdom and inspiration, it’s a must-listen for anyone who wants to strengthen their strategic influence, demonstrate impact, and shape the future of experience in their organisations.