STYLISA FoundHers Notes: The Rooms Where Decisions Are Made

Over the past year, through STYLISA FoundHers, I’ve spent a significant amount of time in conversation with women who are building. Building businesses across different industries, at different stages, and for different reasons. Each story has been distinct, but there are threads that run through all of them. The decisions that sit behind the visible outcomes, the risks that aren’t always spoken about, the resilience required to keep going when things don’t quite unfold as planned, and the clarity of vision needed to build something that lasts.

Alongside that, with the introduction of FoundHer FundHers, I’ve been exploring another layer of the conversation. How women engage with money, how they fund their ideas, build wealth, and navigate financial systems that haven’t always been designed with them in mind. These are important and necessary conversations, particularly given how often women are excluded from them, or made to feel as though they sit outside of them.

The rooms where decisions are made. Not always visible, but always shaping what comes next. Wambam Photography

But the more time I’ve spent in these conversations, the more aware I’ve become of something that sits just beyond both of these areas. Building a business is one thing, and accessing capital is another, but neither fully explains where power sits, or how it is exercised. Because beyond visibility, beyond revenue, and beyond growth, there are spaces where decisions are made that shape industries, organisations, and outcomes at a much higher level. These spaces are often less visible, less discussed, and in many cases, less understood.

The boardroom is one of them, but it is also symbolic of something wider. A space where responsibility sits, where direction is shaped, and where decisions carry consequences that extend far beyond the individuals in the room. It is also a space that, for many women, can feel distant, unclear, or simply not designed with them in mind.

What is often less visible, however, is that power does not always sit neatly within titles or roles. It moves. It shifts depending on context, relationships, and the dynamics within the room itself. Being present in these spaces is one thing, but understanding how influence actually works within them is something else entirely.

Alongside building my own consultancy and the STYLISA FoundHers platform, I also sit on boards. That proximity has given me a different perspective. Not just on how decisions are made, but on how influence is exercised, how responsibility is carried, and how power actually operates in practice. It is often more nuanced than it appears from the outside, and at times, more constrained. Influence is not always about having the loudest voice in the room. In many cases, it is about knowing when to speak, how to frame a point, and how to navigate the dynamics that sit beneath the surface of any decision.

There’s also something else that sits alongside this. Because on the surface, it looks like progress is happening. And in some ways, it is.

Here in the UK, women now hold around 40% of board positions across the FTSE Women Leaders Review. On paper, that suggests that the rooms where decisions are made are becoming more representative, more inclusive, more reflective of the world around us. But when you look a little closer, a different picture starts to emerge.

Because while more women are sitting at the table, far fewer are actually holding the roles where the most power sits. Only a small percentage of CEOs are women, and even fewer are women of colour. The same applies to CFO positions and other executive roles where decisions aren’t just influenced, but driven.

Globally, the picture is similar. Women hold roughly a quarter of board seats, according to organisations like MSCI and Deloitte, but leadership at the very top remains overwhelmingly male.

So the question starts to shift. It’s not just about whether women are in the room. It’s about what role they’re being invited to play once they get there. Because there’s a difference between being present and having power. Between being included and having influence. Between being seen and actually shaping the decisions that affect industries, economies, and lives. And I think that’s where a lot of the conversation has stopped short.

We’ve focused on access, which matters. But we haven’t fully unpacked what happens after access is granted. Who speaks, who decides, who holds the final say. And more importantly, who doesn’t. What has become increasingly clear to me is that there is a difference between being visible and being influential, between being present and having a voice that shapes direction, and between being part of a conversation and being part of the decision. That difference is subtle, but significant. It is also where I have found myself becoming more curious.

For many women, the focus is often on building. On getting the business off the ground, growing it, and sustaining it. Increasingly, there is also a shift towards understanding money, funding, investment, and financial security. All of which matter. But far less attention is given to what happens beyond that, to how women move into positions where they are not just building within systems, but influencing them. Where they are not only navigating structures, but helping to shape them.

This is not about titles, or status, or proximity to power for the sake of it. It is about access, responsibility, and perspective. It is about understanding how decisions are made, who is involved in making them, and how those decisions impact people beyond the room itself. It is also about recognising that influence does not always sit where it appears to sit, and that stepping into these spaces requires a different kind of awareness.

It is something I am starting to explore more deliberately. Not as a shift away from what STYLISA FoundHers is, but as a natural extension of it. Because if we are going to talk about how women build, and how they access capital, then we also need to talk about how they step into spaces where decisions are made, where direction is set, and where the future is shaped.

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