Women empowering luxury leadership

On the eve of International Women's Day, Terras convened a member call around a simple question: women drive the vast majority of demand for luxury goods and are expected to control most discretionary consumer spending by the end of this decade. So how does the industry better reflect and empower them, from the mines and workshops where materials are sourced, to the studios where products are crafted, to the rooms where decisions are made?

The panel comprised Iris Van der Veken, Executive Director of the Watch and Jewellery Initiative 2030; Aurelia Figueroa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Breitling; and Gregg Meyer, Chief Sustainability Officer at Steve Madden. The conversation was moderated by Anisa Kamadoli Costa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Rivian and former CSO at Tiffany & Co.

What followed was a candid, members-only, off-the-record conversation about what it actually takes to move beyond the annual celebration of women in leadership and into the structural work that makes it real.

‍Opportunity across the value chain
The landscape is well documented. Both watchmaking and jewellery have historically been male-dominated, though the latter has seen more women enter leadership roles in recent years. The deeper opportunity is the same across both: building cultures and decision-making that genuinely reflect the women who make up so much of the customer base and workforce.

That opportunity extends further down the supply chain than most brands currently reach. Companies that trace materials back through three, four, and five tiers gain the leverage to drive systemic change. Living wage assessments at that level can transform household and community outcomes, with disproportionate benefits for women who often carry unpaid care alongside low-paid work.

‍Navigating cultural context
‍The recurring tension was contextual: how do you pursue women's empowerment in regions where deeply rooted norms restrict access to the most lucrative roles, without imposing external or 'western' values under the banner of sustainability? There is no easy answer. But the speakers were clear that avoiding the question is not an option. The challenge is to drive principled change, informed by universal human rights standards and attentive to local context.

‍The cultural power brands underestimate
‍Luxury brands carry enormous cultural influence, and most underestimate it. One watch brand's journey illustrated how a maison can consciously reposition itself. Having historically leaned into familiar tropes, the brand rebuilt its ambassador ecosystem around women whose public personas embody agency and purpose rather than passive glamour. The stories told in campaigns are not neutral. They either reinforce old hierarchies or make space for new ones. 

Luxury brands, with their global reach and aura of aspiration, can normalise images of women as leaders, athletes, and change-makers. That influence shapes norms long before any internal policy does.

‍What serious action looks like
‍What gets labelled a pipeline problem is often, in practice, an opportunity problem. Across the conversation, three markers separated performative commitment from real progress.

1. Conviction at the top. Change sticks when CEOs and boards understand the value women bring as consumers, employees, and leaders, and treat that as central to business resilience.
2. An honest diagnosis. A clear, contextual picture of where women participate and where barriers show up in practice.
3. Realistic sequencing. Effective organisations begin with their own house, internal policies, culture, and leadership behaviour, before extending expectations to suppliers and partners.

One example from the call described investing in a woman to lead manufacturing in a context where this was far from standard: with mentoring and support, she excelled.

The room responded
‍The conversation shifted when it opened to the wider group. Terras members from across finance, policy, consumer brands, and philanthropy challenged assumptions, shared what they are seeing in their own organisations, and pushed the conversation beyond luxury into how leadership itself is evolving.

‍What comes next
‍The luxury industry's relationship with women is one of its greatest commercial strengths - and one of its least fully realised. The brands that tap into this more deeply, not only in campaigns but in governance, supply chains, and culture, will help define the next era of the sector.

The conversation continues at Terras Tuscany this June, and year-round through the Terras membership.

Learn more about membership here.

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