Meet Shelly Iocona, Founder + Principal at ON ITS AXIS, a California-based award-winning innovation consultancy that helps enterprises accelerate faster and at scale.
Shelly Iocona’s insatiable curiosity, and a constant desire to learn paved the way for her success. She started ON ITS AXIS in 2009 to add value to companies and people’s careers. The firm connects experts to evolving companies and supports their growth. They develop “business models, take products from concept to commercialization, and create cultures of excellence for their clients”.
Shelly started her career in web development at a San Francisco media company. She has worked in the technical project, engineering, and product management teams of various organizations like Outcast Media (now Verifone Media), Yahoo, Connexity, DIRECTV, etc. She has over a decade of experience in the business and product development sector. “Having worked in large high-tech enterprises as well as small start-ups, I grew to love the diversity of working with people around the globe creating solutions to problems that delivered better outcomes with technology”, she says. Iocana graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a degree in sociology. Also recently, she completed her Executive Masters in Business administration (EMBA) from the Quantic School of Business and Technology.
Talking more about her organization, she says, “We help organizations achieve innovation through structured learning programs and virtual workshops designed to develop internal innovation talent, and product consulting that helps innovation teams take their ideas with massive impact potential and help them with the business modelling, prototyping, product design, and commercialization activities”. Her original vision was to bring fresh perspectives on technology to reduce overworking and overspending in product development. But over time, ON ITS AXIS expanded its vision to support companies in their workforce development efforts through organizational design, diversity, inclusion, and expansion of their innovation capabilities. Now, the company not only assists its clients in product management but also helps them design an effective talent acquisition strategy to add the best employees to their team.
Iocana notes that her venture is in the high-growth mode today but shares that it wasn’t always like this. Their product experience and purpose resonate with many organizations, and this helps them serve their clients the best. They appreciate the company’s initiative to give back to society. ON ITS AXIS very generously donates a portion of service fees to the nonprofit of their client’s choice through their partner program with Start Giving Local, an IRS-registered, GuideStar Platinum 501(c)3 organization. They make it a point to contribute their bit for the welfare of the community. This is something that sets her organizations apart from the others. Moreover, Shelly herself provides mentorship and pro bono consulting to non-profit organizations, product management professionals, and budding entrepreneurs. Not only her company, but she also wishes to see others succeed.
In the initial years of her career, Shelly struggled with patience and found it difficult to ask for help. Today, when the same happens, she considers herself fortunate enough to have the right tools and be around the right people to support her. Her curiosity pushed her to adopt a growth mindset and get out of her comfort zone and achieve her goals. It has both been a challenging and rewarding process for her.
Shelly feels that we are creators of our own destiny. All we need to do is believe in ourselves and turn our passion into purpose. Sharing her ultimate success mantra with the readers, she says, “Spend time discovering your innate talents and honour them while aligning yourself with people who share your values. Your personal and professional life will be healthier, happier, and you will succeed faster by being authentic and celebrating this life which is a blessing to receive”.
