True Edge Tuesday with Olivia Messina
At SharkNinja, we strive for the outrageously extraordinary in everything we do, driven by our True Edge – the super skills that set us apart. This cornerstone of the outrageously extraordinary mindset harnesses innovative insight and strategic solutions to create a competitive advantage, empowering us to positively impact people’s lives every day.
True Edge Tuesday celebrates team members who go above and beyond, showcasing what it means to reject the status quo and embrace the extraordinary.
Meet Olivia!
A Massachusetts native, Olivia Messina has always had a knack for numbers and problem-solving. After earning her Master’s of Business Administration with a concentration in Data Analytics from Bryan University, Olivia set out to find a company with a strong product portfolio and a real impact on people’s daily lives—leading her to SharkNinja. Now, as a Financial Analyst on the Category Profitability Financial Planning & Analysis team, Olivia works out of SharkNinja’s Needham, Mass. headquarters, Olivia brings analytical expertise and a strategic mindset to help drive profitability and growth Shark’s Corded, Cordless, Home Environment, and Robots categories.
OE in Action
Olivia continuously pushes herself to improve and take on new challenges. Her enthusiasm for new projects, strong work ethic, and positive attitude make her an invaluable asset to the team. She fosters a collaborative and inspiring work environment, connecting with colleagues in unique ways that boost morale and drive productivity.
Recently, Olivia was analyzing data when she identified an early financial trend. At SharkNinja, we call this “spotting the smoke”— a key aspect of the OE mindset that encourages identifying potential signals early and taking proactive action. Her meaningful insights sparked important discussions that contributed to strategic, cost-saving decisions.
Hear from Olivia
What does it mean to be Outrageously Extraordinary?
To me, being Outrageously Extraordinary means pushing myself to my limits and accepting that failure is inevitable and critical in the learning process. When taking on tasks that are new to me, I find myself surprised at the outputs I can produce. These are results I would not have been able to achieve if I did not push myself beyond my boundaries. When I encounter failure, I look at it from the perspective of a learning opportunity, understanding where I went wrong and what steps can I take the next time to be successful.
True Edge is described as “a key principle of the OE mindset, combining vigilance, innovative insight, and strategic solutions to create a competitive advantage that is exceptionally hard to replicate.”
What’s your True Edge, or what are you working to build?
The True Edge I am working to build consists of incorporating SharkNinja’s success drivers such as spotting the smoke and progress over perfection. Spotting the smoke is integral in my daily role by digging deep into financial data to find issues or areas of improvement and be able to pinpoint what exactly might be a headwind to profitability. This is a crucial step in maximizing profitability because it provides teams with details behind their category’s financials and enables them to make business decisions and changes to the status quo if needed. This is not only important for recognizing areas where revenue or gross margin might be down but even pushing financially healthy categories to be better with the progress over perfection mindset. Another way to maximize profitability is to recognize which assortment decisions across categories are highly profitable and working with the teams to maximize those areas of business.
Can you share examples of how you live “OE”?
Ways that I live Outrageously Extraordinary here at SharkNinja are by asking to take on or look over tasks that I am unfamiliar with to become a well-rounded employee and ultimately to help me grow. Recently, I had asked if I could send out a “POP Insight” email, which I had never done before. Prior to sending out the email I had done a deep dive into our data and “spotted smoke”. The smoke that I spotted was the focus point of my POP Insight and the email ended up generating lots of conversations and positive feedback. Had I not stepped out of my comfort zone and asked to take on this unfamiliar task, I would still not know I had the ability to provide such valuable information leading to important conversations about cost savings.
What makes working at SharkNinja special?
My favorite thing about working at SharkNinja is the innovation that is driven by the employee’s desire to continuously be better. I think the idea of progress over perfection is extremely eye opening and is always pushing me to perform better than I have in the past, excelling the rate at which I am learning and growing as an employee.
I find it extremely exciting to be part of a team that creates products that are positively impacting people’s everyday lives. It is extremely rewarding when I am at the store and see the products on the shelves. It provides a sense of fulfillment, seeing the result of the products that my colleagues and I have put a lot of work into.
