True Edge Tuesday with Alana Weiss
Alana is a driving force behind both product innovation and sustainability at SharkNinja, turning tough engineering trade-offs into smart, user-focused solutions.
Alana’s product journey took off at SharkNinja, where she joined the Home Environment team as a Product Development co-op in the summer of 2022 and never looked back. Drawn to the challenge and fast pace, she quickly found her stride in a dynamic environment that encouraged continuous growth. Now a full-time Product Developer shaping a rapidly evolving category, Alana brings fresh, human-centered ideas to life with curiosity and creativity. Beyond product innovation, she also helped launch one of SharkNinja’s employee resource groups, the Sustainability Ambassadors, channeling her passion for environmental responsibility into meaningful change across the organization.
Being Outrageously Extraordinary means pushing beyond the obvious solution and asking the hard questions—especially when they challenge assumptions."
The most innovative solutions often come from leaning into discomfort and going against the grain."
You’re never standing still here—there’s always an opportunity to learn, adapt, and rise to the occasion."
Outrageously Extraordinary in Action
Alana is no stranger to navigating tough product trade-offs, such as airflow versus noise or power versus battery life. One of her most impactful challenges came during the development of the FlexBreeze cordless lift-away fan. Early user feedback made it clear: battery runtime was a concern. But reducing power to extend runtime would have compromised the core product story.
Working closely with cross-functional teams, Alana helped shape what ultimately became Boost Mode, a feature that delivers short bursts of maximum power before returning to a more energy-efficient setting. This innovation maintained high performance without sacrificing user satisfaction on runtime. She led dozens of iterative validation events to fine-tune the balance between power, noise, and battery life, analyzing user data that became critical to the final product experience. Her ability to translate user needs into smart, technically feasible solutions played a key role in FlexBreeze’s successful launch.
Alana applies that same problem-solving mindset beyond product design. She proposed the formation of a sustainability-focused employee resource group to implement more environmentally responsible practices, including recycling prototypes and reducing office waste. Now known as the Sustainability Ambassadors, the ERG has grown to over 80 U.S. members and recently merged with its UK counterpart to form a global initiative. Featured in SharkNinja’s recent ESG Report, Alana highlighted the group’s growing impact: “Making even slight changes in the sustainability of SharkNinja products, systems, and processes could have an exponentially large impact.” Together, the ERG is focused on driving awareness and action by sharing best practices for integrating sustainability into product development, tackling complex waste streams, and hosting educational sessions on emerging topics, all with the goal of building a more responsible future at SharkNinja.
Hear from Alana
What does it mean to be Outrageously Extraordinary (OE)?
To me, being Outrageously Extraordinary means pushing beyond the obvious solution and asking the hard questions—especially when they challenge assumptions. It’s about stepping back from what’s expected and going back to first principles: What problem are we truly trying to solve? How do users naturally behave? How can we design around that? By grounding product decisions in real user insights and embracing tough conversations, we can uncover game-changing opportunities that elevate the user experience.
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?
I consider my “True Edge” to be my ability to reframe a problem. I always have a little voice in my head saying, “What if we did it this way instead?” I’m actively working to lean into that mindset more and embracing the discomfort of going against the grain, because that’s often where the most innovative solutions come from.
Can you share examples of how you live OE?
I’ve had the unique opportunity to grow alongside the Home Environment category from its early days—starting with our first fan launch, to now helping build an entire international “fan-pire.” Being a PD on such a new and evolving team meant there wasn’t always a playbook, so I had a rare chance to help define some of those standards. I developed new validation methodologies for the home environment sector, built frameworks to communicate and amplify the Voice of the Customer, and shared those systems with new team members as our NPD efforts expanded. Since starting, I’ve coordinated hundreds of validation events with thousands of users—each one shaping our ability to design more intuitively and effectively.
What makes working at SharkNinja special?
SharkNinja has pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best way. The pace is fast, and the challenges are real, but through it all, I’ve grown into a more confident decision-maker and problem-solver. What makes SharkNinja special is that you’re never standing still—there’s always an opportunity to learn, adapt, and rise to the occasion. It’s this dynamic environment that has helped me grow not just as a product developer, but as a more resilient and strategic thinker.
Please join us in congratulating Alana for being this week's True Edge Tuesday!
About True Edge Tuesday
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 (OE) 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.
