Shanay Sonawala Consulting™

Operational clarity for
businesses ready to grow

Analytics · Automation · Strategy. I work with small and mid-sized businesses to replace guesswork with systems — and noise with insight.

Start a Conversation My AI Work →
Services

What I bring to your business

I'm not a generalist agency. I'm one person who has spent years building dashboards, models, and systems inside one of the world's largest manufacturers — and I bring that same rigor to organizations that deserve it just as much.

01

Dashboards & Business Reporting

Power BI, Excel, and custom dashboards built for the people who actually use them. You stop asking "where's the data?" and start asking "what do we do about it?"

Power BIExcelKPI Design
02

Process Automation

Find where your team is spending time on work that shouldn't require humans. Build workflows that run themselves. Free people up for thinking, not clicking.

Workflow DesignReporting AutomationSystems Thinking
03

Analytics & Customer Strategy

Customer segmentation, cohort analysis, website analytics, and strategic planning frameworks. Understand who your customers actually are — and what that means for growth.

SegmentationGoogle AnalyticsStrategy
04

Website & Digital Clarity

Supporting website redesigns with sharp focus on messaging, structure, and user experience. Your website is often the first pitch you make — it should work as hard as you do.

UX StrategyMessagingArchitecture
05

AI Integration for Business

Identify high-value AI use cases, build proof-of-concept tools, and develop a practical roadmap without the hype. Where AI fits — and where it doesn't.

AI StrategyAutomationLLM Tools
06

Fractional Analytics Support

Not ready to hire a full-time data person? I work on a project or retainer basis — building the analytical infrastructure your business needs with the flexibility a small team requires.

RetainerProject-BasedOn-Demand
AI and Robotics
The experience behind the work

Built inside one of the world's largest manufacturers

The tools and thinking I bring to consulting clients aren't theoretical. They were forged building EV fleet electrification dashboards, developing customer segmentation models, analyzing robotics deployment across plants, and evaluating emerging technology for executive strategy at GM.

When I work with your business, you're getting Fortune 500 analytical infrastructure — scaled to what you actually need.

Lessons from the inside

What corporate taught me — and why it makes me a better consultant

I am not leaving corporate — I love what I do at GM. But navigating a large organization as a new hire is genuinely overwhelming. These are the hard-won lessons that shaped how I think.

01

Ask your boss, your boss's boss, and their boss what you can do to make their life easier

Not as a performance. Genuinely. The fastest way to become indispensable is to understand what keeps the people above you up at night — and quietly solve it. Most new hires focus entirely on their job description. The ones who get noticed focus up the chain.

02

Find the niche where everyone needs you

Corporate is full of specialists who can only help one team. The people with the most leverage sit at intersections — between engineering and business, between data and strategy, between technical and human. Build that position deliberately. Once you bridge two worlds, you become hard to replace.

03

Be honest — even when it's uncomfortable

Corporations are full of people telling leadership what they want to hear. The ones who are genuinely valued say "that approach won't work, and here's why" — respectfully, with a better idea. Honesty paired with an alternative is currency. Honesty alone is a complaint.

04

Do work you genuinely care about — work-life balance follows naturally

I never chased work-life balance. I chased work I was actually interested in. When you care about what you're building, the hours don't feel like a grind. The people who burn out aren't usually working too hard — they're working hard on things that don't matter to them.

05

Express your opinion — clearly, confidently, with evidence

Early-career professionals often stay quiet in rooms full of senior people. That's understandable, but it's a missed opportunity. Your perspective as a new hire is genuinely valuable — you see things veterans are too close to notice. Say what you think. Bring data. Invite disagreement. That's how you earn respect faster than waiting your turn.

06

Corporate is overwhelming at first — and that's exactly right

Everyone is confused in the first six months. The goal isn't to have all the answers — it's to ask better questions faster than anyone expects. Comfort with ambiguity, combined with genuine curiosity, separates people who thrive from people who wait to be told what to do.

Ready to work together?

Let's figure out what your business actually needs.

No pitch decks. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about where you are and where you want to go.

Get In Touch