Early Life and Education
Sheeja Shaju grew up in a modest one-room kitchen apartment, sharing a tightly knit home with her parents and two siblings. Money was often tight, but the household prioritized hard work and resilience over material comfort. Showing a natural academic spark from her early years, Sheeja consistently excelled in school despite the family’s financial hurdles.
Determined to carve out her own path, she began working at nineteen to fund her aspirations. Her early jobs were remarkably diverse and hands-on, including an unconventional assignment where she operated a camera from a high crane inside a factory to document automotive manufacturing. She went on to secure an educational loan to finance her postgraduate studies entirely on her own. By balancing demanding roles in business and knowledge process outsourcing sectors with night shifts and study sessions, she successfully completed her Master’s degree while gaining a deep, practical understanding of how corporate systems and teams operate under pressure.
Personal Life
A pivotal chapter in Sheeja’s life opened when she chose to step away from full-time corporate employment for six years to focus entirely on raising her child. Far from a quiet sabbatical, this period became one of intense personal growth. She managed independent small business ventures, edited local magazines, and continuously studied human behavior. This phase anchored her ability to manage multiple high-stakes roles with complete clarity and presence.
Her life took a significant turn at age thirty-five when she joined the Institute for Generative Leadership. The experience transformed how she viewed human relationships and organizational structures. Over years of deep study, she sought out world-class mentorship, learning directly from globally respected educators like Bob Dunham, Sameer Dua, Josephina Santiago, and Vinay Kumar. To refine her holistic approach, she also invested in advanced leadership programs with pioneers like Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, and Richard Strozzi-Heckler.
Career
Sheeja’s early professional career was defined by an impressive functional range. She cut her teeth in the fast-paced trading environment of the Pune Stock Exchange, moved into technical and systems support within the aviation sector, and worked as a corporate IT trainer.
After finding her true calling at the IGL, she spent eight years rising through the ranks from an initial manager to the Director of both learning and business functions across Asia. Armed with this extensive experience, she stepped out to build her own vision, founding iCreate Leadership Coaching and Training, where she serves as Founder and CEO.
Today, as an executive leadership coach, keynote speaker, and author, Sheeja brings over twenty-five years of professional industry experience and thousands of hours of hands-on coaching to the boardroom. Her practice cuts through corporate fluff, focusing on radical personal ownership, decisive choice-making, and strong leadership presence for corporate executives.
Her client portfolio includes senior executives at global organizations such as Globant, Epiroc Mining, Hershey’s, BMC Software, Siemens Healthineers, Volvo, and ArcelorMittal. Her coaching practice crosses cultural borders effortlessly, transforming leaders across India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Ukraine, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
Achievements and Corporate Social Responsibility
Sheeja’s contributions to corporate growth and social empowerment have earned wide recognition across the business community.
Fox Story India named her among the 50 Under 50 Empowered Indians, and she received the Experience that Inspires Award at the World Women Leadership Congress, where she also shared her insights as an official panelist and shared the stage with powerful women across the globe.
Under her strategic guidance, iCreate Leadership Coaching and Training has rapidly scaled, more than doubling its revenue over the recent financial year and launching a formal corporate training alliance with DY Patil University.
She is also a successful author, channeling her field experiences into writing. She co-authored the Amazon bestselling books Become and Growing Groups Into Teams, the latter earning high praise from top industry veterans like Tapan Singhel, the Managing Director of Bajaj Allianz. She also authored the insightful e-book The Conscious Leader.
Her progressive ideas on leadership and somatic intelligence are frequently featured in mainstream publications like Business Standard, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, and the All India Management Association Magazine. She has also shared her philosophy on popular digital platforms, appearing as a guest on podcasts like Missing Conversations and She is Tech to discuss how personal stories and true presence shape career trajectories.
Believing that leadership means lifting others, Sheeja founded Project Azaadi. This grassroots philanthropic initiative provides free basic education to underprivileged women, bringing the same opportunities for growth and self-reliance she champions in corporate boardrooms out into the wider world.
