Unraveling the Matrix — Shanta Inshiqaq

With more than 25 years of experience in global publishing, Shanta Inshiqaq has built a career leading international sales, marketing, distribution, and strategic growth initiatives for major publishing organizations. She has held senior leadership roles at companies including Penguin, Bloomsbury Publishing, Baker & Taylor, and Columbia Business School Executive Education.

Drawing on decades of corporate leadership, relationship building, and market expansion expertise, she now advises publishers and authors through Inshiqaq Global, helping clients navigate growth, partnerships, and industry strategy with practical insight and a global perspective.

In today’s episode of Smashing the Plateau, you will learn how decades of insider experience in a specialized industry can become the foundation for a consulting business built on access, relationships, and trust.

Shanta and I discuss:

• How Shanta’s career in publishing began — and why it didn’t start the way she planned [02:07]
• Why her career grew through relationships and reputation rather than job applications [04:32]
• What it means to be a “starter-upper” and why she kept getting tapped for new roles [11:39]
• What changed when she left corporate life to run her own business [13:00]
• Who her ideal clients are and what she helps them do [15:38]
• How she decides what to say yes and no to as a new business owner [19:04]
• The role of trusted peers and a small circle of thinking partners [20:40]
• Her mission to stop gatekeeping and unravel the publishing matrix for clients [23:32]

Learn more about Shanta at https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanta-inshiqaq and www.inshiqaqglobal.com.

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About Smashing the Plateau

Smashing the Plateau is a podcast for experienced independent leaders who have left corporate roles to build sustainable, expertise-based businesses.

Each episode features a thoughtful, experience-driven conversation about what changes when you no longer have the infrastructure of an organization behind you.

We explore judgment, decision-making under uncertainty, growth plateaus, identity shifts, and the role of trusted thinking partners in sustaining long-term success.

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