Within the sprawl of corporate consultancy, where firms promise transformation but deliver only incremental adjustments, Oxygen, a people consultancy firm, led by Juliana Stancampiano, has cultivated a reputation for disrupting the status quo. Since 2008, Oxygen has advised over 27 Fortune 500 companies, offering expertise in areas ranging from people and change management to sales enablement and learning and development.
However, unlike many of its peers, Oxygen distinguishes itself by going beyond mere advisory services, choosing instead to empower organizations with tangible tools, nuanced insights, and immersive experiences designed to foster genuine progress in an ever-evolving business landscape. At Oxygen, the focus extends beyond favorable outcomes; it is about instigating change that resonates deeply with people. The firm’s human first approach sets it apart.
The Northwest Mountain MSDC sat down with Juliana recently at her offices, where she talked about her MBE’s (Minority Business Enterprise’s) journey, offered insights about being a female, Native American CEO, and provided valuable advice for other minority business owners.
What’s your name, role, and business’s name?
My name is Juliana Stancampiano. I’m both the owner and CEO of Oxygen.
What does your business do?
We accelerate business leaders’ growth strategies and prepare their people to successfully execute against the strategies. With our knowledge and deep expertise, we help clients navigate shifts from A to Z –whether it is creating a new business operating model due to multiple mergers and acquisitions, designing playbooks for sellers who need to get up to speed on newly launched products, digitizing learning infrastructures to incorporate AI tools to improve the learning experience, or architecting impactful learning programs to build priority skills and the confidence required of key employee roles. Oxygen empowers teams and people to learn, grow, and do more to support their organizations’ business growth. Our capabilities include:
- Change management. We support organizations and their people as they navigate the complexities of implementing new strategies –both strategic and tactical.
- Learning and development. We collaborate with clients to build role-based skilling. We start with overarching strategies and the detailed learning architectures necessary to cultivate talent, foster continuous skilling, and build employee confidence.
- Sales enablement. As an early leader in this burgeoning market officially recognized in 2017, Oxygen equips sales teams with the tools, knowledge, and resources they need to excel in an increasingly competitive environment.
Why did you decide to create your business?
It’s a long explanation but the short one is – I opened the office in Seattle in 2008 and the UK parent company decided to close. I bought the US business from that closure and created a new future, a new Oxygen. I’d had a powerful learning experience that altered my perspective and shifted my mindset. I knew I wanted to replicate what I experienced with others.
What inspired you to do that?
Economically, 2008 was a tough year and the challenges continued into 2009. The US economy was not looking great. Despite the climate, we landed several large contracts with our clients. I had five employees at the time, and I thought: ‘Well, we’ve all got health insurance, and I am able to pay people salaries, so I might as well see if this has legs and can go somewhere.’.
Talk to me about the journey of your business. How did you start off and where are you now?
Well, it started off out of a bankruptcy, which was interesting. So, there was only one direction to go in my mind, up. The first year we were cash profitable which was unexpected. In fact, our CPAs came back to apologize to me because they didn’t expect us to make any money. They expected us to lose money. And they did not advise me well on our taxes. It was an important lesson for me, in starting my own business, teaching me what to look out for along with the realization that others’ expectations of me were low. These early insights were helpful in navigating and figuring out how to run a business. We’ve always been a cash-based company that has slowly grown throughout the years. We’ve changed and morphed with the times and technological shifts; it’s been a lesson in constant learning.
How did you get to where you are now?
I think through an optimism that is maybe sometimes rosier than what the actual outlook will be and a deep faith and belief in what we do. And you know, just a lot of hard work and grit and seeing the challenges in front of us and working through them – learning. I mean, everybody always gives me a hard time [saying that] I’ve gotten an MBA, but I haven’t gone to school for an MBA. It’s been a real-world degree!
What do you love about your business?
What I love about my business is that we impact so many people at work. It’s cool because we’re not actually there when that impact happens. But we’re the ones trying to figure out what would be in their best interest. We want to give them something that makes them think, “Oh, this is cool. This is pretty good. They care about me. They want to see me succeed”.
I always imagine that’s what’s going through their heads, whether they know it or not, when they see our work. Whether it’s the way we communicated something, an event we put together, or the training we created, I hope that we’re helping them get ahead in their careers. I hope it helps them get to that next step.
What does it mean to you to be a minority business owner?
Being a minority business owner means a lot to me. Back in college, I didn’t talk about being Native American, and neither did my one Native American teacher. We kind of blended in, but being Native American was seen in a negative light back then.
I remember telling my teacher that I just wanted to be successful and then have people know I’m Native American. I hoped it would change some of the negative ideas people had. People would often say, “You’re Native American, but you’re not like them,” referring to the negative stereotypes. I wanted to show people how amazing Native Americans are and help change those old ideas.
Being a woman in business has been interesting for me. I grew up with three older brothers and a feminist mom, so I never felt different from the men. Yet, about 10 years ago, I came into a moment where I went: ‘Oh my gosh. I’ve been acting like I belong, and I’ve not actually belonged in other people’s eyes.’ It was disappointing. I was mad at myself for expecting the way I was raised to be the same as the general population.
Overall, I think being a minority business owner gives me a different way of seeing the world. It brings creativity, openness, and curiosity to how I lead.
What are some challenges you had to face with business?
If you name a challenge, I’ve probably dealt with it. I’ve faced some interesting legal issues. As a business owner, there’s so much you need to know, and it’s easy to miss something. And when you do, someone will definitely let you know!
First and foremost, the business needs to be successful because you need money to support your people and operations. I’ve seen the economy go up and down many times. It’s a lot to balance the money, keeping your employees happy, and making sure customers get the best service.
On top of all that, I had two kids while running the business. No one really talks about how hard it is to balance being a primary caregiver and a business owner. It’s a tough situation when your company depends so much on you. Luckily, my husband was supportive of me continuing to run the business, and we agreed to bring in help for the kids so we could both work. We are extremely fortunate that the people who helped us became family to us.
For a long time, my priorities were very clear: kids and business above everything else. A lot of social events just weren’t worth it anymore. It’s super important to regularly prioritize things with your partner.
What do you wish for others and your customers to know about your business?
My business is mature. I have been at it for 16 years. While we aren’t a huge business, we are a business that has depth and a level of experience that can really benefit clients. Our customers get the advantage of working with people that are experienced, don’t have a lot of red tape around them, and are there to truly partner on the outcomes that they are looking to drive. Our agility, depth of experience in our domains, and high level of engagement is a value combination that is tough to find.
In what ways has the NWMMSDC supported you?
I have been certified for 15 years. It supported me in my efforts to build community. Without NWMMSDC my community would be less vibrant. It recognized me as a business within a business community that didn’t see or recognize me in the beginning. I remember I met with another guy who was a business owner when I first started Oxygen. He was Hispanic, and he said: ‘You should go get your certification.’ And I was like: ‘Okay, what is it?’ And he told me about it so I went and did the certification [and] it did help with some of our clients at the time. It’s been something that helped me get on my feet – be recognized as a business and one that can bring a different point of view and way of working than the norm.
In most recent years, I was accepted into the Ascend program with the University of Washington. That was because I got the send-out from the NWMMSDC saying: ‘Hey, they’re accepting applications,’ and I filled it out and was accepted. Things come to fruition because of the community through the Northwest MMSDC. And that’s been phenomenal.
What advice would you give to other minority business owners?
I would probably say: Connect with one another, connect with the communities, connect with your local chapters, make sure that you’re meeting with people, having coffees with people. I remember listening during the COVID time to one of the NMSDC’s virtual events. Almost every person and owner said that they got their work through their network. We know through the research that it’s really difficult as a minority to create a strong business network – a lot of minorities are not coming from communities where others have been successful in the business world – myself included. We don’t typically come from an area where there’s a network of people that have high [up] jobs and can make decisions and can spend money. So how do you go out and meet people that do have money to spend on your business? I think that’s probably the most critical thing that we can do – connect people to potential buyers. And then, I would say once you’re there, pull other people up with you. Seeing that happen around me has been really beautiful. We are all looking to create a legacy and have generational wealth – being a part of helping others do that is powerful.
For more information on Oxygen, visit: https://www.oxygenexp.com
Thank you, Juliana, for sharing your and Oxygen’s story with us!
About the NWMMSDC
The Northwest Mountain MSDC, an affiliate of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering minority-owned businesses by certifying, developing, and connecting Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) with major corporations and public agencies.
Since 1978, the Council has been a driving force for advancing supplier programs and creating opportunities that enable minority-owned businesses to thrive. Serving the Pacific Northwest Mountain region – encompassing Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming – the NWMMSDC is committed to fostering meaningful business partnerships and driving economic growth.
For more information about the NWMMSDC and its programs, visit www.nwmmsdc.org.
To learn more about how certifying your minority-owned business can benefit you, click here.
If you would like to certify your minority-owned business as well, click here.