IRENE PAXIA

THE IDEA:

A consulting firm supporting nonprofits and government agencies

As an immigrant, Irene Paxia brings a wealth of experience related to culture and diversity initiatives. After nearly two decades in the nonprofit sector, she decided to blaze her own trail and Petra Solutions was born in 2020.

Petra Solutions LLC is a Fort Wayne-based consulting firm supporting businesses in crossing cultural boundaries. She and her team provide knowledge and expertise in diversity and inclusion, language translation and interpretation strategies, grant and fund development and international business strategies. Her target customers are nonprofit organizations and government entities seeking practical implementation strategies to establish or expand their inclusion plans.

Speaking of expansion, Petra’s client list is growing in number and nature. For instance, she’s worked with the likes of Purdue University Fort Wayne and the Saint Joseph Community Health Foundation. Philanthropic by nature, her biggest pro bono client is the City of Fort Wayne. She’s working with city leaders to create better ongoing relations between local government and immigrants and refugees.

But Petra is bigger than Irene. She proudly shared that her husband left a full-time job to pursue his own endeavors and assist her as a consultant. At the time of the grant submission, she had recently recruited three consultants to help with grant writing.

Energized by that growth, she plans to scale up the business by growing its customer base and consultant partnerships. The next natural progression would be to become a licensed interpreter training company and a licensed diversity and inclusion trainer of trainers. Last, she’d like to expand their geographic territory to nearby cities such as Warsaw and Goshen.

Let’s hear it for this worldly woman working hard to change her corner of the world!