In fast-moving environments, the most important work often happens quietly behind the scenes. As Executive Assistant to the CEO & Chairman at beOnd, Alyona Zakharova has built a reputation for bringing calmness, clarity, and structure to complex situations — helping strategy, people, and timing come together at the right moments.
Acting Beyond the Title
We started the interview by asking, “What does your role actually look like beyond the title?”
Alyona Zakharova shared, “I remember one morning where everything looked calm on the calendar- but behind the scenes, three different priorities were colliding: a last-minute request, an operational issue, and a strategic meeting that couldn’t move.
None of that shows up in the job description — but that’s exactly the job. It’s about constantly reading between the lines: what looks fine versus what actually needs intervention. A big part of my role is making sure things run smoothly before they become visible problems. If I’m doing it well, most people won’t even notice the work behind it.
Underlying all of it is one belief I carry every day: CEO time is not just time- it’s a company resource. How it’s spent, protected, and directed shapes everything else downstream.”
Navigating through Clashing Priorities
In a role like Alyona’s Zakharova, priorities may often remain stalled until full alignment is achieved. To learn how she deals with the same, we asked, “How do you align priorities across different functions?”
She explained, “There was a situation where one team was pushing hard to move fast on a decision, while another needed more time due to operational constraints. Both were right from their perspective.
What helped wasn’t forcing alignment, but reframing the conversation, bringing both sides into the same context: what happens if we move too fast, and what happens if we wait? Once that was clear, the decision almost made itself.
I’ve learned that full alignment rarely arrives on its own and waiting for it often costs more than it saves. What works better is building enough shared understanding for people to move forward together — even if they’re not starting from the same place. That’s usually where real progress begins.”
The Deciding Factor
Intrigued to learn Alyona’s Zakharova perspective on what it really takes to make high-stakes decisions, we requested her to share a glimpse of the same for our viewers.
“I’ve seen moments where all the data was on the table, everything analyzed, and still, the final decision came down to a judgment call. There’s usually a point where waiting for more certainty doesn’t actually reduce risk — it just delays action. That’s when experience and instinct step in.
What surprised me is that the strongest leaders are comfortable at that moment. They don’t wait for perfect clarity, they recognize when they have enough and move forward,” Alyona Zakharova mentioned.
Exploring the Uncertainties of Expansion
We then asked, “What are the less visible challenges behind expansion?”
She reflected, “From the outside, launching a route or a charter looks exciting — new destination, new market. Behind the scenes, its layers of complexity are moving simultaneously: regulatory approvals, aircraft positioning, crew readiness, airport coordination, often across multiple countries, each operating under its own requirements and timelines.
What makes it particularly demanding is how interdependent these workstreams are. One delay doesn’t stay contained; it ripples. And those dependencies often only become visible once you’re already in motion.
At beOnd, where we’re building across multiple AOCs and regions at the same time, that complexity is constant. What I’ve learned is that success isn’t about having a perfect plan — it’s about maintaining clarity on the bigger picture while being able to adjust quickly as details shift.”
From Crisis to Success
Setbacks and crises are an inevitable part of every business. To learn more about efficient management of the same, we asked Alyona Zakharova, “What does crisis management look like behind the scenes?”
“Crisis moments are where you really see how an organization functions. At the beginning, everything feels unclear and fast at the same time. Information comes from different directions, and not all of it is complete.
My role in those situations is to create structure quickly, understand what is actually happening, what decisions need to be made, and who needs to be involved. You don’t have the luxury of overthinking, but you also can’t afford to act on incomplete assumptions.
It becomes about staying calm, keeping communication clear, and making sure that even under pressure, decisions are made with awareness — not panic,” Alyona Zakharova stated.
Growing Alongside a Scaling Business
Lastly, we asked Alyona Zakharova, “How are you evolving your role as the company grows?”
Alyona Zakharova shared, “The shift I’m most conscious of is moving from supporting processes to shaping outcomes — and that’s been the direction my role has taken as beOnd has grown.
I joined as an Administrative Assistant, learning how everything fits together from the ground up. I then moved into a Product Coordinator role, gaining exposure to the commercial side of the business. For the past two years, I’ve been working as Executive Assistant to the CEO, where the scope has expanded significantly.
Because I’ve grown with the company, I don’t see tasks in isolation; I understand the context, the dependencies, and the longer-term implications behind them. That’s made a real difference in how I contribute. There have been moments where understanding the full picture allowed me to flag something early, reframe a conversation, or connect elements that weren’t yet aligned, and that’s had a tangible impact on how decisions moved forward.
As beOnd scales across regions and AOCs, I see my role continuing to evolve in that direction: less about execution alone and more about helping strategy, people and timing come together at the right moments.”
Connect with Alyona Zakharova on LinkedIn to gain industry insights.
Find beOnd on LinkedIn and visit their website to learn more.
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