Origina CRO Antonia Ellis on her winding path to tech

Antonia Ellis never set out to work in technology. Today she is chief revenue officer of Origina, an independent software maintenance provider that helps enterprises run IBM, HCL and VMware products. She got there by way of art school, fashion buying, luxury retail, halal for kids and telecommunications, a winding path she credits to a single habit of saying yes.

Ellis joined Origina as chief brand officer before moving into the revenue seat, where she now oversees revenue, brand, marketing, pricing and innovation. TechInformed sat down with her to talk about what it really means to say yes, why taking leaps requires as much learning as courage and how she balances it all.

Talk us through your career journey.

My career path has never been by design; it’s always been about saying yes to opportunities.

I actually went to art school, training as a goldsmith and silversmith. That led me into fashion buying at Arcadia Group, then into luxury retail at Parfums Christian Dior, where I first started bringing creativity and commercial numbers together.

After I’d spent several years at Sainsbury’s leaning into analytics such as store optimization, margins, footfall and revenue, my husband was offered a role in Dubai. That move led me to Diageo, where I looked after retail design across the Middle East before shifting into category planning, marketing and innovation, developing bespoke products and limited-edition [lines] for airport retail.

When Diageo closed its Middle East operation, I launched my own business, a halal fresh food company for children, before being recruited into Privilee, where I led the digitalization of the business. That caught the attention of the CEO of Virgin Mobile UAE, a digital-first telco with no physical stores. I joined as marketing director and was quickly promoted to commercial director, where I had to get up to speed fast on app development, digital products and customer experience.

That work brought me to Virgin Group, where I spent several years advising their 55 operating companies on growth and digital transformation, working with Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Voyages and Virgin Hotels, among others.

Then Tomás O’Leary, the CEO, reached out about Origina, a company on a mission to challenge the biggest software vendors in the world and offer a credible independent alternative. After six months of conversations, I made the decision to join.

Looking back, is there one opportunity you’re particularly glad you said yes to?

All of them. I genuinely wouldn’t be sitting here today if I hadn’t said yes to every single one of those opportunities.

In some ways, being made redundant from Diageo was the best thing that happened to me. It pushed me into founder-led businesses. It forced me to learn how to build a company, how to do digital marketing and how businesses actually work.

I’ve never really gone backward in my career. I’ve always moved into new sectors because I love learning, I love being challenged and I love being stretched.

What motivates you about Origina’s mission?

Origina aims to break the model that says only the OEM [original equipment manufacturer] can maintain your software. We give customers flexibility, choice and control.

What energizes me is that I don’t think it’s right for six or seven companies to have a monopoly over the world. That’s broader than software. It extends into social media, phones and the digital world our children are growing up in.

When you have teenage children and you see how much influence technology companies have over their lives, it becomes personal.

I don’t want to wake up in ten years’ time and have my children ask, “Why didn’t you do something?”

If I can help make the industry a little more ethical, create more choice and allow smaller players to innovate and compete, then that’s something worth getting out of bed for every day.

The second thing is hearing the stories from CIOs and customers. You hear about the pressure they’ve been put under during renewals, how their teams have been treated and how difficult it can be to escape complex contracts.

Where has taking the initiative to learn taken you?

Before I got the job at Wallis, I interviewed with River Island. They made me do a math test, and I failed it. I had traveled all the way from Aberdeen to London for that interview.

When I got home, I dug out my old math books and relearned percentages. The next time I interviewed, I passed.

I’ve always had the attitude that if there’s something I don’t know, I don’t want it to limit me from doing something I want to do. I’ll just work harder than everyone else.

I’m also dyslexic, so reading and writing have always been challenging. AI tools have been incredibly helpful because they allow me to communicate more effectively.

Throughout my career I’ve consistently leaned into things that felt uncomfortable because the desire to do the job or join the company was greater than the discomfort.

Today I love a spreadsheet. I’m really glad I learned Excel because it opened up a completely different way of understanding businesses.

What has been your biggest challenge, particularly around work-life balance?

When you genuinely love what you do professionally, work-life balance becomes a different conversation because you’re not resentful when work creeps into your personal life.

I’ve just been in Lisbon with my children, and I was definitely doing bits of work in between. But my children don’t see me stressed and frustrated. They see me excited and energized.

I have an incredibly supportive husband. He’s made it his mission to raise two strong girls and have a strong wife. He takes on a lot of the logistics that allow me to travel and work.

It’s a constant balancing act, and there are sacrifices.

How do you take your coffee?

I take my coffee black. Back in the day, my eldest sister said to me, “If you’re ever going to be successful in business, you’re going to have to learn to either drink tea or coffee.” I didn’t like either, so I said, “Well, if I’m going to learn to drink it, I’m going to drink it in its purest form.” No milk, no sugar, just completely black.