Helping your audience understand the art and science of branding, the keys to irresistible storytelling, customer delight, empathy as a competitive advantage…and how to overcome adversity. All with actionable advice, humor and inspiration.`

Wit and wisdom from a savvy brand strategist, empathy expert, marketing maven, author and inspirational survivor!

If you’re seeking a fresh marketing, branding, inspirational or business speaker-with stories that people will remember and talk abut for weeks, grab me for your next event. From keynotes to conference panels, webinars to workshops, I inspire audiences to set ambitious goals, face challenges, think creatively and take action.

Looking for Maria‘s The Empathy Edge book and speaking events? Please click here.

Just a few of my favorite topics:

How to strengthen empathy as a competitive leadership, culture, and brand advantage,  how to create an irresistible brand that customers and clients will love, how to stand out in a crowded marketplace, demystifying marketing, and also…overcoming adversity, stress management, facing your fear, aligning your personal values with your work.

I’m a seasoned presenter and branding, marketing and inspirational speaker who’s been featured on TV, radio and numerous media, including MSNBC, ABC News, NPR, Entrepreneur Magazine, Seattle Business, Columbus CEO, as well as countless podcasts such as Entrepreneur on Fire, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, Profit Boss, The Shameless Mom Academy and more. My columns appear on The Huffington Post and Entrepreneur.com.

Aside from running Red Slice, I’m also a stage, screen and voiceover actor, so I bring a ton of passion, inspiration and entertainment into every presentation. Rest assured: Your audience will not be snoozing! In fact, not one but TWO conferences that rarely bring back repeat speakers brought me back a second time due to attendee feedback. Let’s talk today about how we can delight your audience.

TEDx Talk: How to Trojan Horse Leaders into Being More Empathetic

Watch and share this video here.

Sample Presentations and Trainings Include*:

• Branding Basics: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget
• Reboot + Reframe: How a Freak Brain Aneurysm Flipped My Entrepreneurial Switch
• The Empathy Edge: How Leaders, Cultures and Brands Can Harness the Value of Compassion as an Engine for Success
• Rebooting My Brain: 3 Keys to Bouncing Back From Crisis
• The Seven Deadly Sins of Branding: How to Avoid Eternal Stagnation
• Stand Out!: 3 Keys to Differentiate Your Brand from the Pack
• The Power of Empathy: How to Boost Sales, Get 5-Star Reviews and Create Fans Who Talk About You Constantly

*Topics can be customized to your group and we can scale anything as a keynote, breakout, or half-day seminar, depending on your needs.

SPECIAL PRICING WITH BOOK ORDERS:

If you’d like a keynote or training about The Empathy Edge: Flexing empathy as a competitive leadership, culture, or brand advantage, click here for a special offer.

HOW TO BOOK: Please send me a message.

MEDIA KIT: Find Maria’s pics and official bio right here.

Sample Keynotes:

To inquire about booking me,
please send me a message and let’s chat!

“To be an effective speaker, you must first be an exceptional listener. Prior to leading two sessions during our conference, Maria Ross did her homework to understand our industry. She heard my concerns, respected my requests, then successfully delivered a customized, relevant presentation to a very discerning audience. She was the highlight of our meeting. If content is King, Maria is Queen of presenting fresh information in a style that’s immediately engaging.“

– Tina Ruggiero, Chief Creative Alchemist, PSI, Inc

“Maria is both a fabulous speaker and subject matter expert on empathy in the workplace. She recently presented a webinar for WellRight and her style and enthusiasm kept the audience super engaged. Plus Maria shared ideas that could be implemented immediately. Thank you again, Maria. We enjoyed working with you!”

– Lynn Zimmerman, Vice President of Marketing, WellRight

“Maria was our Keynote speaker at this year’s Sales Kickoff. It is no small task to tackle a topic like empathy in front of over 100 sales and support folks. I could not have asked for a more engaging and relevant presentation. Having reps come up after the presentation to share their stories and gratitude for the session is more than I could have asked for.”

–Giorgia Ortiz, Head of Global Sales Enablement, Lever

“Maria Ross was not only a true professional both on stage and leading up to the event, but a very down to earth person who makes you feel like you’ve known her forever- even when you’ve just met. You can’t beat it when someone is easy to work with and also gets rave reviews when up on stage!”

– Gabriella Buono, Director of Small Business Events & Programs, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce

“Maria spoke to our employees about the research that went into her book, The Empathy Edge. We came away with great tips on how we can incorporate more empathy into the relationships we have at work. Sometimes we get so busy with trying to make things better, faster, cheaper that ultra-important things like relationships and empathy get lost. Maria told great stories and highlighted specific ways we can be more empathetic. It was a super insightful conversation!“

­– JC Noble, HR Program Manager, IPSY

“Maria gave our conference attendees concrete advice for not just developing a smarter branding plan, but for creating stronger, more cohesive business strategies. Her clear delivery and patient demeanor were invaluable! She makes a great addition to any speaking lineup.”

– Erin Slonaker, Editor in Chief, Yarn Market News (Soho Publishing)

“Maria has been a repeat speaker for BlogHer Conference, including a keynote speaker at this year’s Pathfinder Day for highly aspirational social media leaders. Whether she’s using her personal life experiences as the framework for a deep personal development conversation, or leading a tactical workshop on developing your personal brand, Maria delivers stellar content. And actionable content. We have had Maria speak on more than one occasion (which is rare…we feature 80% new speakers at every event, so repeat speakers are a rarity). And we would have her speak again!”

— Elisa Camahort Page, Founder & COO, BlogHer, Inc.

We brought Maria in to our team offsite to inspire us to think about our brand in a fresh new way. We want to keep the brand personality that makes us special as we scale and grow – no small task. Her insights, exercises and engaging style got everyone fired up about how we can better live out our brand and values in every area of the organization. Maria is a great facilitator and she deftly got our diverse group talking and contributing.  I’d highly recommend any start-up or fast-growth company engage with Maria to ensure they retain their “DNA” as they grow.

— Sherry Lowe, CMO, Expanse, former VP Corp Marketing, Splunk

“In telling the story of her own medical crisis and recovery, Maria delivers the message of the importance of patent and family centered care to clinicians and other staff throughout the medical center. She powerfully drives home her points with humor and grace.”

— Andrea Dotson CHES, Health Educator, University of Washington Medical Center

“Maria is an excellent presenter. She was focused, organized and very relevant. The diverse audience – some new businesses, many established – responded that Maria was one of the best presenters ever featured by our organization. She delivered a tremendous amount of information, yet kept it easy to follow, and provided manageable action steps to take our brands and businesses to the next level.”

– Cheri Johnson, Program Direction, The Alliance of Women-Owned Businesses

“Maria was one of the most talked about speakers at our event. The depth of her knowledge and her passion for brand story telling was evident. Her brand carries right on through to her book – Branding Basics for Small Business. You will not be disappointed with Maria speaking at your event or hiring her to help you craft your brand story.”

– Bill Flitter, Founder and CEO, Dlvr.it

“Maria Ross provided a patient testimonial in front of 500 UW Medicine leaders at a recent Leadership Institute training. As an inspirational keynote speaker, Ms. Ross was poised, articulate, and highly effective with her presentation. She made her experience come to life in a most impressive way. The segment received rave reviews and was considered the corner stone of this important 2-day session.”

– Grace Parker, RN, MN, Director, Ambulatory Care Division + Speaker Liaison for Leadership Institute Conference
University of Washington Medical Center

“Maria’s voice is the voice of the patient, as she describes her experience in the health care system as she recovered from a health crisis in 2008. Maria delivers her message with humor, depth, and warmth and truly touches her audience of doctors, nurses and other clinicians — a group that does not often hear this kind of thing from patients. Without fail, Maria’s words hold them rapt, and they rate her segment as one of the most effective elements of the entire presentation. They leave with new insights about how to best partner with patients and families when delivering health care and health information.”

– Debby Nagusky, MPH Health Educator, University of Washington Medical Center

“Maria is the type of facilitator that is incredibly skillful at creating an environment where people are engaged, eager, and ready to take action. The kind of speaker I am always hopeful to find! I was impressed with her ability to present information on effective branding practices while simultaneously inspiring the attendees. Maria’s willingness to bring a more personal touch to her professionalism is refreshing – I highly recommend her!”

– Amanda Dellinger, Audience Development Account Manager, Puget Sound Business Journal

“Maria is a warm and genuine person who has come to terms with her experience and is a master at sharing lessons from it. She listened carefully to all my questions and suggestions, and made sure she met all my needs for this talk, consummate professional that she is. I’m glad I brought her in for this talk and apparently, so were our attendees. When asked to give her talk a letter grade (A-F), 98% graded her with an A or B (80% gave her the A). I highly recommend Maria if you’re looking for a speaker to discuss the patient perspective of a catastrophic healthcare experience. She is skilled, smooth, engaging, and a master at telling a purposeful story.”

– Michael Villaire, COO, Institute for Healthcare Advancement

“Maria was our keynote marketing speaker at a recent Wedding Network USA monthly meeting. She was able to inform our membership and guests on ways to work on our brand strategy through a series of questions to ask ourselves and to do it without spending a lot of money. Many of our members thought it was one of the best presentations they heard on the topic. If you have the chance, have Maria speak to your group, you will not be disappointed.”

– Jennifer Taylor, National Chapter Director, Wedding Network USA

“Maria was one of the Puget Sound Business Journal’s speakers in our BizDev series. Maria puts on a lively and informative workshop that leaves the attendees with more than just tips but action items that can be implemented immediately. She was a joy to work with and I recommend her highly

– Sarah Schosboek, Director of Circulation, Puget Sound Business Journal

“I had the pleasure of working with Maria Ross, who was our guest speaker at Words @TheWoodmark. She is a true professional in every way and has a talent for demystifying branding to an audience.”

– Kristin Riefflin, PR Account Manager, GreenRubino

“Maria is a favorite speaker at Ladies Who Launch events and always delights, educates and sends us home with practical actions to implement.”

– Linda Snyder, Market Director, Ladies Who Launch – Seattle

“Maria was a panelist at our Branding Inside Out event. Her content was relevant and impactful to the small business audience and she is an engaging speaker and presenter. The workshop was well received and evaluated ‘excellent’ by the audience. We enjoyed having Maria as our guest and look forward to opportunities to collaborate in future.”

– Ayesha Mathews-Wadhwa, Director, San Francisco Bay Area, Savor the Success.

“I enjoyed…your sparkle, expertise and enjoyment of your work.” Workshop Attendee

“Packed with info and lovely style!” Workshop Attendee

Business Conferences and Events:

• Lever sales kickoff
• The New York Times Small Business Summit: Featured Panelist
• Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce: Conference Keynote Speaker
• BlogHer: National Conference Keynote Speaker
• Urban Land Institute, San Francisco: Keynote Speaker
• Content Marketing Strategies Conference: Kickoff Keynote Speaker
• Western Association of Chamber Executives Conference: Keynote Speaker
• Small Business Administration, Seattle: Workshop Leader
• Purchasing Services Inc Annual Business Conference: Keynote Speaker
• Ignite Your Marketing! Workshop for Small Business: Co-instructor
• Brand Strategy Workshop for Small Business: Co-instructor
• Direct Marketing Association of Northern California: Panelist

Womens Groups/Business and Personal Development:

• Women Business Owners Seattle: Luncheon Keynote Speaker
• Women in Consulting, San Francisco Bay Area: Keynote Speaker
• NAWBO Silicon Valley: Keynote Speaker
• Urban Campfire, Seattle: Featured Speaker
• Women in Communications, Seattle: Luncheon Keynote Speaker
• CRAVE Symposium and Business Chats, Vancouver and Seattle: Moderator, Speaker, Facilitator
• Ladies Who Launch, Seattle: Featured Presenter and Panelist
• Savor the Success, San Francisco: Panelist

Medical and Healthcare Conferences and Symposia:

• Kaiser Permanente Stroke Symposium: Featured Presenter
• IHA Health Literacy Conference: Keynote Speaker
• University of Washington Medical Center, Leadership Training Institute: Kickoff Keynote Speaker
• Legacy Health’s Health Literacy Conference: Luncheon Keynote
• University of Washington Medical Center, New Hire Orientation: Frequent Presenter
• Schurig Center for Brain Injury Recovery: Featured Presenter; Charity Gala Emcee

Academia:

• San Francisco State University: Guest Lecturer
• Seattle University: Guest Lecturer
• Bellevue Community College: Guest Lecturer