Maria Ross

Maria Ross is a storyteller: She's a brand strategist, author, and speaker who believes cash flow, compassion and creativity are not mutually exclusive.

Maria helps your audience understand the art and science of branding, the keys to irresistible storytelling, the mindset of customer delight...and uses her own harrowing health experiences to share how they can overcome adversity, stay focused and reignite passion. All with actionable advice, humor, and inspiration.

A champion for small businesses, startups, fast-growth businesses and entrepreneurs. Maria is the author of Branding Basics for Small Business: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget, 2nd Edition (Norlights Press), which shows organizations and entrepreneurs a proven process to align on strategy, articulate a unique brand story and accelerate growth. She is also the author of the The Juicy Guides for Entrepreneurs eBook series,and a personal memoir, Rebooting My Brain: How a Freak Aneurysm Reframed My Life.

Her latest book, THE EMPATHY EDGE: Harnessing the Value of Compassion as an Engine for Success (A Playbook for Brands, Leaders, and Teams) hits shelves in fall 2019 (Page Two Publishing)

As the founder and chief strategist of Red Slice, a branding and marketing consultancy, Maria Ross revels in helping small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs translate captivating stories into irresistible brands that stand out. With focused listening and vigorous research, Maria ferrets out the features that make each of her clients "irresistible" - and then translates those qualities into messaging, positioning and strategies that stick.

Prior to founding Red Slice, she crafted brand and marketing strategies for Silicon Valley start-ups, global software firms, Internet companies, entertainment powerhouses and consumer businesses -- including Business Objects (an SAP company), Discovery Networks and Monster.com - and created communication and training strategies for Fortune 1000 clients at Accenture.

In addition, Maria is a unique entrepreneur because she is a survivor. In 2008, a mere six months after satrting her own consulting firm, she nearly died from a ruptured brain aneurysm. Against the odds, she made it through recovery, got back on her feet, relaunched her business and today successfully advises clients, blogs weekly and speaks on both business and inspirational topics. Maria now shares valuable lessons full of humor and heart on how others can also overcome adversity and get back on their feet, speaking about her experience at large healthcare and medical conferences, survivor groups, and even business events.

She serves on The Schurig Center for Brain Injury Recovery's advisory board (SF Bay Area), as well as being a patient advisor for University of Washington Medicine. In this capacity, she has spoken to new hires, departmental clinicians, symposia attendees and more than 500 medical leaders at a leadership training event. Maria speaks about the patient experience and health literacy, and inspires by sharing the key ingredients she used to get back on her feet: patience, acceptance and humor.

A dynamic speaker, Maria delights audiences of all sizes, and happy clients notably include:

The New York Times Small Business Summit, Society for Information Management (SIM) Women, various Chambers of Commerce, Western Region of Chamber Executives, BlogHer, Ladies Who Launch, University of Washington Medical Center, Content Marketing Strategies Conference, CRAVE Urban Campfire, Institute for Healthcare Advancement, NAWBO Silicon Valley, Women in Consulting (San Francisco Bay Area), Women Business Owners (Seattle), Women in Communications (Seattle), Puget Sound Business Journal

Maria has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MSNBC, ABC News, NPR, Entrepreneur Magazine, Seattle Business, Columbus CEO and countless podcasts and talk radio shows. She currently writes for Entrepreneur.com and The Huffington Post.

When she's not speaking or helping clients boldly tell their stories, Maria is a wife and mom who enjoys Crossfit, red wine, trivia games, romping with her dog, football, and crime dramas. Her mission is simple: Engage, inform and delight.