Maria Ross is a storyteller: She’s a brand strategist, author, and speaker who believes cash flow and creativity are not mutually exclusive.
A champion for small businesses, startups 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 craft a strong brand strategy and story that guides investments, delights customers and stands out from the crowd. She is also the author of the new eBook series, The Juicy Guides for Entrepreneurs, and a personal memoir, Rebooting My Brain: How a Freak Aneurysm Reframed My Life.
HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES, STARTUPS AND ENTREPRENEURS CRAFT IRRESISTIBLE BRANDS
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.
AN INSPIRATIONAL SURVIVOR TO MOTIVATE AND IGNITE YOUR AUDIENCE
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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 overcame 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 Scheurig Center for Brain Injury Recovery’s advisory board, as well as being a patient advisor for University of Washington Medicine. At UWMC, she has spoken to new hires, departmental clinicians 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.
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 be irresistible, 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.