ACHIEVE RADICAL SUCCESS THROUGH Empathy.

I help good companies become great by connecting people, purpose, AND profit.

Let’s get started

Now is the time

The current market is not merely asking, but requiring that you adapt and evolve.

You need visionary and compassionate leaders. You need a high-performing and empathetic culture. You need an influential and uplifting brand.

Gone are the days of cutthroat C-level execs and merciless mass-layoffs. Today, customers, stakeholders, and employees alike expect your company to value and model empathy.

Fortunately, winning leaders and organizations can be compassionate and competitive, ambitious and empathetic. Cultivating empathy helps you create more innovation, happier stakeholders, and lucrative bottom-line results.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive.

Empathy is the new foundational standard, not a fluffy afterthought.

#1

Empathy is #1 for “new product innovation success.”

Nielsen

87%

of CEOs agree the company’s financial performance is tied to empathy.

Businessolver

92%

of team members would be more likely to stay with their company if business leaders empathized with their needs.

Businessolver

2x

Emotional connection is TWICE as valuable as customer satisfaction.

Harvard Business Review

Improve your empathy in your business or brand now and for the long-term.

My clients learn to imbue their work with compassion to create strong leaders, thriving cultures, and winning brands.

Are you ready to see how high your organization can climb when it’s supercharged by empathy? And how your people can engage and perform beyond your wildest expectations?

Let’s Talk

Just a few of the organizations that love working with Maria

Maria brings nearly 30 years of empathy-led leadership, business, and brand expertise. She has been a trusted advisor to hundreds of companies and brands, including massive global corporations, pioneering startups, and heart-centered nonprofits.

In her engaging workshops and mindset-shifting presentations she offers actionable strategies to amplify impact, and explains how compassionate business tactics will transform organizations from the inside out.

Maria can help if…

You want to cultivate integrity in your leadership, business, culture, and brand.
You want to create a business that makes a significant difference in the world.
You want to craft empathetic brand stories to better engage and connect.
You want to leverage your compassionate culture to attract and retain top talent.
You want to make the world a better place while still turning a healthy profit.

Speaking + Workshops

Strategic Advisory

Courses

Maria and I partnered on a global webinar on empathy. She was an incredible partner during every step of the process from the design of the session to the promotion to the actual webinar. She is proactive, brings data and stories to the audience, and is a terrific conversationalist. I highly recommend her for events and conferences – especially given the relevance of her content today.

Aaron Hurst, Founder, Imperative

Maria is both a fabulous speaker and subject matter expert on empathy in the workplace. 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 is an engaging, inspiring speaker who brings all of her knowledge, life experience, and delightful personality to her speaking engagements. Over the course of our 3-day retreat, Maria’s presentation was the favorite of the group! She helped the group understand the business case for empathy and provided practical tools and strategies for strengthening empathy in the workplace.

Jaime Goff, PhD, SHRM-CP

Maria was our Keynote speaker at Sales Kickoff when I was at Lever. 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, VP, Global Revenue Strategy and Enablement at Jellysmack

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, Exabeam – hired Maria at Splunk and Expanse

More Happy Clients

Conversations with leaders, changemakers, and those who challenge the status quo.

The Empathy Edge Podcast

Dr. John Demartini: Why Motivation Doesn’t Work

Dr. DeMartini shares his powerful and inspirational personal journey involving overcoming learning disabilities, teachers who wanted to give up on him, his determination to learn how to read, write, articulate his ideas, and learn as much as he could, a near-death experience, his life as a surfer and a vagabond, a vision for his life that guided his trajectory, and his mother’s important words. You’ll love our discussion!

May Hot Take: Words Matter AND Words Can Divide

Stephanie Sarazin: What Is Ambiguous Grief and How To Show Up

Catherine Bell: How to be An Awakened Company and Leader

Dr. Michele Borba: Our Future Depends on Teaching Kids Empathy

The Empathy Edge Book

harnessing the value of compassion as an engine for success

Through Maria’s research, case studies, and practical advice you’ll discover how active compassion and cultivating an empathetic mindset can help you and your brand succeed.

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Expert Insights from Maria

How Empathetic Leaders Can Set Strong Boundaries to Avoid Burnout

We are in some tough times. Layoffs, Market volatility. For many, returning to work or at least navigating change in a hybrid environment. Managers are currently caught in the middle. They are feeling pressured from above to get back to delivering stellar results and improving profitability. And they are squeezed by their people, demanding (rightly, […]
Empathy is Not This

When people are scared or unsure, they run back to what they know. And that’s what some leaders are doing in today’s post-pandemic workplace. And it’s pissing me off. I read this article the other day and had….opinions. Today, as the pandemic fades and a recession looms, employers are back to their old ways — […]
What is a Brand Story and Why Does My Business Need one?

A small business owner asked me the other day, “What do you mean by brand story? Is that website copy?” I said yes, sort of. But it’s bigger than that – it is not just one sentence, but it’s also the vibe and value promise of your business. Your brand story is not simply what […]