Sara
ROSS
HELPING LEADERS BRING OUT THE BEST IN THEMSELVES AND OTHERS IN ENDURING, ENRICHING, AND DEEPLY HUMAN WAYS
SCIENCE-BASED LEADERSHIP & WORKPLACE EXPERT
FOUNDER & CHIEF VITALITY OFFICER AT BRAINAMPED
BESTSELLING AUTHOR of Dear Work, Something Has to Change
GLOBAL KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Award-Winning Sales Career
Former Executive at a Global EQ Training Company
Masters Of Science
Trusted Advisor, Facilitator, and Cultural-Capacity Builder
Hi, I'm
Sara Ross
Chief Vitality Officer
When I started my company BrainAMPED, I didn't choose the title Chief Vitality Officer as a branding tactic. For the past 25 years, I've lived with an autoimmune disease. While that has meant navigating chronic pain, unpredictable symptoms, and uncertainty about the future, it's also challenged me to rethink what it truly means to bring my best to the world.
The word vitality is typically associated with physical wellness, boundless energy, or outward enthusiasm. However, what I've discovered through research, personal experience, and over 15 years of leadership development, psychological vitality is something deeper and more dimensional.
That's what it means to be Chief Vitality Officer—it's not just a title; it's my daily philosophy for how to bring my best to the world, both in facing adversity and in finding what makes me come alive. And it's what I'm passionate about helping others discover for themselves, so they can be the Chief Vitality Officers of their own lives.
Named a 2023 Woman of Influence by Success Magazine and recognized among the Top 30 Motivational Speakers by Global Gurus for 2025,
Sara brings nearly two decades of experience integrating behavioral sciences into her work with leaders. Her expertise lies at the intersection of organizational culture, emotional intelligence, and sustainable performance.
Her pioneering multi-year study on workplace vitality formed the foundation of her bestselling book, Dear Work, Something Has to Change, establishing Sara as a fresh, thought-provoking voice tackling today’s epidemic levels of stress, disengagement, and burnout and creating vibrant, high-performing, human-centered cultures.
Grounded in research but geared for real life, Sara has become a go-to expert for organizations ranging from Microsoft, Deloitte, PepsiCo, Wells Fargo, and T-Mobile to members of the U.S. Navy, judges, surgeons, air traffic controllers, and space engineers. Her diverse experience also includes working with leading healthcare systems, government agencies, global associations, universities, professional sports teams, and guest lecturing in the executive leadership program at Smith College. This broad perspective is why Sara is trusted by some of the most senior, technically sophisticated, and skeptical audiences.
THE EXPERIENCES THAT SHAPED SARA’S APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP TODAY.
Before founding BrainAmped, Sara began her career in sales at a medical and research equipment company, where weaving the science of human behavior into her approach fueled record-breaking success and earned her recognition as the top sales professional in North America.
Working across research and business, Sara saw a consistent pattern: workplace challenges rarely stemmed from a lack of technical skills, but from how people engaged with one another—especially in high-stakes, emotionally charged moments.
That realization led her to spend more than a decade immersed in the neuroscience of emotional intelligence and performance at a global organizational training company, where she served as Vice President and Global Head of Leadership Innovation. She and her team led the development and delivery of award-winning leadership training programs (virtual and in-person), assessments, coaching, and accreditation offerings designed to help leaders across the globe be at their best—even in the most high-pressure moments. This background in learning and development as both a coach and facilitator makes Sara uniquely qualified to respond to the expanding needs of clients looking for interactive experiences and extended learning sessions that drive sustainable behavior change.
Sara holds a Master of Science (MSc.) and multiple certifications, including Executive Coaching and Language & Behavioral Profiling. Outside of work, she’s a coffee-loving, meditation rookie whose husband describes her career as “professional eavesdropping and people-watching.” She insists she’s simply a devoted street scientist on a mission to better understand people and why they do what they do!
OUTSIDE OF WORK,
Sara is a converse-wearing, coffee-loving, Montreal bagel-obsessed, meditation rookie whose husband describes her as a “professional eavesdropper, people-watcher.”
SHE INSISTS SHE’S SIMPLY A DEVOTED STREET SCIENTIST ON A MISSION TO BETTER UNDERSTAND PEOPLE AND WHY THEY DO WHAT THEY DO!
MY VITALITY-FUELING
Values
Curiosity
FOR ME, CURIOSITY OFTEN BEGINS WITH A SIMPLE QUESTION:
'HUH, I WONDER...'
It pulls me out of autopilot and embraces nuance—seeing beyond what's convenient or confirms my perspective to sit with the discomfort that multiple truths can exist at once.
It builds space for empathy, because it asks me to consider what might be true for someone else, not just myself. This is how we move beyond surface solutions to create real change.
Agency
WE CAN'T ALWAYS CONTROL OUR CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT WE CAN ALMOST ALWAYS CHOOSE HOW WE ENGAGE WITH THEM.
Agency means owning your power—not just to respond, but to shape, shift, and steer.
My work helps people recognize where they have more power than they realize and then learn how to use it meaningfully.
Empowerment
EMPOWERMENT CREATES CONDITIONS WHERE PEOPLE STEP INTO THEIR STRENGTH
It means recognizing the full spectrum of who someone is—not just what they contribute, but what they carry, care about, and are capable of becoming.
And it means leading by example, because one of the most powerful ways to empower others is to model that what you say also matters.
Aliveness
I REFUSE TO SETTLE FOR A WORLD WHERE PEOPLE WISH AWAY HALF THEIR DAYS—
waiting for the weekend, the vacation, or some distant “someday” to start fully living.
Aliveness isn’t a feeling you wait for—it’s activated by the daily choice to notice beauty in small things, stay open to connection, and carve out pockets of time for rest, adventure, challenge, and joy.
JOIN ME ONLINE
CONNECTION IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF VITALITY, AND I’D LOVE TO CONNECT WITH YOU. YOU CAN FIND ME ONLINE HERE:
STAY UP TO DATE ON NEW RESEARCH, RECEIVE FREE RESOURCES, AND BECOME PART OF THE FULL MOVEMENT.
And since everyone gets enough email already, I promise never to share your email or spam your Inbox.
Click here to read Sara's letter to you!
