Samantha Ettus

A renowned work/life wellness expert, Sam inspires corporate cultures and increases employee retention and productivity through her executive workshops and keynotes. Thousands of professionals from C-level leaders to administrative assistants have benefitted from Sam’s unique guidance on how to maximize work/life success. She finds that spark within each of us and turns it into a fire.

Since earning her undergraduate and MBA degrees from Harvard, Sam has become a bestselling author of five books, a writer for Forbes, a renowned speaker and host of a nationally syndicated call-in radio show. Sam’s most recent book, The Pie Life: A Guilt-Free Recipe for Success and Satisfaction, was published last fall.

Sam began her career in media at CAA, Turner Pictures, Nickelodeon and Ziff Davis. She later founded a personal branding firm and soon realized that she couldn’t talk to executives about their personal brands without talking about the elephant in the room: how they were managing their professional and personal lives. Sam’s passion for work/life optimization began.

Sam is consistently called on by traditional media outlets for her advice. She makes regular national television appearances on shows including NBC News, The Doctors, Fox and Friends, Access Hollywood, and the TODAY Show, among others. She has been featured and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, Inc, Fast Company and Success Magazine.

Widely known for her interviewing skills, Sam has interviewed an array of personalities from Mary J. Blige to Jessica Alba, Sara Blakely and Al Roker. She spent two years as host of leading Internet talk show Obsessed TV, which she created and produced with tech entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk.

More than 400 experts have written chapters for Sam’s bestselling Experts’ Guide book series, published by Random House. Contributors include luminaries such as Rachael Ray, Richard Branson, Suze Orman and Barbara Corcoran.

Sam has a large social media following and is active in causes relating to women and girls. She sits on the Friends of Good+ Foundation and the advisory boards of Thuzio and Sparks and Honey. She is co-founder of the LA Women’s Collective and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s paid leave coalition. Sam lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.

SAM’S PHILOSOPHY

After working with thousands of the busiest professionals on the planet, Sam saw a common theme. The happiest ones were the most fulfilled. Happiness is not the goal, fulfillment is. With fulfillment comes happiness and greater productivity and better relationships.

What makes a fulfilling life? It is one that plays in six or seven slices rather than one or two, some combination of career, health, relationship, children, community, friends and hobbies. When we overfocus on one slice at the expense of the others, we hurt that one slice rather than hone it. What makes it easier to play in multiple slices? It is letting go of the guilt that drags us down and letting go of perfection. When you embrace the idea that the most fulfilling lives are going to be messy, it is easier to manage the bumps. Think of your favorite pie. It probably isn’t the perfect one, it is more likely the gooey messy one that is most delicious.

Life is like pie. Dig in!