Hi, I’m Sara Rosso, MBA – I’ve worked in technology for more than 25 years for companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Ogilvy, and HubSpot. I’m also a former Automattic (WordPress.com & more) early hire. I’m a board member on the Santa Clara University MBA Alumni advisory board.
I have an MBA in Managing Innovation & Technology and Leading People & Organizations from Santa Clara University in California, and a Bachelors in Management Information Systems (MIS) from Texas A&M University.
Originally from California, I lived in Italy from 2003-2016 and am now back in California. My sites, photos, and I have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News, TIME, Businessweek, The Huffington Post, AdWeek, Advertising Age, Sky News 24 Italy, Wired Italy, LA Times, Brandweek, RAINews24, Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Glamour Italy, and Vanity Fair Italy. I sell some photos as a stock photographer through Getty Images.
I write about food and travel at Ms. Adventures in Italy, and I write about technology and building a business at When I Have Time.
I am the founder and former co-host (2007-2015) of World Nutella Day, a grassroots fan celebration of the chocolate hazelnut spread, which I turned over to Ferrero in 2015. I founded an all-Italy news, culture, and travel podcast called Eye on Italy before podcasts were a thing, in 2010 and hosted & personally produced more than 60 episodes in 3 years. I co-founded Mentor Everywhere, a remote mentoring experiment involving 100 participants, in 2016.
I can be reached at contact //at// sararosso [dot] com. See also my Press or Speaking & Events pages.
—————Extended Bio, 3rd person
Sara is a writer, photographer, technology lover, and business & digital strategist. Originally born in the South San Francisco Bay Area, Sara spent 13 years living in Italy, from 2003-2016. Sara has been called a ‘Renaissance woman’ because of her expertise spanning technology, business, and the arts.
Sara brings over 20 years of experience in technology & digital strategy to her work. Sara has scaled business operations, built products, engaged customers, and driven online marketing for companies like Automattic (WordPress.com & more), Ferrero International, Moleskine, Hewlett-Packard, and Ogilvy. With an MBA from Santa Clara University and a Bachelor degree in Management Information Systems, Sara shares her expertise at speaking engagements around the globe. Sara is also a board member on the Santa Clara University MBA Alumni advisory board.
Sara began working early in the corporate world, and became one of the first freshman university interns at Hewlett-Packard, working in the IT Strategy department. After several years working as an intern in both California and Texas for HP (and as one of the first-ever remote internships during the school year), she became a full-time employee in IT Strategy specializing in network engineering and web services.
Upon being accepted at Santa Clara University to pursue an MBA, she was one of the youngest students admitted to the program. She was a founding member of the Women in Business MBA networking group, and served as VP Networking and then President (2002-2003). She proposed and coordinated the first student-run SCU Women in Business Conference (which ran after for 12 editions). Sara received the Dean’s award for Outstanding Leadership in 2003.
Sara and her work have appeared in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News, TIME, Businessweek, The Huffington Post, AdWeek, Advertising Age, Sky News 24 Italy, Wired Italy, LA Times, Brandweek, RAINews24, Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Glamour Italy, and Vanity Fair Italy. She writes about food, recipes and travel at Ms. Adventures in Italy, and she founded a popular all-Italy news, culture and travel podcast called Eye on Italy. She writes about technology and building a business at When I Have Time.
She was the founder and co-host (2007-2015) of World Nutella Day, now an officially-recognized holiday owned and managed by the Ferrero brand since 2015. Sara often does everything related to a website from the concept and communication strategy to logo design and backend infrastructure. Photography has been a passion and focus for her travels and freelance photo assignments, and she also sells photos for commercial use.
Sara was a founding team member of the first Girl Geek Dinners team in Italy, in Milan, and served as the point of contact for sponsorship and coordination from 2008-2011, organizing 13 dinners with an average of 150 participants at each and working with brand sponsors such as Microsoft, Sony, Symantec, Kodak, and Fiat.
Most recently as a Director of Product Marketing at HubSpot, her teams were focused on serving technical builders and audiences. Previously an early hire at Automattic (WordPress.com & more), she served as Director of Product Marketing and also Product Marketing Manager for WordPress VIP, where she helped the VIP team grow 10x through establishing critical business and operational processes, and leading digital communication, product marketing, and education. She also co-founded Mentor Everywhere, a remote mentoring experiment.
Sara frequently speaks about remote and distributed leadership and management, long-term remote culture, building teams and products remotely, scaling startups, product management and SaaS products for both B2B and B2C, product marketing, communication, and community.
Sara Rosso’s current resume / curriculum can be found on LinkedIn.
Where to Find Me:
My Websites:
 Tips, Info and How-tos to Bridge the Gap between Meek and Geek |
 Food. Recipes. Travel. Photography. |
 World Nutella Day, February 5th. Nutella lovers unite for one day! Read about how I founded that here. Transferred to Ferrero in 2015. |
 [retired] Eye on Italy Podcast: Founder and co-host of the all-Italy podcast for those with their eyes on Italy |
My Books:
How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy |
The Unofficial Guide to Nutella |