Maria, a creative non-fiction author, specializes in memoir and essays. Her work has appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine, Better Humans, Brain Child Magazine, Boomer Lit Mag, Tell Us A Story, and Mutha Magazine. Her memoir manuscript was selected as a semi-finalist in the William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition.

Maria is an award-winning screenwriter. Her screenplay, Lost in Control, has placed in 18 film festivals, winning best screenplay in Milan International Film Festival and Montana Covellite Film Festival. Based on her memoir, it is a mother-daughter story shaped by lessons she learned cycling across the country.

Maria created and co-teaches a writing/yoga workshop, Writing From the Kundalini Soul, taught in Maine, NYC, and California. She is passionate about mentoring and coaching writers to help them find their inner voice and write from their heart.

Maria developed and teaches, Storytelling with Data, a graduate course at The New School’s Parsons School of Design and conducts customized workshops based on this course for organizations interested in learning how to apply storytelling techniques to their data. Most recently, she conducted a workshop for the media conglomerate, Univision.

Maria holds an M.F.A in creative non-fiction from The New School and a B.S. from New York University and has experienced first-hand Robert McKee’s Story seminar. She’s also attended Harvard Business School’s Executive Education: Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation and High-Potential Leaders.