Background

Maria joined Development Counsellors International in 2005 after working on marketing efforts for a waterfront redevelopment project near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of Penn State, with a degree in advertising and public relations and a minor in international studies.

Maria's Passion for Places

While growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, Maria daydreamed about all the locations she read about in books. Maria finally got to experience other cultures firsthand when she went on a 12-day trip through the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and England at the age of 15. The trip opened her eyes to a very different world outside her small town. She’s had the travel bug ever since, visiting other countries, such as Costa Rica and Sweden, and living in Brazil for six months. She's also enjoyed exploring her own country, including trips to California, Montana and Texas for vacation.

At DCI, Maria is able to put her love of places to work in a practical sense and finds it intriguing to learn about the unique qualities that help each client community distinguish itself from  other regions.

Notable Results

• Maria arranged two life science-focused interviews with BBC Radio that highlighted the New Orleans region’s research and development assets. In addition, an article was featured on the BBC News website.

• On behalf of the state of Louisiana, Greater New Orleans, Inc. and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Maria executed crisis communications following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that resulted in multiple client appearances on FOX News. 

• Working with current topics in the news, such as the rise of clean technology, Maria has helped the Sacramento region tell its story by putting representatives from the region in contact with journalists from outlets such as BusinessWeek, Bloomberg News, Reuters and CNNMoney.com.

•  Maria proactively pitched communities, such as Kalamazoo, Michigan; Columbus, Ohio and Sacramento, California, resulting in placements and mentions in outlets such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN's "Lou Dobbs."