There isn’t a day when Maria hasn’t started her morning with the news. Ever since she was a tween, she enjoyed nothing more than watching Good Morning America — shoutout to Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, and George Stephanopoulos, you’re the OGs — and World News with Charles Gibson. (Can you tell she grew up in an ABC News family?)

Television news inspired her career in journalism. She got her start as one of the anchors for her high school’s weekly televised morning announcements (is it too late to add this to the resume?) and went on to major in Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies at UW-Milwaukee.

Her career has taken her to local newsrooms, where she created newscasts from start to finish and worked closely with reporters to bring stories to life. She’s written for several outlets, including The Santiago Times in Santiago de Chile, where she covered everything from the massive student education protests to the World Cup and Cumbia music.

After a brief hiatus from news to teach English in southern France and travel (she basically lived out her own version of Eat, Pray, Love), Maria moved to NYC to join theSkimm. She’s worn many hats over the years: as staff writer for the Daily Skimm, senior writer for theSkimm.com and Weekend Daily Skimm, producer for theSkimm's app, and most recently as the editor for the Well Played newsletter, which she helped relaunch.

Maria is currently the editor for the Daily Skimm, working late into the night to make sure nothing falls through even the tiniest crack. She now lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband and son. When she’s not reading the news, she likes to take long walks with her family, catch up on the latest must-watch show, and debate her next running race.