Impactful Culture you’ll brag about

〰️ Does your junior talent lack the professional skills they need to succeed?

〰️ Is the in person office experience lacking magic?

〰️ Is your creative output lackluster?

〰️ Do your employees feel disconnected and disengaged?

〰️ Is a lack of collaboration holding you back?

〰️ Does your junior talent lack the professional skills they need to succeed? 〰️ Is the in person office experience lacking magic? 〰️ Is your creative output lackluster? 〰️ Do your employees feel disconnected and disengaged? 〰️ Is a lack of collaboration holding you back?

I bring 11+ years of experience developing creative talent, fostering vibrant in-person culture and community events and leading award-winning creative teams.

Inspire Curiosity & Innovation

In response to the changing landscape of brand marketing, I launched an innovation lab inside 72andSunny to experiment with emerging technologies and storytelling formats. The outputs of the lab garnered earned media and landed 72andSunny on FastCompany’s Most Innovative Company’s list.

Attract Diverse Talent

During a period of rapid growth at 72andSunny, the agency faced mounting pressure to diversify its workforce. To meet this challenge, I created 72U, a project-based program that attracted top emerging and mid-level talent from non-traditional backgrounds. The program increased the diversity and capabilities of the agency. Alumni of 72U had a 66% higher retention rate.

Events that amplify your brand

Fresh off of winning agency of the year, 72andSunny sought to solidify its reputation as a culture-maker within the greater creative community. To achieve this I developed a strategy and led the team in creating a one-night only pop-up experience that required a waiver before entering. With lasers in hand, attendees turned all the walls of an empty gallery into a canvas and emergent laser light show. The experience drew a line around the block and generated buzz and FOMO that lasted for weeks. 

Build Trust and Alignment

An Executive at Amazon was tasked with inspiring a newly formed, 60-person team to dream up audacious goals. To build alignment and set the tone for bold thinking, I designed and facilitated an immersive multi-day offsite and design sprint. The experience transformed 60 strangers into a united team, sparked big ideas, new relationships and momentum for the year ahead. 

Create new forms of value

Interscope Records sought to generate buzz for the launch of Candy, an EP by rising star BØRNS. I developed the creative strategy and led the team behind a one-night-only immersive narrative experience, culminating in a live performance. The event drew over 1,000 attendees, earned media coverage in major music blogs, and contributed to the album’s success, earning my team a Platinum album for their work.

  • "72U is the beating heart of experimentation that resides in every single person at 72andSunny and Maria is the force of evolution and revolution of this program”

    John Boiler, Founder and Co Chair of 72andSunny

  • "Maria is the best hire we've made this year"

    Matt Jarvis, Chairman 72andSunny

  • "The synchronicity, spark and success of our team was due to the environment that Maria facilitated. In the near decade since, I look back feeling tremendously lucky for the opportunity to work with her. I’ve yet to encounter another leader who is able to challenge us to exceed the bleeding edge, and for nurturing ideas from metaphorical seed to tree"

    Ben Snell, Software Engineer and Computational Designer, Ex Amazon, Local Projects, Autodesk, IDEO

  • "Her greatest strength is her relationship to others. It is a unique person who can curate a global team from viewing portfolios and interviews. Maria inspires people to come together and create beautiful work. It's one thing to be able to recognize talent, and another to encourage and grow that talent to soar."

    Hannah Weiss, Campaign Director, Ex Mattel, Hello Sunshine

  • “Her aptitude for fostering collaboration and igniting creativity is genuinely unparalleled”

    Nikita Rokotyan, Engineer and Data Visualization, Founder of Interacta