During María’s undergraduate studies at Roger Williams University she held multiple student leadership positions out of the University’s Intercultural Center. Additionally, she was a Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) scholarship recipient where she studied Brazilian contemporary society, politics, and governance and strengthened her Portuguese language proficiency at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.

In 2020, María earned a Master of Arts in international affairs and diplomacy with a graduate certificate in Latin American studies from Boston University. During María’s graduate studies, she served as a U.S. Department of State intern at the Political-Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki. Most notably, she was one of four scholars awarded the Lynda Gilman Graduate Travel Grant. The institutional grant supported her thesis research and allowed her to conduct in-person interviews with Venezuelan migrant associations, political analysts, and U.S. diplomats in Bogotá.

Maria’s most recent project involved English language instruction at a primary public school under the Spanish Ministry of Education’s public diplomacy initiative, the North American Language and Culture Assistant Program (NALCAP). At present, she serves as a Consular Officer for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.