Maria Cardona

Maria Teresa Cardona (born November 12, 1966) is an American political strategist and commentator who works at the Dewey Square Group and is the founder of Latinovations. Cardona is also a Democratic strategist and CNN/CNN en Español political commentator. Starting in 2020 Maria spearheads ¡MARIA! with Maria Cardona talk show. She dissects advocacy and public policy affecting Latinos in the U.S. through the El Rey Network.

Early life Maria Teresa Cardona was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She moved to the United States with her family at the age of two and lived in Ohio but shortly after settled in Leesburg, Florida. At the beginning of the 8th grade, she and her family moved to Puerto Rico. She is a graduate of Duke University.

Career

Early start Cardona spent five years at the United States Department of Commerce, first as Deputy Press Secretary to Secretary Ronald H. Brown and in charge of the press offices of all the 14 agencies.

From 2001 to 2003, she served as Communications Director to conduct dedicated research and deliver the Democratic message to the Latino community.

Dewey Square Group and Latinovations Cardona joined the Dewey Square Group in 2005 as a principal, helping their corporate, non-profit and trade association clients develop strategic partnerships at the national, state and local level, especially within the Latino community. She used her background to tap into the Latino community and ensure that Dewey clients were well represented and understand the demographic.

Cardona went on to launch Latinovations, the firm's Latino strategies practice, which uses her influence and experience to advocate on Latino issues, guiding clients searching for building support on positions, products, and brands within the Hispanic/Latino community. Latinovations produces its own daily blog, titled La Plaza, which covers national news and policies that affect the Latino community. for the 2012 presidential election season as a political contributor, and was the first Latina Democratic contributor on CNN and the only person, at that time, to contribute to both CNN Domestic and CNN en Español. "Having spent all of my professional career in communications, public policy, and politics, I'm thrilled to join CNN as a political contributor, especially as we are entering the excitement of the upcoming 2012 presidential election cycle," she said. a non-profit organization that provides learning and leadership opportunities to DC youth through a basketball exchange program in the highlands of Guatemala; New America Media, the country's first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 3,000 ethnic news organizations; Citizenship Counts, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating middle-school students on the responsibilities and civic duties of American citizens; PODER PAC, the first political action committee that raises money for Latina candidates at all levels; the Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, an independent commission established to study the feasibility of creating a national museum dedicated to highlighting the contributions of American Latinos; and co-chairs inSPIRE STEM USA, a coalition of businesses, education advocates and other national organizations supportive of a two-part plan to address immigration and workforce development needs and improve the country's STEM education pipeline.

She was named one of the nation's Top 50 Most Influential Latinos in 2012.

Personal life Cardona currently lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Bryan Weaver, and their two children.